CNN commentator and Never Trump Republican Ana Navarro-Cárdenas introduced her dog to 2020 Democratic front-runner Joe Biden, sharing a photo of the moment on Twitter.
“Chacha met her Uncle @JoeBiden in Miami today,” she wrote alongside the photo on Sunday. “We both think America should never again elect (even though not by the popular vote), a President who is not capable of showing affection to animals. It’s a bad, bad sign.”
Navarro sat in the front row of the event, stroking Chacha as Biden spoke. At one point, the former vice president turned to her and said: “First of all, there are so many distinguished people here. But I’ve got to, I’ve got to sort of genuflect in this direction here because I’m afraid of her. No. I’m embarrassing her I know — that’s my intention. We’ve been good friends for a long time.”
Chacha met her Uncle @JoeBiden in Miami today. We both think America should never again elect (even though not by the popular vote), a President who is not capable of showing affection to animals. It’s a bad, bad sign. pic.twitter.com/jjYeu5wUV0
— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) September 15, 2019
The CNN commentator was attending Biden’s event at Miami, Florida’s historic Ball & Chain nightclub to mark the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, during which the former vice president aimed to woo Latino voters.
Despite her GOP ties, Navarro-Cárdenas indicated in an April op-ed for CNN that she has only one hope for the upcoming presidential election: “ousting Donald Trump from the White House.” In that same piece, she praised Biden, saying he’s “normal — and that sounds really good to me.”
“Joe Biden brings a lot to the table. He is everything Trump is not,” she wrote. “We know what we’re getting with him. He inspires a feeling of trust and confidence. He is normal. After the chaos and turmoil of the last three years under Trump, ‘normal’ sounds really good to me.”
She has been highly critical of President Trump during his time in office. Despite her fondness of Biden, she has expressed concerns about his lack of energy, saying in June that he is giving her “Jeb Bush acid reflux.” At Sunday’s Miami event, Biden struggled to remember the word “escalator” while criticizing Trump’s controversial 2015 comments about Mexican immigrants.
Navarro-Cárdenas, 47, married lobbyist Al Cárdenas, 71, a former chairman of the American Conservative Union, in Florida this year. Guests at the ceremony included Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon, both CNN colleagues of Navarro-Cárdenas, singer Gloria Estefan and actress Eva Longoria, and the GOP’s junior senator for Utah, Mitt Romney. Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, was due to attend but went to a funeral instead.
