The group comprises Matthews, former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin, and former Mark Meadows top adviser Cassidy Hutchinson. They have given several interviews condemning their former boss in recent months. "Fundamentally, a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it, we don't say that lightly," Griffin told ABC in December.
Former Trump chief of staff John Kelly has a long feud with Trump. Kelly told CNN in October that Trump is “a person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators” and “has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”
Olivia Troye, a former Pence advisor who departed the White House in 2020, and Stephanie Grisham, who resigned Jan. 6, are prominent Trump critics who didn't vote for him. Trump is “a consummate narcissist” who “constantly engages in reckless conduct that puts his political followers at risk and the conservative and Republican agenda at risk,” according to former attorney general Bill Barr, who may vote for him again.
The number of former Trump personnel opposed to his bid is far exceeded by supporters. On Saturday in Florida, former Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Small Business Administration chief Linda McMahon will co-chair a huge fundraiser for the former president.
McMahon chairs the board of The America First Policy Institute, a “administration in waiting” for a second Trump term with many sympathetic former Trump officials.
Trump's former domestic policy chief Brooke Rollins, Pence's national security adviser and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Trump's U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, and former National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow chair the institute.
Trump has been endorsed by former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and former Housing Secretary Ben Carson, who called him “a friend of America.” Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, Interior Secretary and Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, and OMB Director Russell Vought also support Trump.
Vought wrote on X that Trump is “the only person I trust to take a wrecking ball to the Deep State.” Trump fans dismiss party detractors quickly. Carmen McVane, who attended Trump's event Tuesday in Green Bay, Wisconsin, called people who criticize or refuse to endorse RINOs, or Republicans In Name Only, who will help Biden and Democrats.
“There's a lot of RINOs who don't do what they should,” McVane remarked. “It’s time for everyone to support us and go full force.”
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