CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem accused former President Donald Trump of “leading a terror movement” on Thursday on CNN’s “New Day.”
Guest host John Avlon said, “You tweeted this Atlantic article. You wrote after the January 6 attacks, almost a year ago, saying this. ‘As we gear up for 1/6 anniversary coverage, reposting my take then, many criticized this for calling Trump leader of a terror movement who uses violence or threat of it as an extension of politics. After a year, I think I was too kind.’ So if you think you were too kind to call him extremist leader then, what do you call him now?”
Kayyem said, “Well, he continues to be the leader of an organization that uses violence or the threat of violence to disrupt democratic processes. That is terrorism.”
She continued, “I think we sometimes forget that what sort of connects everything is violence and the threat of violence that now animates so much of our political discourse coming from Republican leadership, from right-wing media. It’s not just, you know, sort of random violence. It is targeted against secretaries of state, against various congresspeople.”
On criminal cases against January 6, Capitol rioters, Kayyem said, “It matters from the counterterrorism perspective, the world that I grew up in, which is if you view Trump as leading a terror movement, these cases are undermining his ability to recruit, to raise money and you’re seeing that. You’re seeing organizations like the Proud Boys, very difficult for them to reform.”
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