The co-hosts of The View may discuss pop culture and interview celebrities, but the daytime talk show focuses on Donald Trump 90% of the time. Or maybe 95%? Okay, let’s not try to do the math, and let’s focus on what one co-host recently said about the horrifying prospect of Trump taking office for the second time.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, who worked for the previous Trump administration, said, “This is the most important election of our lifetimes because he is the most dangerous man to have ever sat in the American presidency.” She then said what we’re all thinking when she added, “He cannot go back.”
Griffin continued that other senior advisors and former Vice President Mike Pence no longer believe in Trump. She said, “We are telling you, he should not be in that role” and continued that besides Trump’s “character” and the fact that he cried election fraud last time around (ugh), he “has betrayed conservative principles.” She explained that no Republican should even think about voting for him. One example? His recent statement that “in many cases, our allies are worse than our enemies.” She also mentioned he’s “not securing the borders” and he wants to impose tariffs that could hurt the middle class.
Sure, Republicans may not stand behind these specific parts of Trump’s platform. And I agree with Griffin that Trump should be “nowhere near the White House” (maybe a jailhouse? just saying). But is it really true that Trump is putting forth some ideas and policies (I use the term “policy” lightly) that conservatives don’t agree with or believe in? After all, he stacked the Supreme Court and stirred up more hatred than I can even process. When he makes his revolting statements, there are Republicans out there who stand behind him.
Still, Griffin’s right in that she’s fully aware of who Trump is, since she worked as his assistant and communications director starting in March 2020 and ending in December 2020. However, despite her public criticism of him, she still considers herself a member of the Republican party. She told People in 2022 she is a “conservative Republican” and that she cares about the party. She called him “wholly unfit” and continued, “I want to be part of fixing what the future of the Republican Party should be in casting behind us into the ash heap of history what Donald Trump has done to it.”
I don’t share the opinion that the Republican Party needs saving, as there are numerous problems and other, to use The View co-host’s term, dangerous or appalling people ai the GOP’s center. Three words: Marjorie Taylor Greene. However, Griffin’s point that Trump is dangerous is definitely true. Just one example? At his rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania on Sunday Nov. 3, Trump said “somebody would have to shoot through the fake news.” And then he talked about violence for a little bit like it was totally fine and normal. Because that’s appropriate when you’re running for office/in a position of power/in general.
Sure, Griffin doesn’t say the perfect thing all the time, and she gets into some strange arguments with Joy Behar over Trump. But the fact that his former aide is willing to slam him on national television and encourage people not to vote for him is significant, and just might point to the results on election day.