Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former White House communications director under Donald Trump, stated that the former president's advisers are frustrated by his perceived lack of focus on key issues, particularly the economy. She noted that despite their wishes, Trump appears more interested in discussing other topics.
Griffin pointed to a recent CNN poll showing Trump's approval rating at 34%, with 73% of respondents believing he is focused on the wrong priorities. She described these figures as "glaring signals, alarms are going off," and called the disapproval rating "stunning."
During an appearance on CNN's "News Central," Griffin suggested Trump seemed "extremely distracted," citing his remarks at the White House Correspondents' Dinner as an example of him being "all over the place."
"My conversations with many of his White House advisers indicate they simply want him to focus on the economy, yet he will not do that," Griffin said. "For some reason, he wants to talk about virtually everything but the economy and lowering the cost of living."
Griffin also offered a prediction regarding the upcoming midterm elections, stating that the outlook for Republicans does not appear strong. She suggested it is "pretty much a foregone conclusion that the House is going to flip" to Democratic control.
However, she indicated that Trump might retain some optimism due to the possibility of Republicans maintaining control of the Senate. "He may have 'in the back of his mind that the Senate very much looks like it may stay in Republican hands,'" Griffin said. "It could flip but there’s not some overwhelming wave that he’s expecting, and I think that gives him some hope that there is going to be this balance of power where he still may have Republican control in the Senate, yet lose the House to Democrats."