Queue ‘Anon’
Author of ‘Warning’ was Homeland big, makes plea for Joe
“Anonymous” no more.
Miles Taylor, the former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, revealed Wednesday that he is “Anonymous,” the senior Trump administration official who penned a scathing book about the president without revealing his identity or rank.
Taylor, who stepped down in November 2019 after serving at DHS since early 2017, unmasked himself in a lengthy statement that confirmed he’s the author of “A Warning,” which was published shortly before his resignation, as well as an unsigned 2018 New York Times op-ed that asserted there was a “resistance inside the Trump administration.”
“Make no mistake: I am a Republican, and I wanted this president to succeed. That’s why I came into the administration,” Taylor said in the statement. “But too often in times of crisis, I saw Donald Trump prove he is a man without character, and his personal defects have resulted in leadership failures so significant that they can be measured in lost American lives.” is anonymous
Repeating the central theme of his op-ed, Taylor said there are many others in the administration who are repulsed by Trump’s policies and statements.
“That’s why I’m writing this note — to urge you to speak out if you haven’t,” he said. “While I hope a few more Trump officials will quickly find their consciences, your words are now more important than theirs. It’s time to come forward and shine a light on the discord that’s infected our public discourse.”
Toward the end of his missive, Taylor urged fellow Republicans to “put country over party” and vote for Joe Biden in next week’s election.
“I believe Joe Biden’s decency will bring us back together where Donald Trump’s dishonesty has torn us apart,” he said.
In his anonymous op-ed and book, Taylor described Trump as an “infective,” “undisciplined” and “amoral” leader whose authoritarian impulses threaten the foundations of American democracy.
Taylor’s “Anonymous” writings infuriated Trump, who set off on a brief hunt to find his identity.
“TREASON?” the president tweeted in response to Taylor’s op-ed when it was published in September 2018.
Since leaving the administration, Taylor has picked up a job as a CNN contributor.
On the air, Taylor has been a vocal critic of Trump and taken particular issue with the administration’s since-reversed “zero tolerance” policy on immigration, which resulted in thousands of migrant children being ripped from their families at the U.S. southern border.
Still, in his role as chief of staff,
Taylor played a part in carrying out some of Trump’s most controversial policies, including the “zero tolerance” practice — something he has said he regrets.
Trump campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley, who used to work as a deputy press secretary at the White House, belittled Taylor’s unmasking as “the least impressive, lamest political ‘reveal’ of all time.”
“I worked with DHS officials while I was in the White House, and even I had to research who Miles Taylor was,” Gidley said. “He’s just another standard-issue arrogant, Washington, D.C., swamp bro who loved President Trump until he figured out he could try to make money by attacking him.”
Apparently foreseeing the profit issue, Taylor said in his statement that he rejected a “hefty monetary advance” on his book and has donated “the bulk” of its proceeds.
Taylor joins a long list of former administration officials and Trump confidants who have broken publicly with the president, including personal attorney Michael Cohen, national security adviser John Bolton, defense secretary Jim Mattis and economic czar Gary Cohn.