In the days following his presidential victory, Donald Trump has been working with his transition team as he begins selecting candidates to fill the approximately 4000 politically appointed, government jobs he will need to hire after his inauguration on January 20th. While the jury is still out on some of the choices he’s already made–such as Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon–a name mentioned this week to fill the Homeland Security Advisor slot it particularly troubling to Constitutional Conservatives.
As Trump begins putting his national security team together, it was recently revealed that he is considering Rep. Peter King (R-NY), a man with a dismal 27% Liberty Score from Conservative Review, as the next Homeland Security Advisor. While you would think the former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee would be a good choice, King’s track record of putting our constitutional rights on the back burner in the name of national security prove otherwise.
Here’s a brief list of recent examples (find more here):
- After Edward Snowden exposed the spying abuses of the National Security Agency (NSA) a few years ago, King defended them in an interview, saying that he didn’t think “everyone has to know what a spy agency is doing,” and further stating that their job should be kept secret.
- In another interview about the NSA, he defended the agency when it was discovered that it had been spying on some of our allies because of “how much they’ve done for our country.”
- He also supported NSA data gathering–which was found to be unconstitutional last year–calling them “patriots” who get it right “99.99% of the time.”
King has voiced his support of increased surveillance and mandatory registration of Muslims living in America, a position also advocated by Trump. The serious danger of such a suggestion was recently revealed in a FOX News interview with a campaign advisor to the president-elect. In the interview, Carl Higbie, a former Navy SEAL and a spokesman for the pro-Trump Great America PAC, cited the United States’ use of internment camps for Japanese-Americans during World War II as “precedent” for a federal registry of Muslim immigrants.
“Look, the president needs to protect America first, and if that means having people that are not protected under our Constitution have some sort of registry so we can understand, until we can identify the true threat and where it’s coming from, I support it,” Higbie said.
King is no stranger to the Japanese internment camp comparison when it comes to dealing with Muslim Americans–having it come up during his controversial Muslim hearings a few years ago. Whether he agrees with Mr. Higbie or not, his approach to our constitutional rights is the same.
On the issue of Muslim immigration, Trump may be right about the problem, but he’s very wrong about the solution. And so is Peter King, which is why he should be denied the Homeland Security Advisor position.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative, your source for opinion that’s politically-incorrect and always “right.” His articles can also be found on RedState.com.
His daily radio commentary is nationally syndicated with Salem Radio Network and can be heard on stations across America.
