On the July 4th CNN This Morning show, CNN political analyst Natasha Alford dismissed white women Democrats who support Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) over his education policies, accusing them of having "privilege" which they are trying to preserve.
Her analysis came after a pre-recorded piece was shown which highlighted women in Florida who previously supported Democrats but became big fans of Governor DeSantis because he pushed to reopen schools during the pandemic.
After the piece concluded, co-anchor Phil Mattingly asked GOP strategist Joseph Pinion for his reaction, leading Republican to put a negative spin on the DeSantis presidential campaign by accusing him of hurting his standing by recently pushing issues like abortion:
I think you saw a snapshot of a man who built a broad, nonpartisan coalition, and then engaged in a legislative session that, in many ways, marginalized himself with many of the people that had come to count on him as their champion. And so you listen to people talking about the six-week ban -- you listen to people talking about some of the things that happened in the legislative session that were supposed to be burnishing his record in anticipation of this launch...some women like the ones you just heard from who feel as if the person that was their champion has now in many ways forgotten all the things they liked about him.
Turning to Alford, fill-in co-anchor Audie Cornish described Moms for Liberty as "radicalized by COVID" as she suggested that Democrats could lose the support of such women:
Natasha, I've interviewed Moms for Liberty mothers, and they were very radicalized by the COVID era. This is a vulnerability for Democrats in certain respects. So what is the counter-messaging that they've developed?
It didn't take long for Alford to inject race into the conversation as she began her analysis:
Well, I mean, first, when I see that package, I just think that there have always been women in conservative movements, in particular, who are approaching politics from a personal lens, right? But also a lot of the women in that package were not women of color, right? And so these women are coming from a privileged position in society, and they don't like sort of being called out for that privilege.
A bit later, she added:
...also I just think that if you are willing to support Ron DeSantis, who has been so extreme, so harmful to so many different groups, right? Whether it be, you know, students of color, efforts for diversity and inclusion in the employment sense. I mean, all of those things to me signal that there's potentially a lack of empathy -- a lack of seeing, sort of, the coalitions that the Democratic party tries to build.
And so, again, I just think that many of those women reflect in what we've seen in different moments in history in terms of women who come from a perch of privilege being unwilling to give up that privilege and trying to find a spokesperson who will back up sort of their experience.
This episode of CNN This Morning was sponsored in part by ServPro. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows:
CNN This Morning
July 4, 2023
7:46 a.m. Eastern
JOSEPH PINION, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think you saw a snapshot of a man who built a broad, nonpartisan coalition, and then engaged in a legislative session that, in many ways, marginalized himself with many of the people that had come to count on him as their champion. And so you listen to people talking about the six-week ban -- you listen to people talking about some of the things that happened in the legislative session that were supposed to be burnishing his record in anticipation of this launch.
And I think that's reflected in the numbers where you saw this was a man that, again, first Republican going all the way back to Jeb Bush to win in Miami-Dade, Florida, in 20 years, is ahead of Trump in Iowa in December -- is effectively right on his heels nationally in January, and now you see where he is now, down 30 points. And I think it is because of some women like the ones you just heard from who feel as if the person that was their champion has now in many ways forgotten all the things they liked about him.
AUDIE CORNISH, FILL-IN CO-HOST: Natasha, I've interviewed Moms for Liberty mothers, and they were very radicalized by the COVID era. This is a vulnerability for Democrats in certain respects. So what is the counter-messaging that they've developed?
NATASHA ALFORD, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I mean, first, when I see that package, I just think that there have always been women in conservative movements, in particular, who are approaching politics from a personal lens, right? But also a lot of the women in that package were not women of color, right? And so these women are coming from a privileged position in society, and they don't like sort of being called out for that privilege. They don't like the ways in which they were, you know, they say that they were attacked on Twitter, but a lot of that is sort of a defensive reaction. And so they found community in other women who feel the same way that they do. But, again, it's sort of finding people who will repeat back what you've already believed. So ---
CORNISH: They're not lost to Democrats, right? They were just talking about abortion -- they were talking about areas where they felt like, "Well, we don't feel quite comfortable with X, Y and Z that Republicans are saying," so is that not some kind of opening?
ALFORD: I think there's an opening, but also I just think that if you are willing to support Ron DeSantis, who has been so extreme, so harmful to so many different groups, right? Whether it be, you know, students of color, efforts for diversity and inclusion in the employment sense. I mean, all of those things to me signal that there's potentially a lack of empathy -- a lack of seeing, sort of, the coalitions that the Democratic party tries to build. And so, again, I just think that many of those women reflect in what we've seen in different moments in history in terms of women who come from a perch of privilege being unwilling to give up that privilege and trying to find a spokesperson who will back up sort of their experience.
