'China could have launched a nuclear strike at the U.S. and Trump wouldn't care' after losing showdown with Congress: book

Donald Trump's government shutdown from the end of 2018 into 2019 proved to be the longest in American history. Despite the finger-wagging from Democrats and Trump's poll numbers falling, it was Homeland Security that finally was able to get the ex-president to blink, according to Miles Taylor.

Writing in his new book "Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump," the former DHS chief of staff and infamous "Anonymous" author describes Trump being convinced to end the shutdown.

Years before the 2020 election, and the impending global pandemic, Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen painted Trump a mental picture that he couldn't ignore.

"We held emergency meetings at the White House. The secretary and I used the looming deadline of missed paychecks to force Trump's hand, raising the visual spector of DHS families standing in food lines— something the president knew would be deeply harmful to his reelection. He finally blinked."

Homeland Security oversees departments like the U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Federal Emergency Management, the TSA, Secret Service and others. National security faltering because Trump wanted a "wall" wasn't a good image, and they finally convinced him of it.

What followed, however, was a complete presidential meltdown, according to Taylor.

"Up to that point, I thought I'd seen the nation's chief executive unglued. But after he lost the showdown with Congress, his remaining reservations (if any) were gone," said Taylor. "In the three months that followed, China could have launched a nuclear strike at the United States, and Trump wouldn't have cared. Everything was about the southern border."

"The best way to describe the mayhem of that period is merely to recount Trump's words and actions, which proved — once and for all — that quitting the administration was the only appropriate option," he continued.

Taylor recalls a flight with Trump in which he demanded the "wall" be "cheap" and "f--king beautiful." When Taylor tried to explain how federal contracts worked he was ignored as Trump unmuted Fox and smiled back at his face on the screen.

Raw Story has full coverage of Taylor's book here.