Ex-Trump Official Flags ‘Very Chilling Signal’ About This Election Season
Donald Trump is indicating that he may not accept the election results again, but this year’s situation appears more dire than it was in 2020, according to a former official who served in his administration.
Miles Taylor, former Homeland Security chief of staff, spoke to CNN Monday about Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) alarming refusal over the weekend to say if he would commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election.
Taylor suggested Scott behaved that way because he was “auditioning” to be Trump’s vice president.
“I think this is something that is sending a very chilling signal because I’m going to compare it to the last time this happened four years ago,” Taylor said. “Six months before the election, Donald Trump was doing the same thing. He was signaling that he might not accept the election results of 2020. But what you didn’t hear in that time period is Republican members of Congress lining up behind him.”
He continued, “Largely, you heard reassurance from Republican members of Congress about how it would be a free and fair election, and there would be a transfer of power regardless, and they mostly dismissed these claims that Donald Trump would try to hold on to power. And they did that right up until the last minute.”
He added, “This time is very different because they know what Donald Trump is capable of. And they don’t want to get on the wrong side of him.”
Trump suggested last week that he might not accept the results of the November vote unless he wins. In an interview with Time magazine, he also hinted that there could be more political violence if he loses.
Scott has leaned in heavily to sycophantic praise of Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, since dropping out of the presidential race in November.
Taylor quit the Republican party in 2022, accusing its members of branding “a violent insurrection in the nation’s capital as ‘legitimate political discourse’” and “going after the foundations of democracy itself.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 06: Former U.S. President Donald Trump returns from a break during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 6, 2024 in New York City. Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors say was an effort to hide a potential sex scandal, both before and after the 2016 presidential election. Trump is the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) (Photo: Win McNamee via Getty Images)