'Donald J. Trump poses a significant threat to homeland security': national security expert

In a column for Politico, homeland security expert Donell Harvin, an agreement between the FBI and Homeland Security that extremism in the United States has risen to alarming proportions makes the case that Donald Trump is an animating force behind it.

As Harvin explained, the government agencies are careful to remain apolitical in their assessments, but, to him, "Donald J. Trump poses a significant threat to homeland security."

As he notes in his long column for Politico, normally "fractured violent extremist" groups have coalesced around the former president, drawn in by his rants about the "deep state" and he has become their "de facto spiritual leader."

As he wrote, "In some ways, Trump has also co-opted these groups to boost his own support. This, in my assessment, makes the former president a leading driver of domestic extremism, and an unprecedented danger to our security. The indictment of Trump for his push to overturn the 2020 election puts that in stark relief."

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Claiming he doesn't make his accusation against Trump lightly, he made the case that security officials are all too aware that the former president is a magnet for radical extremists and are alarmed at his growing cult.

Calling it "an unspoken concern for many homeland security professionals," he added, "The culmination of Trump’s attraction to these hateful elements unfolded for the world on Jan 6. In the months and years since then, despite the prosecution of hundreds of the rioters and the recent indictment of the former president for his role in fomenting the violence, the danger of extremist violence has not abated. Instead, it has morphed. Donald Trump still poses a clear and present danger to the United States of America."

"The former president is fomenting a radicalism that affects not only those in extremist groups or far-right individuals (lone actors), but has also permeated the mainstream of civil society, the media and public life. This is certainly not to say that all Trump supporters or those that ascribe to the 'MAGA' doctrine are extremists," he added before warning, "A trial and conviction of Trump could expand the number of disaffected and radicalized citizens who see violence as the only means to solve perceived political and societal wrongs. That’s particularly true because Trump is sure to continue his narrative of victimization and martyrdom."

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