President-elect Donald Trump‘s decision to tap Sebastian Gorka to serve in his new administration as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism has raised eyebrows.
Gorka faced an untimely exit from the first Trump administration over disagreements with former White House chief of staff John Kelly amid allegations of his ties to fringe figures on the Right.
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In the first Trump White House, Gorka served as strategist to the president and advised Trump on national security matters. His presence in the president’s orbit was questioned when he showed up to the presidential inaugural ball in 2017 wearing an honorary medal of Hungarian nationalist organization Vitezi Rend. This organization has been linked to Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s.
Gorka, who is outspokenly pro-Israel and supportive of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, explained that he wore the medal in honor of his father, Paul Gorka, who was awarded the order of merit in 1979 for his efforts in opposing the Hungarian communist dictatorship.
Gorka’s father “was imprisoned at the age of 20 for his anti-Communist activities, and was later given the medal in exile,” the Trump ally said. “I wear his medal during official occasions in homage to my father and my Hungarian roots.”
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The counterterrorism appointee has also faced allegations of islamophobia for supporting Trump’s proposed travel ban, which targeted Muslim-majority countries that were flagged for security concerns. When critics opposed this policy, Gorka denounced such criticism as “political correctness.”
He has also come under fire for statements made about the religion of Islam, namely that it is “not a religion of peace.” In his book, Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War, Gorka traces back the roots of modern Islamic terrorism to seventh-century practices and theology espoused by Muhammad.
In another controversy stemming back to his first White House stint, Gorka was charged with carrying a weapon at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. As a result of this, he was unable to obtain clearance for the National Security Council.
Gorka, an immigrant from Hungary, also faces criticism for his prior role as an adviser to Hungary Prime Minister Victor Orban, a key international ally of Trump. Many on the Left characterize Orban as a fascist.
Some other comments that have drawn backlash include his criticism of “globalists,” his suggestion that the concept of “lone wolf” terrorist attacks is made up to take blame away from Islamic terrorists, his claim that New York Times and the Washington Post were “shilling for the Jihadis,” his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and his framing of Democrats as “evil.”
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Former national security adviser under the first Trump administration, John Bolton, slammed the pick in an interview on CNN. He called Gorka a “con man” who “needs a full FBI field background investigation.”
“I think he is a perfect example of somebody who owes his position purely to Donald Trump,” Bolton said. “He doesn’t display loyalty; he displays fealty, and that’s what Trump wants. He doesn’t want Gorka’s opinions, he wants Gorka to say ‘yes sir’ and I’m fully confident that’s exactly what will happen no matter what it is Trump says.”
The Democratic National Committee responded to the Trump pick with a statement from DNC spokesman Alex Floyd, calling Gorka “a far-right extremist who is as dangerous as he is unqualified to lead America’s counterterrorism strategy.”
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“Trump is putting America’s safety and leadership abroad in the hands of MAGA loyalists who will always put him and his toxic agenda ahead of the security of the American people,” Floyd added.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Gorka for comment.
