Donald Trump’s latest rhetoric has sparked concern from within his own former administration, with one top intelligence official warning that the country may be sliding toward authoritarianism. The alarm came in a new interview published Sunday by Miles Taylor, a former Homeland Security official who wrote a scathing op-ed about Trump under the pen name “Anonymous.”
Taylor, whose home was targeted in a break-in shortly after his criticism of the president, shared his conversation with Sue Gordon, Trump’s former Deputy Director of National Intelligence. Gordon said Trump’s recent call for the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey was a breaking point.
“I think we don’t talk nearly enough historically about how totalitarian regimes start by using law for their own purposes,” she told Taylor. “We tend to think of them as just ‘not being lawful’ — but the first thing is… selectively applying it [for their own] purposes. And so you don’t have to see chaos and anarchy.”
Taylor underscored the weight of Gordon’s words, noting her long career in national security under both Republican and Democratic administrations. “When Donald Trump’s own former spy chief, someone who served under both Republican and Democratic presidents, by the way, says we’ve crossed the line into democratic decay, we should pay attention,” Taylor wrote.
Gordon warned that what she once thought to be a “control gate” — a boundary that U.S. institutions would not allow to be crossed — has now been breached. “So I’m worried because it feels like the institution hasn’t held… This was one of the control gates that I thought we wouldn’t be able to cross,” she said.
Despite her warning, Gordon urged Americans not to lose hope. “I think these may be the toughest days I’ve seen. But stay engaged. Don’t despair. This isn’t a ‘political’ fight. I only have one side, and that’s for America. So hold on to that. Hold that standard. Fight the fight that America needs to be fought. And then don’t shy away from participating.”
Taylor echoed her concerns, saying the nation is in “grave danger” but also emphasizing Gordon’s call to action: that the survival of American democracy depends on citizens refusing to give up.