MSNBC continues to prop up the Biden administration by airing rants filled with sick rhetoric and fueled by emotion, including suggesting that the Republican Party is now a “bigger threat to our democracy than organizations like Al-Qaeda or ISIS.” On Wednesday’s Deadline: White House, guest Miles Taylor (aka Anonymous from the Trump administration) appeared to push the narrative that January 6th is a greater threat than the people responsible for 9/11. That's an unhinged idea, and it's insulting as we get closer to the 20th anniversary of September 11th.
Host Nicolle Wallace started the segment by asking Taylor whether or not the Jan. 6th insurrectionists were “domestic terrorists.” Taylor then claimed he spoke with an anonymous source on this topic:
I'm not going to dime out on television but a very prominent, former U.S. commander who said there are elements of the GOP that are starting to look like the jihadists that he used to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, spreading lies and conspiracy theories to radicalize a population. This was a very serious four-star commander who said the GOP is starting to look like jihadists.
He continued his appalling remarks and used his counterterrorism knowledge to compare Donald Trump and January 6th to other terrorist movements:
They usually start with a political grievance that leaders say cannot be solved through peaceful means, and then they move to violence. So, after Trump started to propagate the big lie in November, a lot of us in the national security community said what he's doing is actually tilling the fertile soil for extremists to pop up later on. In fact, we saw it as a ticking time bomb for an increase in domestic terrorism, and I think over the next two years you are going to see that, you’re going to see the spike in cases, and you’re going to see that because radicalized elements of the Republican party now represent a bigger threat to our democracy than organizations like Al Qaeda or ISIS ever did.
Al-Qaeda is responsible for the death of thousands of Americans and the destruction of the Pentagon and World Trade Center, but for Taylor, this was less of a threat than January 6th.
He later ranted about how people have become so “numb” to Trump’s behavior that it “legitimizes that sort of civil disorder and conduct.” Taylor and Wallace both slammed Trump for meeting with the mother of Ashli Babbitt, claiming it would be the same if a president met with the family of a jihadist responsible for the death of American troops.
Unsurprisingly, the liberal media continue to push this narrative of January 6th, yet they refuse to cover the violent BLM riots in the same way. In fact, the left often praised and encouraged BLM protestors. However, the media would never label these riots as a threat to democracy.
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Below is a full transcript of the segment, click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s Deadline: White House
8/11/2021
4:42 p.m. Eastern
NICOLLE WALLACE: Homeland security officials say they’re warning local police departments about potential political violence fueled by those false claims of election fraud being furthered on social media. They tell NBC News, they’re sounding the alarm now to prevent another January 6th after noticing an uptick in individuals calling for violence sparked by lies and the alleged reinstatement of the twice impeached president.
Trump today feeding into that very danger, that very conspiracy. Sympathizing once again with the insurrectionists about the death of capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt and potentially threatening capitol police officers saying, quote, we know who killed her. NBC News found his previous suggestion presented without evidence about who that was were false, according to law enforcement officials.
Joining our conversation is Miles Taylor, former department of homeland security chief of staff, he’s now a cofounder of the Renew America Movement, they have a new ad out, we’re going to get to that, but I want to start with you and Claire on the ex-president's statement. I have been grappling with how to cover it without amplifying it. But suffice to say the ex-president met with the mother of Ashli Babbitt, and I want to ask you, Miles, if you agree with Officer Hodges who was one of the four capitol police officers who testified before the 1/6 Select Committee investigating the insurrection that the insurrectionists were domestic terrorists.
MILES TAYLOR: Yeah, in fact, I agree unequivocally. In fact Nicolle, just today I was talking to someone who -- I'm not going to dime out on television but a very prominent, former U.S. Commander who said there are elements of the GOP that are starting to look like the jihadists that he used to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, spreading lies and conspiracy theories to radicalize a population. This was a very series four-star commander who said the GOP is starting to look like jihadists. And someone who I think has personal conservative views. That's the environment that we're in. So, there’s no question this was an attack of domestic terrorism and I worry similarly about the continuing radicalization of the electorate. And if you go back and look in time, and I say this as a counterterrorism guy. You look in time at terrorism movements, they don't start usually immediately with violence. They usually start with a political grievance that leaders say cannot be solved through peaceful means, and then they move to violence.
