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A former Donald TrumpWhite House staffer sparred with a MAGA Republican and member of the Black Men for Trump Advisory Board on Tuesday night over Trump's bizarre town hall a day earlier, in which he took a few questions and then swayed to music for more than 40 minutes.
The spectacle became the topic of discussion on CNN anchor Anderson Cooper's show, with Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as Trump's White House communications director, saying she was left "more confused than Kristi Noem looks on that stage," poking the South Dakota governor, who danced on stage next to the MAGA leader.
"If Joe Biden had done that — either of those things," Cooper retorts, as Griffin replies, "I was an earlier caller for Joe Biden to step aside —"
But as she spoke, fellow panelist T.W. Shannon, of the Black Men for Trump Advisory Board, interjected.
"Come on, Alyssa!"
But Griffin insisted if Biden had done the same — "just bobbed and weaved and danced to music for 40 minutes with no purpose and saying the voters don't want answers to questions three weeks before the election" — they would say Biden was "unfit" for office.
Shannon laughed off his fellow Republican's assessment.
"Come on. Come on Alyssa," he said. "Listen, this is a nonstory. [Former] President Trump was doing the right thing. This was absolutely appropriate. You had two people who passed out."
Shannon pointed to a crowded audience and said it was too warm.
"Because there were people who were passed out!" he insisted.
"So he couldn't then go back to taking questions?" Griffin retorted.
"Excuse me — don't interrupt, let me finish, Alyssa, I didn't interrupt you," said Shannon.
Shannon said Trump's actions allowed the people who needed medical attention to receive it, as Griffin shook her head and cracked a smile.
"Sitting there, allowing the music to play was absolutely an appropriate thing to do," he said. "Anyone trying to make a story out of this is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill."
As he concluded, Griffin again pushed back.
"Sir, you truly think voters did not show up to a town hall, which is by definition asking questions, to hear answers to questions? They showed up to hear him DJ and sway on stage?"
"Alyssa," said Shannon, "there were people that got injured. They were being carried out."
