A former Trump administration official is claiming his old boss might seek to use wartime powers for political purposes.
On Thursday, former national security official Miles Taylor claimed there is “a lot” former President Donald Trump can do “bubble-wrapped in legalese that would be damaging to the republic.”
Taylor went on to reference a so-called “Doomsday Book” in the White House that outlines the powers a president has in the event of a foreign invasion.
He argued, “[Trump] could invoke powers we’ve never heard a President of the United States invoke, potentially to shut down companies or turn off the internet or deploy the U.S. military on U.S. soil.”
Watch the video below:
MSNBC's @MilesTaylorUSA: If elected, Trump may "turn off the Internet." https://t.co/OstdHL4n9T pic.twitter.com/IcE9rtRfM5
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 14, 2023
Several people on X, formerly Twitter, focused on Miles’ mention of Trump potentially shutting down the internet to roast his comments.
The Federalist’s Emily Jashinsky wrote, “But [Trump] loves the internet.”
But he loves the internet https://t.co/PiPjxnvCZW
— Emily Jashinsky (@emilyjashinsky) December 15, 2023
“of all the things to say here based on what trump says and has done, you go with trump may ‘turn off the internet?'” asked one user.
of all the things to say here based on what trump says and has done, you go with trump may “turn off the internet?” https://t.co/b6r0DYSV01
— kaitlin (@thefactualprep) December 14, 2023
Conservative writer John Hasson posted, “Trump built an entire social media platform because he couldn’t live without Twitter But sure, he’s going to turn off the internet.”
https://twitter.com/SonofHas/status/1735434058078011787
Taylor later reacted to the clip of his comments, writing, “I’d love for the internet to be turned off for a bit … just not by a demented, Putin-loving hack wielding emergency presidential powers to selectively punish online outlets and platforms he doesn’t like. Trump’s own people worry about him doing this, BTW.”