Stephanie Grisham says Trump has become great at ‘taking advantage’ of the GOP base: ‘He knows they’ll do whatever he says’

• On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Stephanie Grisham said that Trump is “taking advantage” of the GOP base.
• The former White House press secretary points to the ex-president’s continued false election claims.
• “He will never admit to being wrong, or to losing anything,” she said during the interview.

Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham on Sunday said that former President Donald Trump has become great at “taking advantage” of the Republican base, which includes many Americans who are “desperate for a voice” in government.

During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Grisham recalled some of Trump’s actions while returns were still coming in from key battleground states on Election night last November.

The former president was incensed over the election results from Arizona, a longtime Republican stronghold-turned-swing state that Fox News called for now-President Joe Biden earlier than most news networks.

In the early hours of the morning after Election Day, Grisham said that there was an internal discussion about how Trump would proceed with his remarks given that no candidate had reached the 270-electoral vote threshold to declare victory.

“When they went down to take the stage, I remember specifically there was still kind of a debate on what he should say when he took the stage, and it was kind of decided [that] he should say, ‘We’ll see what happens,’ which, obviously, he did not say that when he took the stage,” she told host Chuck Todd. “So I think he just refused to give up. I mean, it’s Donald Trump, right?”

The former president ended up giving a fiery speech, claiming that he had won the election, even while vote counting was still ongoing in many states.

“We were getting ready to win this election,” Trump said at roughly 2:30 a.m. ET. “Frankly, we did win this election.”

He added: “This is a major fraud on our nation,” without providing any verifiable evidence of wrongdoing.

Grisham said that Trump’s continued insistence on pointing to a stolen election has only served to take advantage of the people who have looked to him for leadership.

“He will never admit to being wrong, or to losing anything,” she said. “And now he’s doubling and tripling down because he’s got so many people supporting that theory.”

“I think one thing he’s gotten really good at, or he did get really good at as president, is taking advantage of the base and this group of people who are, you know, so desperate for a voice, which I understand and support, but I think they’re being taken advantage of now and I think he knows they’ll do whatever he says,” she added.

Grisham, who was former first lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff and press secretary at the time of her resignation on Jan. 6, recently released a tell-all memoir, “I’ll Take Your Questions Now,” which chronicles her time in the Trump White House.

She also told Todd that she believes that Trump will run for his old job in 2024 and likely bring along “people of the January 6 mind,” alluding to the deadly insurrection that occurred during the certification of the Electoral College count at the US Capitol.

“I don’t want him to run again,” Grisham said. “I think people aren’t remembering that if he does run again in 2024, he’ll have no guardrails because he’ll never have to worry about reelection, so he will do whatever he wants.”

She emphasized: “He will hire whomever he wants, and I think that includes people of the January 6 mind.”