Trump's ex-communications director, Erin Perrine, has found herself the target of the Trump campaign's venom.
Perrine started working for the DeSantis PAC Never Back Down in March but was let go in December.
Erin Perrine served as Donald Trump's communication director during his 2020 campaign. In March 2023, she signed on as the communication director for Never Back Down, headed by Ken Cuccinelli, a former Trump Homeland Security official.
Perrine was terminated from the PAC in early December when the DeSantis campaign did a major reboot. She was let go at the same time Kristin Davison was fired after having only served as the CEO of the PAC for nine days.
Perrine recently appeared on the Fox Business Network with Maria Bartiromo on "Mornings with Maria." She was touted as "former Trump campaign communications director" while doing the interview, which set the Trump campaign off. The Trump War Room X account posted:
"Look at this grifter @ErinMPerrine trying to use her previous Trump association to get on TV. She chose to side with DeSanctimonious and nothing can ever wash that foul stench of s— off her.
"MAGA disowns her and anyone else that associates/works with her. TRAITOR!"
The post was also taken as a threat to Bartiromo, or any Fox News personnel, for that matter, that would have former Trump staffers on that are or were working for DeSantis. The hostility was noted, with quite a few comments blasting the Trump campaign for going after Perrine like this. For instance, former NYPD Officer John Cardillo responded:
"Trump's official campaign team is so vile towards former employees who left the cult, especially women. What kind of presidential candidate and his team act this way?
"These are sick cultist people."
The oddity in all of this is that Perrine was not even slamming the Trump campaign during her interview, just noting that voters leaving the Biden campaign are not all going to Trump. Instead, the majority are looking at other campaigns and third-party candidates.
This is also a very short-sighted outlook from Trump's spokespeople, which we have seen before. They create venomous posts to cater to Trump's hardcore base, not realizing they are repelling more voters than drawing in.
I don't understand this philosophy when they have Trump's hardcore supporters locked up, but they will need more than just those voters to win a general election, and instead, they are alienating DeSantis voters and now women for this ridiculous attack against someone irrelevant to Trump's campaign.
The final thought on this is actually a question. If this campaign continues to slam every person who used to work for Trump, who do they expect to come to work for him if he wins the primary and general elections? Why would anyone of quality ever want to work for someone when you know the moment you leave the organization and dare to say anything critical of Trump, you are going to get blasted and have Trump supporters sicced on you like a rabid pack of dogs?
The campaign needs to stay on point, focused on the issues, and go after Biden, not former staffers and other Republican candidates. With Trump's lead, it serves no other purpose than to turn more conservative voters against Trump, voters he can ill afford to lose in this election.
