Alyssa Farah Griffin often reminds viewers that she is a Republican, but Griffin’s voice as the new conservative co-host for ABC’s "The View" has frequently been drowned out by her liberal colleagues.
It’s tradition for the ABC show to bring in a token conservative, with the co-host often facing off against with staunch progressives like Rosie O'Donnell, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and others through the years.
The former conservative seat, Meghan McCain, while a Trump critic, engaged in heated exchanges almost daily with her co-hosts on day’s biggest issues. Farah Griffin, on the other hand, has been far more deferential and agreeable, with Goldberg recently telling the New York Post the show is "calmer" in McCain's absence. In one instance, Farah Griffin agreed with the panel that President Biden’s gaffe about deceased congresswoman Jackie Walorski was not a huge issue, and that his gaffes in the past have made him "endearing." However, she did take issue with the way the White House chose to respond to the gaffe.
Farah Griffin has touted her Republican credentials and used her experience in government to inform her viewpoints expressed on the show. But, the dynamics of the show often find Farah Griffin shouted over and quickly cut off by the rest of the panel.
Farah Griffin, who served as White House communications director during the Trump administration, became a permanent member on the daytime talk show for the 26th season. Despite formerly expressing pride in her working relationship with the former president, Farah Griffin has expressed regret in working for Trump and has repeatedly declared that he should never be president again.
In the last month, her support of the Republican Party and her previous strong support for Trump has often put Farah Griffin on the defensive, especially with co-host Sunny Hostin.
Hostin and Farah Griffin recently got into a back and forth while comparing President Biden and Trump’s individual responses to U.S. disasters during discussions on Hurricane Ian.
During the conversation, Farah Griffin called out Hostin for falsely claiming that Trump did not speak or coordinate with blue states during disaster scenarios while he was in office. The conservative host was quickly cut off as she attempted to correct the record, with Goldberg stating that people were just glad that a sense of "normalicy" (sic) had been brought back to the country and the White House.
Last week, Hostin ripped into Ana Navarro and Farah Griffin for sticking with the Republican Party, at one point directly calling the latter "complicit" for working in the Trump White House.
Farah Griffin asked Hostin if she'd rather have someone like Navarro "trying to reform the party from within."
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"There's going to be a Republican Party whether you want there to be or not, so wouldn't you want someone who's sober-minded and sound and more aligned with you?" Farah Griffin said.
Hostin said she didn't believe it was "effective strategy."
In early September, Hostin again ripped into Republicans for their support of Trump and agreed with Biden’s assessment that Trump supporters were engaged in "semi-fascism."
Farah Griffin began by saying that she took issue with Biden "broadly applying" the term to semi-fascist to Republicans, to which co-host Joy Behar interjected and claimed Biden was only talking about "MAGA" Republicans, and urged her to "be specific." Farah Griffin then agreed with Behar’s clarification.
Moments later, Farah Griffin compared Biden’s comments to those of Democratic Florida gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, who said in August he did not want GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis supporters with "hate" in their "heart" to vote for him.
"But this is the problem Alyssa," Hostin said. "60 to 70% of Republicans—I’m not even saying MAGA Republicans or this Republican, 60 to 70% of Republicans believe Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party."
She then suggested that Republicans were racist, White supremacists because of the party’s support of Trump.
"If you are saying that he is a White supremacist, then what are they? If you are saying that he is a racist, then what are they? Because if you follow someone that has hate in their heart, and I believe that he does, then you are complicit in that, and you don’t get a pass on that."
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Farah Griffin then tried to respond but was drowned out by the applause of the audience.
In a recent interview with USA Today, Farah Griffin said the comment by Hostin tying her to Trump was not "unexpected."
"I don't tend to make things personal in how I address my viewpoint, but I've got like reptilian-thick skin. If things are lobbed at me, I can defend my career, I can defend the policies I've worked on, I can defend my viewpoint," she said. "So it's reminding my hosts what my role is, what I did in the Trump administration and where I spoke out and where I fervently continue to speak out."
Hostin has grown frustrated with Farah Griffin on a number of other occasions, including a discussion on states rights, abortion, as well as a debate on whether former President Barack Obama would have accepted an invitation from Trump to go to the White House, should one have been extended.
But, Farah Griffin appears to have no qualms with the sometimes fiery table discussions, noting that she admires Hostin for being "extremely assertive," as well as her unique ability to command the table and the audience.
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In one particularly frenzied exchange, Farah Griffin criticized White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for comments she made prior to her role in the administration in which she claimed that Republicans had stolen previous elections. The conversation arose after Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy pressed Jean-Pierre on her past claim in the White House press briefing room.
As Farah Griffin tried to speak, the conversation broke down when Behar began yelling about Doocy’s line of questioning.
"Why is Peter Doocy all of a sudden bringing this up out of the blue—give me a break. We’re on to you Peter," Behar said.
Farah Griffin then pivoted, and said that standing up for democracy and the credibility of elections is important, and that is why she felt it was wrong for Democrats to boost Trump-backed GOP candidates. The entire panel then began speaking at once, but Goldberg’s voice proved the loudest.
"I’m sorry, I’m sorry yall. This is, calm down now. We’ll be right back," she said before the show headed to commercial break.
Farah Griffin has also praised Stacey Abrams for conceding elections and told "Good Morning America" she adores Chelsea Clinton, in seeming efforts to endear herself to non-conservatives.
A former ABC insider said her efforts to distance herself from Trump aren't effective.
"It just comes off disingenuous, which is arsenic on daytime TV," the insider said.
Griffin herself has also said that her biggest challenge as a new member of the ABC cast is attempting to give nuanced conversations the time they deserve.
"The most challenging is talking about a complex topic in a time-limited fashion. That's the biggest thing, because I want to do well by the subject matter at hand, and I want to give heavier topics, especially, the attention and the time and the thoughtfulness they deserve," Griffin told USA today. "And that's not a challenge specific to "The View." That's television in general, but if there has ever been a day I'm kicking myself when leaving, it's that I didn't maybe offer enough on an important subject."
