'Absolutely radioactive' MAGA allies will drive away key voters: former Trump official

Former Trump White House official Alyssa Farah Griffin said that his reported desire to bring convicted felons such as Roger Stone and Paul Manafort back into the fold could hurt him with voters he desperately needs.

Appearing on CNN, Griffin said Trump bringing back Manafort struck her as particularly problematic.

"He was obviously implicated in the Russia investigation... he was singlehandedly responsible for taking support for Ukraine taken out of the Republican Party platform in 2016," she said. "He's somebody who's been consistently an anti-Ukraine warrior in Donald Trump's ear."

She went on to say that both Manafort and Stone have "a tremendous amount of sway" with Trump despite or because of the fact that they have been convicted on multiple felony charges, including money laundering, witness intimidation, and perjury.

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She then explained why bringing them back could come back to haunt him.

"What Donald Trump needs to win, he needs Nikki Haley voters, he needs moderate Republicans and independents," she said. "Everybody that we just named is absolutely radioactive to a normie Republican, a Romney-Reagan-type Republican like me."

Berman then asked if people like Stone or Manafort would offer Trump pushback on some of his more extreme rhetoric and behavior and she immediately burst into laughter.

"Absolutely not!" she exclaimed, before adding that the only thing Trump could conceivably do to lose their support would be backing military aid for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Griffin then speculated that Trump is bringing back these "radioactive" allies is due to his "nostalgia for 2016," which she noted was "the last time he won anything," given the stinging defeats he and his handpicked candidates suffered in the 2018, 2020, and 2022 election cycles.

"To me, it signals that they're doubling down on the far-right angle," she said.

Watch the video below or at this link.

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