A Trump official turned critic has gone scorched earth on the president, urging him to “grow up” while giving Democrats a playbook on how to defeat him.
During Donald Trump’s first term, Sarah Matthews lasted seven months as White House deputy press secretary but resigned immediately after the Jan. 6 riot.
Matthews, 30, said she was “deeply disturbed” by the events and urged a “peaceful transfer of power” in a statement at the time. She became an outspoken critic of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and said she would vote for Joe Biden.
Matthews appeared on MSNBC’s The Weeknight on Monday night, trashing Trump for his move to send election monitors to California and New Jersey next month. The move follows requests from state Republican officials.
Former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele, also on the MSNBC panel, lamented the latest attempt from the Trump administration to ensure its own brand of “election integrity” ahead of the Nov. 4 election. He suggested Democrats should follow suit and send election monitors into red states.
But Matthews suggested that the Democrats should go big on Trump’s ranting and 2020 election denials.
Sarah Matthews at a House Select Committee hearing to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. / Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images
“I think to put this in larger context, if I were the Democratic Party, I’d be talking about how Trump is raging on his Truth Social all about the 2020 election still,” she said.
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the U.S. Capitol. / Brent Stirton / Getty Images
“I would be pointing out, it is 2025. You are the current sitting president. All of your legal challenges failed over and over and over again. You’ve never proven that there was any significant fraud in the 2020 election. Grow up. It is time to govern. Reopen the government. Do your job. There are Americans out there who are struggling right now who are waiting in food lines because they can’t pay their bills and put food on the table for their families.”
There remains no evidence of widespread voter fraud in 2020.
“And so I would put—reframe it all in that context right now that he is not doing his job, he is a narcissist who is living in the past, who can’t get over the fact that Joe Biden beat him fair and square,” Matthews continued.
Her comments come as Trump’s new “election integrity” appointee freaked out officials by echoing MAGA election fraud talking points, according to The New York Times.
Election denier Heather Honey, a Pennsylvania activist now serving as deputy assistant secretary for election integrity in the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans, led a call last month with state election officials.
Trump has long needled Biden for his 2020 victory. / Alex Wong / Getty Images
Five people with knowledge of the discussion told the Times that Honey cited a report frequently used by election conspiracists to claim that voting machines were rigged to favor Democrats.
Trump, meanwhile, went on another Truth Social rant on Monday, repeating the claim that he has won the last three elections. “After winning THREE Elections, BY A LOT, I am now getting the best Polling Numbers that I have ever received,” he said, in part.
Last week, he demanded that former Biden officials be prosecuted for the imagined crimes. “They cheated and rigged the 2020 Presidential Election. These Radical Left Lunatics should be prosecuted for their illegal and highly unethical behavior!” he blustered.
