Ex-official warns 'walls are closing in' on Trump: 'Not even selling his own supporters'

Former Trump administration Homeland Security staffer Miles Taylor tore apart the president's recent wave of strikes on ships off the coast of Venezuela on MS NOW, saying that even Trump's own supporters know his stated motive for the attacks is nonsense.

This comes amid a bipartisan investigation in Congress over one particular strike in September, in which military officials apparently fired on survivors who were surrendering and likely hadn't even been heading toward the United States.

"I think 100 percent of the American people believe that illegal drugs are a scourge, but that includes the illegal drugs that are killing the most Americans, and those are not on the boats," said anchor Nicolle Wallace. "And a boat with 11 people on it, really, most people think doesn't have very many drugs on it at all. So what is it about pursuing the boats as opposed to pursuing the sources of fentanyl, which are China and Mexico? Why are we sort of sleepwalking along with even the premise of this?"

"Well, look, Donald Trump likes imagery, and I think that they feel like they can attack these boats, and it sends some sort of message ... of deterrence against anyone who would cross Trump, not just drug dealers, but any other threats he might face," said Taylor. "But I'll tell you this, Nicolle: even some of the president's own close allies are now breaking with him over this."

"Look at Laura Loomer," Taylor continued. "She today noted that, you know, the drugs that are on these boats coming out of Venezuela are largely cocaine, not fentanyl. Donald Trump has said that the focus of this is on fentanyl. And even Laura Loomer came out and said, you know, fentanyl is mostly coming from China and Mexico, not Venezuela. So he's not even selling his own supporters on this. And I think that shows that the real purpose of this is not to stop fentanyl coming into the United States. It's to strengthen Donald Trump's power. It's to show that whatever he says is the law becomes the law. And potentially, you know, it's meant to be a prelude to this possible land invasion and campaign of Venezuela."

"But if that's the case, even then, the administration has done a terrible job explaining that story to the American people and explaining why it matters," he added. "So all of this seems to be falling apart. And Nicolle, given the reporting that you opened the program with, to me, it seems like the walls are closing in on Donald Trump on this issue."

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