So, after Trump started to propagate the big lie in November, a lot of us in the national security community said what he's doing is actually tilling the fertile soil for extremists to pop up later on. In fact, we saw it as a ticking time bomb for an increase in domestic terrorism, and I think over the next two years you are going to see that, you’re going to see the spike in cases, and you’re going to see that because radicalized elements of the Republican party now represent a bigger threat to our democracy than organizations like Al Qaeda or ISIS ever did.
Now, not necessarily the human lives, not necessarily, but a bigger threat to our democracy than those terrorist groups ever did because these are institutions, political institutions that are attacking our democracy, trying to rewrite the rules and irrevocably breaking our bonds as Americans, and they’re doing it all from the inside. It's something that our enemies could never have even dreamed of.
WALLACE: Can you fathom an example of a politician of other party meeting with the mother of a domestic terrorist and the other party really just sort of shrugging it off? I mean where are we in our politics that the ex-president who is inciting domestic violent extremism, meets with the mother of, by your definition, by detective Hodges, the mother of a terrorist and everyone kind of shrugs it off?
TAYLOR: I mean Nicolle, you were there in the Bush years. You know, could you imagine that President Bush had met with either the widow or mother of a jihadist that had killed American troops or was trying to kill American troops? It would have been an absolute political scandal of epic proportions. That's what it would have been. And we've become so numb to Donald Trump's crass, inappropriate, and outlandish behavior that it's almost not getting covered in certain corners. So, I’m so glad you're raising it because it is the equivalent of going to meet with someone who was trying to attack our democracy itself, someone who -- the mother of someone who was trying to attack democracy itself. It’s the wrong thing to do, it’s politicizing this issue, but at the end of the day, Nicolle, as you hinted at the top end, what this does is it leads to radicalization of more people who could potentially pose a threat because it legitimizes that sort of civil disorder and conduct.
WALLACE: Claire McCaskill, you sat on the – did you chair or you sat on the homeland security committee, I remember. Do you think that inside our security agencies there's paralysis because of the ex-president's role and associations with domestic terrorists?
CLAIRE MCCASKILL: Well, there's no question that during the Trump years when I was a ranking member on the committee, we kept trying to push the then chairman, none other than Ron Johnson, to do more work…
WALLACE: Can't make it up.
MCCASKILL: … around domestic. Yeah. To do more work around domestic terrorism. We saw it. I mean, we've had serious domestic terrorism in this country for a long time. You know, hate crimes and if you look at all the bigoted and anti-semitic groups out there just flourishing on the dark web and trading ideas about how it can bring down people who are innocent and the only mistake they've made is not being for Donald Trump for president. I mean, think about this, Nicolle. I remember the moment that Donald Trump got the question about the proud boys in the debate and a chill went down my spine when he said tell them to stand back and stand by, and then what he did – he proceeded to tell them as soon as that election was over, okay, don't stand by anymore. You go out and do your thing. He knows they're violent. He knows they have terribly prejudice views about their fellow Americans. So, what he did today is as bad as anything he’s done because now what he's saying is -- he's kind of threatening law enforcement for trying to protect members of Congress --
WALLACE: And Mike pence.
MCCASKILL: He’s threatening them and Mike pence.
WALLACE: It’s insane
TAYLOR: Nicolle, I don't want to break the flow here, but there's a really unique side-by-side happening on the screen right now because ranking member McCaskill is someone who -- I'm a Republican, she’s a Democrat. I so admired what she was trying to do on domestic terrorism and then within the Trump administration was trying to put in place the programs to go after domestic terrorists and guess who thwarted both Senator McCaskill and Trump's own staff? It was Trump himself. He didn't want anything done on domestic terrorism because he saw these people as his political constituency. He saw potential domestic terrorists as voters and that sort of crass behavior led him to suppress the important national security actions needed to protect our country that is chilling to me.
WALLACE: Well, just to close a loop, then we have to sneak in a break, and then we'll show everyone the new ad from your group. The circle is complete. So he incited violence. He then met with the mother of a domestic terrorist today. So it sort of explains why all your efforts were also thwarted and yours as well, Claire. We have to sneak in a quick break, we'll come back with a new ad focused on all these issues, extremism in the GOP.
