In a Washington Post piece, Daniel Drezner pretty much obliterates Sebastian Gorka, the right-wing Muslim-hater who somehow ascended to being an terrorism adviser to the Trump White House. It seems Gorka cold-called a critic and actual terrorism expert and whined about the “incessant berating of my professional acumen.” In telling Gorka to grow a pair, Drezner also pointed out Gorka’s laughable insistence on touting his doctorate at every opportunity despite the fact that his doctoral thesis (from a Hungarian university) would have a hard time getting respect as an undergraduate thesis at a decent American college. “It’s a surefire sign that you’re overcompensating,” Drezner wrote.
Accuracy in Media, for one, has been among the right-wing groups helping Gorka overcompensate and evade criticism of his work.
In a May 2012 column, AIM’s Cliff Kincaid introduced “Dr. Sebastian L. v. Gorka,” who claimed that “the Obama Administration is rapidly revising federal counter-terrorism training materials in order to eliminate references to Jihad and Islam.” Kincaid made no mention of any actual evidence Gorka had of this beyond a Wired magazine expose on how FBI counterterrorism training had a bad habit of characterizing all Muslims as prone to violence or terrorism. Kincaid added that Gorka “recently became an American citizen.”
A September 2016 AIM article by Alex Nitzberg touted how “Dr. Sebastian Gorka” said that political correctness is harming U.S. “war efforts” because it fails “to recognize the link between Islam and terrorism.” Gorka peddled other right-wing orthodoxy as well:
While he identified “the global jihadi movement” as the primary threat currently facing America, he also said, “…I think if the nation looks at itself in the mirror, the other truly horrific enemy we face is ourselves. If you look at the debt that both politicians of left and right have accumulated for this nation and for generations to come…Capitol Hill is acting like a bunch of drunken sailors that will create a bankrupt nation if we don’t get a grip.”
Questioned about the potential ramifications of a Hillary Clinton presidency, Dr. Gorka said that “…a Hillary Clinton administration would be catastrophic for this nation.” Describing Clinton as “…a person who’s completely beholden to the highest bidder and has no regard for the interests of the republic,” he asserted that “…she would be bad for America, her allies, and the interests of the nation in the long run.” While not a member of the Trump campaign, Dr. Gorka has previously advised the Republican candidate on national security.
If Gorka is a two-bit ideologue who Peter Principled his way into the Trump White House — and it certainly appears he is — AIM certainly helped create him.