'The View' Host Alyssa Farah Griffin Says Donald Trump Will Hate Being Ignored by the Other Networks: 'It's Ridiculous'

Former White House staffer and The View panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin predicted that her ex-boss President Donald Trump won't take too kindly to major TV networks ignoring him.

During the Monday, September 21, episode of the daytime talk show, Griffin based this prediction on her experience working in the White House, where she witnessed how closely Trump monitored his media coverage.

She described how Trump consistently checked if news networks aired live coverage of his events as they happened and offered additional commentary on the White House press pool networks banding together to suspend coverage of the administration.

Griffin said that she learned of her boss' monitoring habits through her previous working experience. She noted that Trump asked her a number of times whether his live speeches were airing on TV.

"They’re not going to have live TV coverage of that because all the networks are pulling out of it, and he is going to hate it," Griffin said. "He used to ask me to be like, ‘Did the networks carry it? Did the quads carry it?’ He is not going to be happy. They need to reverse this. It’s ridiculous."

Griffin worked as a communications aide and then as White House communications director during Trump's first term. She often uses this personal connection to describe how Trump thinks to The View's viewership, although she herself has often been critical of Trump.

Griffin made her statement within a larger conversation about the TV landscape, and the relationship between a current U.S. president and media outlets. She argued that a person who monitors their own coverage very closely would likely be upset at being ignored. As such, she also implied that this could be happening due to changes in how programming has been scheduled around the president. Her bottom line, however, was that it ultimately took power away from journalists.

"It’s also an attack on the public because journalists exist to hold power to account, to tell the American people the unvarnished, ugly truth and good news of what’s happening," she explained.

ABC suspended its late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live under pressure from the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This decision drew criticism from people throughout the media industry, and there was a lot of debate regarding political influence over broadcasters.

Griffin's comments are another example of The View's central role as a medium for discussions surrounding media and politics.

Now in its 30th year, The View continues to make headlines for how it addresses coverage of the president and television networks. Griffin was seated alongside fellow co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines.

Griffin had a series of roles in the Trump administration, including serving as press secretary at the Defense Department and White House communications director, prior to resigning in late 2020.

She broke away with Trump after the January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol building. Since becoming a co-host of The View in 2022, Griffin has taken an unusual approach by criticizing the president while using her experience as an insider to give the View's audience insight into how and why he does things.

As such, Griffin is viewed negatively by both Trump supporters and detractors. Trump has publicly criticized Griffin, but she has generally declined to answer with her own responses.