Former Homeland Security Official Calls Republican Party the Top Threat to American National Security
A former Department of Homeland Security official who served during the Trump administration claimed the Republican Party is the most pressing threat facing the United States.
Miles Taylor, who was chief of staff for Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, made these comments during a Thursday interview with Joy Reid on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut.”
“I’ve spent my whole career not as a political operative. I’ve never worked on a campaign in my life other than campaigning against Trump. I’m a national security guy. I’ve worked in national security against ISIS and al-Qaida and Russia,” Taylor said.
“And the No. 1 national security threat I’ve ever seen in my life to this country’s democracy is the party that I’m in — the Republican Party. It is the No. 1 security national security threat to the United States of America,” he said.
Taylor continued, saying the House of Representatives will become a “haunted house” if Republicans are able to retake control of it. Should House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California become speaker, he said, it would be just as if former President Donald Trump had his “hand on the speaker’s gavel,” he claimed.
“The fact that Kevin McCarthy continues to pay homage to a twice-impeached presidential loser, I think, should give all Americans pause and make them worry about the future of this country and its security.”
.@MilesTaylorUSA: “The Republican party is the number one national security threat to the United States of America.” #TheReidOut #reiders pic.twitter.com/H1lc6lY8Cg
— The ReidOut (@thereidout) July 15, 2021
Taylor is best known for working anonymously to undermine Trump and his administration while he was at DHS.
In October, he revealed he was the unnamed author of a 2018 New York Times Op-Ed headlined “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration” and an anti-Trump book titled “A Warning.”
Donald Trump is a man without character. It’s why I wrote “A Warning”…and it’s why me & my colleagues have spoken out against him (in our own names) for months. It’s time for everyone to step out of the shadows. My statement: https://t.co/yuhTgZ4bkq
— Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) October 28, 2020
The announcement that “Anonymous” was just the DHS chief of staff was surprising and disappointing to many as The Times had described the individual as a “senior administration official.”
The NYT answered a bunch of written questions about why they decided to publish the op-ed, and defended the use of “senior administration official.”
They used the phrase “upper echelons of an administration.” But Taylor wasn’t even upper echelons of DHS.https://t.co/B6PDPyisvc pic.twitter.com/PMvxAhStfG
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) October 28, 2020
It is unclear how Taylor could view the Republican Party as a bigger threat than the murderous Islamic State group or al-Qaida, which was responsible for the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on 9/11.
The GOP hasn’t called for its supporters to kill every non-Republican citizen unless they accept conservative values. The Islamic State, on the contrary, has called for Muslims in America to kill “non-believers” who do not accept their interpretation of Islam, encouraging them to take advantage of relatively easier gun access in the U.S. unavailable in other countries.
The GOP hasn’t encouraged more attacks against American citizens like al-Qaida did recently.
Nor has the GOP ever beheaded anyone in front of a camera, threatening more of such acts of violence, as the Islamic State did, or burned someone alive. Nor has the GOP run a website having “documentaries” and “movies” celebrating the killing of Americans, religious minorities and innocent people like the Islamic State and al-Qaida have.
Yet, Taylor later said through a Thursday post on Twitter that he stood by his statement that the Republican Party is America’s greatest threat.
I stand by my statement. Unless my Party reforms, its extremist elements represent the leading threat to our democracy. https://t.co/xkFyp9yqPE
— Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) July 16, 2021
During the interview on MSNBC, Taylor was joined by Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, who made headlines last year after he was accused of having a relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.
They were discussing the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion with Reid. The discussion focused on the alleged anticipation that Trump would institute a “coup” some in the Trump administration had during the time leading to January 6.
Taylor worked at DHS from 2017 to 2019.
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