As you may know, the Trump regime defunded an organization contracted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to de-radicalize white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
What you may not know, and what I just learned, is that the decision to do that was made by Trump regime staffer Katharine Gorka, wife of Nazi-cosplayer Sebastian Gorka.
Trump aides, including Katharine Gorka, a controversial national security analyst known for her anti-Muslim rhetoric, were already working toward eliminating Life After Hate’s grant and to direct all funding toward fighting what the president has described as “radical Islamic terrorism.”
In December, Gorka, then a member of Trump’s transition team, met with George Selim, the DHS official who headed the Countering Violent Extremism program until he resigned last month, and his then-deputy, David Gersten.
Gorka told Selim and Gersten she didn’t agree with the Obama administration’s approach to countering violent extremism ― particularly the way the administration had described the threat of extremism, according to Nate Snyder, an Obama administration DHS counterterrorism official who was an adviser on Countering Violent Extremism efforts and was given a readout of the meeting.
I honestly didn't know there's more than one Gorka in the White House. Like her husband, I assume taxpayers are paying Katharine Gorka $155,000 per year to do nothing except walk around the halls of the White House and say the words “radical Islam" at everyone who passes by.
We don't know how successful Life After Hate's campaign to re-radicalize the radical would be because they hadn't even started yet when the Trump regime defunded them, but it would have been worth the effort even if they only managed to convince a handful of young men to back away from the ledge.
Refusing to invest in efforts to convert radicals means all investment is poured into enforcement and, as we seen with the failed War on Drugs, strict enforcement doesn't work.