Even in the States, most people have forgotten Miles Taylor’s name. But Donald Trump hasn’t.
There was a huge stir during the first Trump presidency when a scathing op-ed – followed by a book – credited only to “Anonymous” – was published, laying bare many of the more abjectly terrifying aspects of the President’s behaviour.
Taylor, who served in the Department of Homeland Security under George W Bush and Trump, said he had been “part of the resistance inside the Trump administration”.
USA Today said his book was a “scathing portrait of a president and administration in chaos.”
He later identified himself – which may have been an error, because Trump obviously went right after him when he returned to office.
And yesterday, Taylor spoke out with another warning – saying Trump’s behaviour now sets a “really, really, really scary precedent.”
More on that below – as well as a look at Trump’s iPhone lockscreen, Stephen Miller moaning ICE isn’t rounding up enough foreigners, and the boss of America’s disaster recovery agency having a critical gap in his knowledge.
Here’s what you need to know.
1. Trump’s lockscreen is, of course, a picture of himself
Someone snatched a pic that caught the screen of Donald Trump’s iPhone.
Aside from the self-absorption of it all, the other interesting thing about it is that it’s an iPhone. He was previously said to have used an ageing, insecure Samsung Galaxy S3 for about five years until at least 2017.
Last year the Trump campaign said they’d moved the President – who is said to have two or possibly three separate devices – one of which is mainly for social media – to a more secure Android device.
But now it seems at least one of his phones is an Apple device – though an adviser told The Atlantic: “He is not walking around with a run-of-the-mill iPhone off the shelf.”
Later in the same piece, published by the same magazine that previously outed senior Trump officials’ wildly insecure use of Signal chats to discuss overseas military operations, White House Comms Director Steven Cheung said: “We will not discuss or disclose security measures regarding the President, especially to The Atlantic.”
2. Stephen Miller went off at ICE chiefs for not arresting enough immigrants at Home Depot
Stephen Miller, Trump’s Renfield-coded deputy chief of staff, hauled top officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement into a the body’s DC office last week to berate them for not arresting enough immigrants.
Miller, the driving force behind the Trump administration’s bid to deport hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants, “eviscerated” the chiefs in the meeting – and set them a new quota of 3,000 arrests a day. That’s triple what it was before, and is almost certainly not deliverable.
Among Miller’s frustrations appears to be that ICE have been prioritising undocumented people who have committed crimes, rather than just rounding people up in a van.
One official recounted Miller saying: “What do you mean you’re going after criminals?” And asking “Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at [US convenience store chain] 7-Eleven?”
3. Speaking of ICE, it’s totally fine for them to wear masks for their own safety
After taking office, the Trump administration quickly banned protesters from wearing masks to hide their identity.
So how come that doesn’t apply to ICE officers?
Well, yesterday Acting Director Todd Lyons on Monday defended the use of masks by his agents and expressed frustration at sanctuary jurisdictions that he said are hindering the detainment of immigrants who are in the country illegally.
Lyons said his agents wear masks because they and their families have been doxxed and “targeted” with death threats.
“I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” he said.
Lyons made the comments during a press conference at the Boston federal courthouse to announce the completion of a May operation in which nearly 1,500 immigrants were taken into custody across Massachusetts. He was leaving the room when a reporter asked him about the masks. He turned around and returned to the podium to answer it.
“Is that the issue here that we’re just upset about the masks?” he asked the room of journalists. “Or is anyone upset about the fact that ICE officers’ families were labeled terrorists?”
4. Trump appointed someone to lead US disaster recovery agency who didn’t know America had a hurricane season
Staff at FEMA, the US disaster recovery agency, were left baffled on Monday after Director David Richardson said during a briefing that he had no idea that America had a hurricane season.
Trump appointed Richardson to head up FEMA in May, as the President bids to effectively gut the body and leave disaster relief to the States.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA’s parent agency, said the comment was a joke and that FEMA is prepared for hurricane season.
5. Donald Trump VERY FORCEFULLY denied getting rejected by Harvard
Writer Michael Wolff claimed part of the reason Trump is going so hard in his feud with Harvard is that he’d been rejected by the University back in 1964.
“But the other thing is that, by the way, he didn’t get into Harvard. So one of the Trump things is always holding a grudge against the Ivy Leagues,” he told the Daily Beast podcast.
Trump did not like that at all.
He posted on Truth social: “Michael Wolff, a Third Rate Reporter, who is laughed at even by the scoundrels of the Fake News, recently stated that the only reason I’m “beating up” on Harvard, is because I applied there, and didn’t get in. That story is totally FALSE, I never applied to Harvard. I graduated from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. He is upset because his book about me was a total “BOMB.” Nobody wanted it, because his “reporting” and reputation is so bad!”
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6. Trump replaced his presidential portrait for some reason
The White House Twitter account announced out of the blue yesterday that a new presidential portrait had just dropped.
This was a surprise to many, as he’d only released one a couple of months ago.
It’s very unusual for a president to change their portrait so quickly after taking office.
It’s been suggested the new one is a bid to make him look “less menacing.”
Here’s the old one:
And the new one:
7. ‘Anonymous’ author warns of “scary, scary precedent”
A former Homeland Security official during President Donald Trump’s first administration who authored an anonymous op-ed sharply critical of the president is calling on independent government watchdogs to investigate after Trump ordered the department to look into his government service.
Miles Taylor, who was chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said a Presidential memo had accused him – personally – of concocting stories to sell his book.
The memo ordered DHS and other agencies to look into Taylor and strip him of security clearances.
Taylor sent a letter via email to inspectors general at the departments of Justice and Homeland Security on Tuesday.
Speaking to the AP, Taylor said the order targeting him sets a “scary precedent” and that’s why he decided to call on the inspectors general to investigate.
“I didn’t commit any crime, and that’s what’s extraordinary about this. I can’t think of any case where someone knows they’re being investigated but has absolutely no idea what crime they allegedly committed. And it’s because I didn’t,” Taylor said.
He called it a “really, really, really scary precedent to have set is that the president of the United States can now sign an order investigating any private citizen he wants, any critic, any foe, anyone.”