Miles Taylor, a former Trump administration official who served as Homeland Security deputy chief of staff and then chief of staff from 2017 to 2019, has announced that he’s leaving the Republican party, saying that the GOP is now a threat to the country.
“I no longer believe the Republican Party can be saved,” he wrote on Twitter. “The vitriolic rhetoric is inspiring violent radicals. I’m quitting the GOP. And I hope more do the same.
In his tweet, Taylor linked to an editorial he wrote for NBC News saying:
“In the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo on Saturday, it’s become glaringly obvious that my party no longer represents conservative values but in fact poses a threat to them — and to America.”
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The former DHS official was referring to the white supremacist who shot and killed 10 at a Buffalo grocery store and specifically targeted Black people.
The shooter reportedly wrote a manifesto referencing “great replacement theory,” a racist conspiracy theory promoted by some Republicans and amplified by figures such as Fox News host ― and self-confessed liar ― Tucker Carlson. The Theory claims that Democrats are trying to replace white Americans with people of color.
Taylor noted that a poll last year found nearly half of Republicans agreed with sentiments of the “great replacement theory.”
“The Republican Party — which branded a violent insurrection in the nation’s capital as ‘legitimate political discourse’ — is poisoning Americans’ minds and supplanting respectful disagreement with loaded-gun rhetoric,” he wrote.
Although some good people remained in the Republican party, Taylor urged them to quit, too, “until it is rehabilitated or a suitable alternative is created.”
I'm done.
I no longer believe the Republican Party can be saved. The vitriolic rhetoric is inspiring violent radicals.
I'm quitting the GOP. And I hope more do the same.
— Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) May 17, 2022
