Nicolle Wallace asked Taylor on Wednesday if he thought that “the insurrectionists were domestic terrorists.” If Taylor had had any integrity at all (but of course that ship sailed long ago), he would have responded that not only were the “insurrectionists” not domestic terrorists, but they weren’t even “insurrectionists.” Instead, he claimed that he had discussed the matter with “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.”
In reality, the jihadis in Afghanistan and Iraq are not notably given to “spreading lies and conspiracy theories,” any more than “elements of the GOP” outside of the Romney/Cheney wing are. Rather, they appeal to the public on the basis of Islam’s teachings regarding the necessity to wage jihad against an infidel invader, and the ultimate religious necessity to ensure that society is governed according to Islamic law.
But Taylor needs to claim this in order to tar the GOP as worse than al-Qaeda and ISIS, and he digs even deeper: “I say this as a counterterrorism guy. If 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 I think you’re going to see that.”
In reality, the jihadis in Afghanistan and Iraq are not notably given to “spreading lies and conspiracy theories,” any more than “elements of the GOP” outside of the Romney/Cheney wing are. Rather, they appeal to the public on the basis of Islam’s teachings regarding the necessity to wage jihad against an infidel invader, and the ultimate religious necessity to ensure that society is governed according to Islamic law.
But Taylor needs to claim this in order to tar the GOP as worse than al-Qaeda and ISIS, and he digs even deeper: “I say this as a counterterrorism guy. If 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 I think you’re going to see that.”
