‘I Had a Lot More to Say’
Former White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah Griffin, now a co-host on “The View,” appeared obviously perturbed when positive comments she was making about a Republican presidential candidate were cut short by the show’s production crew.
The hosts were critiquing Wednesday night’s second Republican presidential primary debate as a “dumpster fire” the following day, but Farah Griffin expressed some admiration for comments made fellow a Trump administration alumna, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
Her co-hosts unsurprisingly disagreed, but Farah Griffin wasn’t given the time to make her case, according to media and entertainment publisher The Wrap.
“You can disagree, but she offered substance,” Farah Griffin said. “She had statistics, the biggest issue I hear –”
But before she could finish her thought, the music came up, indicating that it was time for the show to cut to a commercial.
At that, Farah Griffin “frustratedly throw her arms up and look over to the crew,” the outlet reported.
Two of her co-host encouraged her to complete the thought before the break, but she responded with “never mind.”
“It’s fine. I had a lot more to say, but it’s fine,” she said, according to the outlet.
There was apparently time for Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg to make the obvious point that it’s not always possible to squeeze everything everyone wants to say into an hour-long show, an observation Farah Griffin apparently didn’t deem worthy of a response.
Do you think Nikki Haley performed well at the GOP debate?
Earlier in the segment, Farah Griffin had described the debate as “people all vying for second place,” which in fact is a fairly accurate description of the Haley campaign at the moment.
In the RealClearPolitics average of national polling, former President Donald Trump continues to hold a commanding lead, with nearly 60 percent. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, after peaking around 31 percent in February, has fallen steadily in the polling and now sits around 14 percent.
Haley is in third place, with 5.6 percent, followed closely by businessman Vivek Ramaswamy at 5.1 percent.
Trump does a little worse in early state polls, with 49 percent in Iowa and 44 percent in New Hampshire, while Haley does better — nearly 9 percent in Iowa and 13 percent in New Hampshire, enough to put her in second place in the Granite State.
Interestingly, in theoretical general election matchups, RealClearPolitics has Trump beating Biden by a mere 1.3 points on average, whereas Haley defeats Biden by over 4 points, 45.3-to-41.
NBC News reported Friday that the American Opportunity Alliance, which it described as a “collective of major Republican donors,” will meet with representatives from both the DeSantis and Haley campaigns on October 13 to hear from them why each is the best alternative to a third Trump nomination.
“I think without question it’s down to Haley and DeSantis,” said an anonymous source whom NBC described as “a longtime Republican operative.” “For sure it’s between the two of them right now for the non-Trump vote. It’d be great to see a limited debate stage that features the two of them.”
“She’s killing Biden in polls, she’s seeing momentum in early states,” another Republican consultant told the outlet. “She’s not the only alternative at this point, but she’s moving that way and I think will continue to see large crowds, success in fundraising and donors pressuring other candidates to begin dropping out.
“I haven’t made up my mind yet fully either, but I’m a hell of a lot closer,” they said.
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