Two former White House staffers reflected on their experiences working under 1968 Wharton graduate and former President Donald Trump at the Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics on Wednesday.
Alyssa Farah Griffin and Sarah Matthews, who both served on the White House communications team under the Trump administration, shared their thoughts on the Republican Party and why they will not be supporting Trump in the upcoming presidential election. The conversation was moderated by Penn political science professor Brian Rosenwald, who is a scholar in residence at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Paideia Program.
Griffin served as the youngest press secretary in Pentagon history under Vice President Mike Pence until 2019 and continued work in the White House as director of strategic communications until 2020. She is currently a co-host on The View — a political talk show — and makes appearances on CNN.
During her time working in the White House, Griffin met Matthews, with whom she quickly became close. Matthews worked as the deputy press secretary until 2021, when she resigned from her position following the attack on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6. Since then, both women have actively spoken out against former President Trump and criticized his 2024 presidential campaign.
Griffin was first offered a job to work on Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, which she said she declined at first as she wasn’t comfortable with his character. However, she accepted a subsequent offer to work for VP Mike Pence.
“Pence was someone I had respected my whole career,” she said. “He was my first choice for a future presidential candidate.”
During the first few months of her time working in the White House, Griffin recalled her initial positive feelings towards Trump.
“He has an aura about him; you want him to like you,” she said. “There was a two-month period where I would have done anything for him.”
However, she said that her opinion quickly changed in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“He was virtually disengaged from the COVID-19 taskforce,” Griffin said. “It was constant chaos — most of it was self-inflicted. He was causing chaos, and we were putting out the fires.”
She described a specific moment when Trump went against communications professionals during a press conference and suggested people inject themselves with bleach to avoid getting COVID-19. Griffin expressed that moments like these fueled her dislike for Trump, and she said that she will not be supporting him in the 2024 election.
Matthews also recalled her initial excitement about working in the White House, but voiced similar feelings of hesitation about Trump’s character.
“The decision weighed on me,” she said. “But I felt that he had people of good character surrounding him. It was an opportunity to serve my country and the American people.”
However, Matthews said that she knew she could no longer work for Trump after witnessing his anti-democratic rhetoric and actions following the Jan. 6 storming of Capitol Hill.
“I will not support someone who will not uphold the Constitution,” she said. “He has a tendency to prey on people’s worst instincts, and an apocalyptic, Hitler-esque rhetoric.”
Matthew expressed frustration with other Republicans in positions of power saying similar comments privately, but being too scared to make them public.
“They are most interested in protecting their own positions of power,” she said. “Voters may not feel the urgency of the threat.”
Griffin said that she believes that if Trump were to win in 2024, his presidency would pose a great threat to democracy and peace. In her opinion, his presidency will be about getting revenge on people and removing those who are disloyal to him out of every branch of government.
“The effects on the world stage are unimaginable,” she said. “It could lead to World War Three. He would not give a penny to Zelensky and Ukraine; he would love to see Ukraine fall to Russia.”
Griffin concluded that in order for the Biden campaign to win, they need to air his worst moments, such as when Trump said that “immigrants will poison the blood of America.” She said that voters need to be reminded of his dishonest character and scared into caring about the election.
The event was organized in cooperation with the SNF Paideia Program’s Red and Blue Program and The Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy.
“Our program is designed to introduce voices to campus that people wouldn’t ordinarily hear,” Rosenwald said. “I’m always looking for interesting speakers that defy stereotypes.”
College sophomore and Penn Democrats member Lucas Eisen attended the event upon recommendation from Rosenwald. Despite the speakers not aligning with his own political affiliation, he said that he was excited to diversify his viewpoints.
Both Griffin and Matthews agreed that in order for the Republican Party to return to center right, it will have to be more open to compromising with the left and not consider popular issues such as abortion as nonnegotiable.
“MAGAism is a dying breed,” Griffin said. “To move forward, there has to be a separation of the two versions of Republicanism.”
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