News/Commentary

‘The View’ host slammed when she rips ‘big government’ DeSantis, calls herself a ‘lifelong conservative’

February 21, 2023 | | Print Article

Alyssa Farah Griffin’s attempted takedown of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R-Fla.) record left many feeling like Inigo Montoya as “The View” cohost and onetime press secretary to former Vice President Mike Pence made a bold claim about her own credentials as a “lifelong conservative.”

(Video: CNN)

Appearing on CNN’s “The Lead” Monday, the token representative of the right continued a line of attack against the Florida governor that suggested passing laws protecting individuals from overly powerful government agencies and politically motivated corporations was in and of itself “government overreach.”

“Ron DeSantis is masterful at commanding national media attention and culture war stunts and leaning into the anti-wokeness gets him talked about, it raises his name ID and it riles up the base,” she began.

As Farah Griffin continued, she positioned herself alongside New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan who have both been named as potential challengers for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“There are people like me, more in the Sununu, Larry Hogan camp, longtime, lifelong conservatives,” she tried deadpan, “who see it as government overreach masked as conservatism, whether going after Disney, whether it’s dictating from the state what local schools should teach rather than at the school board level or decided by parents.”

However, the political commentator didn’t stop there as she endeavored to go full Arlen Specter and invoked the late Pennsylvania senator’s notion that he hadn’t left the Republican Party, it left him as she claimed Republicans writ large were embracing “big government.”

“I do think however this is the Trump MAGA party. And I think the party is more in line with where Ron DeSantis is than the more traditional conservative party that I grew up in,” she argued before adding, “It really is big government conservatism versus traditional small government.”

Naturally, those actually on the right had a considerable amount to say about both Farah Griffin’s attacks against DeSantis and her laughable claim of being a “lifelong conservative.”

https://twitter.com/jimstinson/status/1627920879752474625

Farah Griffin’s effort to attack conservatives as “big government” couldn’t even be attributed to her as the notion was a narrative being spread by the likes of Sununu who, during a recent appearance on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” said, “Look, Ron’s a very good governor…but I’m just trying to remind folks what we are at our core. And if we’re trying to beat the Democrats at being big government authoritarians, remember what’s going to happen. Eventually, they’ll have power…and then they’ll start penalizing conservative businesses and conservative nonprofits and conservative ideas.”

Unsurprisingly, the ABC host wasn’t even consistent on this point as she had a record of praising the actions of DeSantis lauding his record stating, “He has the toughness & political instincts of Trump, is Yale & Harvard educated, a decorated veteran, has [Capitol] Hill experience, is widely popular in a state that matters, & knows how to talk to Republicans & democrats alike.”

“DeSantis should run,” she wrote as recently as January 2022. “So should Pence, Pompeo, Haley, Cotton, Tim Scott, Sununu, Hogan, etc. Credible Republicans with governing experience should challenge Trump. There’s zero reason to nominate Trump again when R’s have a bench & Biden is polling in the 30s.”

 

Kevin Haggerty
Latest posts by Kevin Haggerty (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles