Read on Twitter
/1 - It& #39;s late. I& #39;d love to put this debacle of a debate behind me, but I feel compelled to underscore the danger we& #39;re facing. As a Mom, I struggle w/ explaining to my children they should respect the President & pray for him as God instructs us, but not imitate his behavior.
/2 - I have limited my public commentary to those things which I have first hand knowledge, and those things which pose a danger to our country. (Sure there are other stories of the chaos & craziness, but that& #39;s not my purpose in speaking out.)
/3 - POTUS& #39; comments tonight fall into both the & #39;first-hand& #39; and & #39;dangerous& #39; category. I served at DHS as the Asst Secretary for Counterterrorism from 2018-2020. The surge of violent white nationalism happened on my watch.
/4 - I worked to develop policies, laws, and programs to better prevent domestic terrorism. My colleagues & I tried to educate the President and his staff on this threat. Initially, I thought the rebuffing was due to having other priorities (e.g., defeat ISIS, counter Iran, etc).
/5 - I concluded after the attacks in El Paso that POTUS was complicit in the deaths of Americans for his refusal to recognize his language was in the shooter& #39;s manifesto. Tonight, he was given the opportunity to condemn White Supremacy - he refused.
/6 - He instead told these groups to "Stand Back and Stand By". Online activity shows white supremacist groups & the Proud Boys have been energized by his comments as a rallying cry to attack "ANTIFA" and "left-wing" groups. They& #39;ve already created a logo with those words.
/7 - If the President was confused by the exchange, he should issue a clarifying statement immediately. Otherwise, the public is left to assume he intended to not condemn White Supremacism, & intended to encourage more violence among Americans.
8/8 - Historians & terrorism experts believe this rhetoric is extremely dangerous. This is bigger than countering Antifa protests & militia activity at riots. The root ideologies at play are responsible for the OK City Bombing. Voters, it& #39;s up to you to fix the Trump problem.
