Never-Trump CNN Analyst Defends Trump from Optics of Musk ‘Standing Over’ Trump in Oval Office
CNN political analyst Alyssa Farah Griffin defended President Donald Trump over the “optics” of DOGE czar Elon Musk “standing over” Trump during an Oval Office photo op.
Trump and Musk spoke to reporters for about half an hour after Trump signed executive orders in the Oval Office Tuesday — joined by Elon’s son, X Musk. Musk stood at Trump’s right while Trump sat at the Resolute Desk — the same one Musk was pictured at on a recent Time Magazine cover.
On Wednesday’s edition of CNN News Central, Griffin — who resigned from the first Trump administration after January 6 and went on to vote for then-Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election— pushed back on the idea that the event showed “Elon is really the one in charge, not Donald Trump”:
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, CNN political commentator and former White House communications director under Donald Trump, Alyssa Farah Griffin.
So you were the communications director. You know, Michael Deaver, who worked in the Reagan White House — deputy chief of staff in charge of photo ops. You largely did that, too.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Yeah.
BERMAN: So what do you make — let’s put the photo up so people can see. The images of Elon Musk standing over Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Maybe I can build a diorama to show you. What do you make of this image?
GRIFFIN: Listen, this is unlike anything we’ve seen, down to the adorable kid with Elon Musk. But I actually see it a little different because I think some folks are like this is showing Elon is really the one in charge, not Donald Trump.
What Trump is doing by putting Elon in charge of so much of overseeing the federal government and these massive cuts is he’s giving himself distance from when they inevitably become unpopular — these cuts that are made. He is delegating right now. He’s not going to own it if he — he hopes he will not own if people are really mad down the road when they say oh, great, we don’t have this resource that we once had because of Elon.
Donald Trump’s at his high water mark. He’s the most popular he’s ever been. But only 23 percent of Americans want to see Elon Musk have massive control over the government. He’s extraordinarily unpopular.
So I actually see it more as there has been scrutiny around DOGE and some of these cuts. There have been some wrong information that’s been put out. He brought Elon in and said you need to answer for it, and you’re just going to stand here and take questions until you can. It’s kind of vintage Donald Trump. He loves an Oval Office pressor, and he loves to kind of catch people off guard and put them on the spot to defend what they’re doing.
BERMAN: A little good cop-bad cop action going on there?
GRIFFIN: I think so.
Watch above via CNN News Central.
