Former CIA Director Michael Hayden received criticism after agreeing with a statement about Republicans.
Financial Times columnist Edward Luce tweeted on Thursday, “I’ve covered extremism and violent ideologies around the world over my career.”
He added, “Have never come across a political force more nihilistic, dangerous and contemptible than today’s Republicans. Nothing close.”
https://twitter.com/EdwardGLuce/status/1557984573354565633
Hayden replied, “I agree. And I was the CIA Director.”
I agree. And I was the CIA Director https://t.co/LRAHDDyy4n
— Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) August 17, 2022
His response sparked several reactions on Twitter.
Senior Writer at RealClearInvestigations, Mark Hemingway, tweeted, “A former CIA director is saying ‘today’s Republicans’ are worse than ISIS and more dangerous — which implies they should be treated similarly.”
He continued, “Aside from grossly irresponsible and delusional rhetoric condemning millions of Americans, it does explain recent foreign policy.”
A former CIA director is saying "today's Republicans" are worse than ISIS and more dangerous — which implies they should be treated similarly.
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) August 17, 2022
Aside from grossly irresponsible and delusional rhetoric condemning millions of Americans, it does explain recent foreign policy. https://t.co/GUzLjwhozH
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson argued that “these sorts of tweets and the underlying one do more damage to the nation than Trump’s statements.”
He added, “They reinforce for about half the country that the media, cultural, and governmental elite view them with disdain and they will get no fair hearing on their concerns.”
These sorts of tweets and the underlying one do more damage to the nation than Trump's statements. They reinforce for about half the country that the media, cultural, and governmental elite view them with disdain and they will get no fair hearing on their concerns. https://t.co/8ilBXGtcfA
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 17, 2022
Check out more reactions below:
This helps to explain why you, along with four other former CIA Directors, lied to the American Public about Hunter Biden's laptop in order to get Joe Biden elected. https://t.co/KMKOqY5G9Q
— Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) August 17, 2022
Heads of the deep state casually charactering half the country as worse than ISIS in public https://t.co/jY4I8j7IUm
— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) August 17, 2022
https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1560292788184485888
The former CIA Director, the man in charge of killing terrorists when he was in that job, believes you are a terrorist. https://t.co/G4XpVyitje
— Carmine Sabia (@CarmineSabia) August 18, 2022
Hayden’s tweet comes just days after he appeared to suggest that former President Donald Trump should be executed after the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago, as The New York Post noted.
NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss tweeted, “Rosenbergs were convicted for giving U.S. nuclear secrets to Moscow, and were executed June 1953.”
The former CIA director responded, “Sounds about right.”
Sounds about right. https://t.co/hJCjxhN2BQ
— Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) August 12, 2022
Hayden previously served as director of the CIA from 2006 to 2008 and the director of the NSA from 1999 to 2005.
PBS noted Hayden, as head of the NSA, “Developed the administration’s highly controversial warrantless wiretapping program.”