Trump DHS Official: Of Course There Are Racists in the Administration
Former DHS official Elizabeth Neumann shares the moment(s) she and her Trump administration colleagues knew they weren’t in Kansas anymore.
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/AP
Even a former member of Trump’s Department of Homeland Security thinks he is batshit, and surrounded by actual racists. It would be funny if some of the stories that former DHS official Elizabeth Neumann told Rick Wilson and Molly Jong-Fast on this episode on The New Abnormal weren’t so terrifying.
She admits that she did “hold her nose” and vote for him in 2016 and really believed he would rise to the occasion. But that dream died super quick—by the end of summer 2017 to be exact.
“It was clear he didn’t have a strong enough character to put aside some of his bad habits,” she said.
There was one moment, though, that changed it all. Or, as Molly put it, “made you realize we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
“He was having some sort of schoolyard bully fight with a man who is trying to launch a nuclear weapon,” she explained. “It was a huge wake up call for the department.”
Neumann also spoke to the influence Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller had on immigration and when she, a pro-lifer, realized the president “wasn’t a true Christian.”
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And then she makes two scary admissions, which says a lot because they’re all pretty scary, to be honest. The first is that Neumann can say with certainty that many of those in Trump’s orbit are racist.
In fact, she had a moment while working in the department in which she thought, “Oh my God, some of these people are racist.”
The second, and related to the first, is the influence that Trump has had on domestic terrorism and white supremacy in the United States.
“The president not speaking out against white supremacy and against QAnon is extremely dangerous. He is creating that fear that creates vulnerability in people to be recruited and radicalized by groups that have an intention of violence.”
Plus! Will more former administration officials come out? Neumann shares her thoughts.
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