Alyssa Farah Griffin Says She ‘Will Never Be Able to Support’ DeSantis Again After ‘Incredibly Homophobic Ad’
Former White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah Griffin said she would “never be able to support” Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis again after his campaign shared an “incredibly homophobic ad” attacking former President Donald Trump’s connections to the LGBT community.
During an appearance on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper on Monday, Griffin accused DeSantis of “playing to” an old version of the Republican Party which no longer existed.
“Remember that DeSantis ad attacking Trump for being too nice and kind to LGBTQ individuals, protecting their rights, etcetera?” CNN anchor Jake Tapper asked Griffin:
So Bleeding Heartland reports that this mailing was sent to some Iowa households over the weekend. It’s obviously not sincere. It’s thanking Donald Trump for standing up for LGBTQ rights. It calls him a transgender trailblazer, but it’s not from a real LGBTQ group. It actually uses language that opponents of the trans community use, referring to biological males and such and such. This is a classic Iowa dirty trick. What do you think?
Griffin responded, “I was someone who supported DeSantis after I spoke out against Donald Trump and then I see something like this and that incredibly homophobic ad that he put out and I’m someone who will never be able to support him.”
She went on:
Listen, Donald Trump, one of the things that propelled him to victory in 2016 is he didn’t wade into some of these culture war issues like marriage equality, which is solved. It’s a decision that my generation will not go backward on — right, left, center — and DeSantis is kind of playing to this old version of the Republican Party. It’s gonna end up losing him votes. 67% of Republicans want to see more protections for the LGBT community, not fewer.
Griffin served in several roles in Trump’s White House, including Defense Department press secretary and White House Director of Strategic Communications, before her resignation in December 2020 following Trump’s election defeat. She went on to become a prominent critic of her former employer, becoming a CNN contributor in 2021 and co-host of The View in 2022.
Prior to his recent controversies, Griffin had expressed support for DeSantis and backed him as a promising Republican alternative to Trump.
“Why are some in the media so afraid of @GovRonDeSantis?” she tweeted in April 2021. “He has the toughness & political instincts of Trump, is Yale & Harvard educated, a decorated veteran, has Cap Hill experience, is widely popular in a state that matters, & knows how to talk to Republicans & democrats alike.”
Griffin backtracked on her support for DeSantis earlier this year, calling him “overhyped” and “Trump-lite.”
Watch above via CNN.
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