Alyssa Farah Griffin is a political commentator for CNN and has recently been named a co-host of The View. She served as press secretary for then Vice President Mike Pence from 2017 to 2019 and as the White House director of strategic communications in 2020.
The following interview was conducted by the Kirk Documentary Group’s Mike Wiser for FRONTLINE on May 20, 2022. It has been edited for clarity and length.
This interview is being published as part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, an effort to open up the source material behind our documentaries. Explore the transcript of this interview, and others, on the FRONTLINE website: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interview-collection/lies-politics-and-democracy/
#Frontline #Interview #AlyssaFarahGriffin
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CHAPTERS:
Rise of Donald Trump – 0:00:00
Trump and the 2016 Election – 0:05:56
Pence’s Role in the Trump Administration – 0:08:46
Trump and the Evolving Republican Party – 0:18:32
Inside the Trump White House – 0:24:59
Trump’s Response to the Black Lives Matter Movement – 0:33:24
Trump and Misinformation – 0:39:45
The 2020 Election and Initial Claims of Fraud – 0:45:01
Pressure on Pence – 1:01:23
Jan. 6 and the Aftermath – 1:07:07
A Transformed Republican Party – 1:15:09
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Watch the full documentary “Lies, Politics and Democracy” here: https://youtu.be/D2eTiE3k7ds
Donald Trump could’ve changed the world. Instead, he almost destroyed the nation, and only harmed our planet in ways that will reverberate forever.
A smart, coherent, fluent person. We need ppl like her in the govt service. VG interview.
The Republicans have been a part of a SHADOW government sponsored by the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Koch Industries.
Why didn’t any of these people try to get to the president to end his life? His traitorous acts that Jan 6th deserved a rope. Nothing else. All of the people in this documentary who claimed to have “cried” that day, who claimed to have done everything possible… they did NOT. One act was needed by our nation, and none of these people had the courage to act. Trump still to this day deserves the death penalty for his crimes. Nathan Hale is rolling over on his grave.
"I didn't really see that early on" with valley girl mixed with robot tone. This person seems to not be able to make conclusions that an 8 year old could. The stalwart veneer is just a front for ego driven pursuits. Also, your eyelashes look like you're prepping for kim k's latest reality show
who is this woman?
i really like these in depth interviews; however, am still disturbed by all these people who thought more of themselves than they did the country. That's NOT what being in public service is about. They were ALL more than willing to allow a man they knew wasn't capable of being POTUS to continue in the role, because it suited them. If Mike Pence is as reverent as he's made out to be, he would have initiated the 25th amendment at some point in those four years. He's no "hero" for saving his own political career.
My hope is that the American people can see through these people and fire them from their positions and not allow any others like them in. Things need to calm down for awhile and reset.
As a professional and Trump White House insider, she’s a gem 💎
Republicans got trump to stack the Supreme Court & tax cuts for the rich, all these other talking points are window dressing.
I find it very hard to believe that Trump had even one moment of compassion regarding George Floyd.
Why can't this country have a chance to vote for someone who truly cares about this country and democracy like her. She's got my vote!
How does someone born in LA in 1989 end up being so conservative? That's another question.
“Pence kept the Trump presidency on ten rails. “ Hahaha! I wouldn’t brag about it.
While it is great Farah Griffin was able to eventually see through Trump and to now be so open, but she is yet another example of how woefully ignorant of history so many people in politics are. Anyone who knows history could from see from Trump's ride down the escalator and demonization of Mexican immigrants the fascism in Trump.
Her continued worship of Mike Pence is laughable. Throughout the four years, Pence was a mewling obsequious collaborator and enabler of Trump's treason and fascism. It's great he refused to certify the election, the one decent thing he did, but he played a critical role in leading us down the toilet to April 7.
And as for Mike Pence's "Christianity"? The hypocrisy of that is evidenced in Pence's role in getting the final Senate votes for Trump's massive tax cuts for the wealthiest and the corporations. I'm sure Jesus would approve… As with most evangelical supposed "Christian's", he's a hypocrite and self-aggrandizing empty soul.
I do appreciate Farah Griffin's courage in speaking up and her understanding of what it means to be a public servant.
Aaaa you all knew he i is a no good dangerous guy for all Americans, vulgar man, only black Americans saw through him ., awful guy that person
Regarding voting for Trump; her tweet was partially a lie, or that she wrote in Paul Ryan and Mike pence is a lie. Which one?
This interview enthralled me. I am at the opposite side of the political spectrum from Mrs. Griffin. However, I applaud her unwavering integrity and not fall prey to the hijacking of her conservatism.
Virtually every single statement, particularly statements having to do with “tradition” & “conservative” are contradictions to themselves.
The Only way this line of reasoning (& rationalizing Trumptopia) depicted can exist in someone’s mind is by assuming “conservative” means CRAZY & that sabotage is a USA-concept tradition. Especially if one is merely opposing everything for the sake of being identified as “opponents.”
What’s absent in Trump’s historical context was never there from day one: political aptitude & a sound basis for voting him into that particular office.
Why not simply encourage the people to value Truth by acting accordingly, in light of the best available evidence to date?
Politics should never be conducted like the World Wrestling Federation. The fact the process resembles Sports means the office of “president” is simply obsolete in modernity. So are “governors,” “sheriffs,” “senators” & MANY public offices harkening back to earliest medieval concepts of governance (or worse, farther back than that) which nobody needs anymore & that serve absolutely no practical purpose.
Computers have phased out the “need” to count ballots by hand. They’ve phased out the “need” to churn out tonnages of copies, to employ entire departments of businesses, they’ve phased out entire businesses. But somehow, they’ve avoided eliminating useless, pointless offices that no one needs, & really, that no one even performs.
It’s just superfluous to keep electing idiots out of sentiment when they aren’t even capable of keeping people informed with information that is necessary to daily living. Not trustworthy. Not even basically competent.
Just have a panel of people appointed by algorithm—just as “arbitrary & unreliable & unpredictable” as voting, but without needing a designer brand of political parties—evidently having two (2) or even three (3) of them is just too confusing.
They’re not even “liberal,” not even “conservative” nor “progressive” nor “traditional” in practice. Why not just phase all foolishness & empty titles completely out of government?
Yeah spineless people trying to send the country to deep darkness from which it would it would never be able to return
No excuse for Pence, he was the bit..ch of SATAN
Wow; don't normally agree with anything a Republican says, but she's doing a good job of convincing me that not all the Repubs are bat***t crazy…
Convenient apologist rhetoric.
yes it is now them vs us……but he refuses to admit losing…I really admire Liz Chaney…I may not live to see it but I hope she will be the first woman President
I appreciate what she has done here. I think she has been forthright and honest, but I also think she could have done a lot more while she worked in those spaces. Maybe she suffers from the same ambition that she's accused others of. That said, while I do love this FRONTLINE doc and the interviews that have followed, I really wish there was a broader, more mainstream discussion about the ROOT CAUSE of this impasse.
We must accept that Trump tapped into a treasure trove of anger that is fueled by decades of a widening INEQUALITY GAP. Yes, he's able to link this declining wealth of the working/middle class to Democrats, or immigrants, or corporations, or racist theories in order to further his political goals. But the truth is, none of those linkages will explain or fix the problem.
And it's also true that the problem is felt just as significantly by those who reside on the political Left. These disparate groups need to work together or all democracy in the US will be a thing of the past.
I appreciate the truth that Griffin gives to all the questions. I listened twice because I think she really speaks from honest wisdom. Really liked what she said about the lack of understanding of Civics in upper-level USA officials. Sure, Trump could pass his Alzheimers test, but I doubt if he could pass 4th-grade history. I really liked this interview.
What an impressive person!
governance by INTIMIDATION
THATS what ‘merica IS 👍🏼
Duh trunk can only function of chaos surrounds him
It's weird how she keeps describing a narcissist in action without explaining that this is how you handle him🤷