George W. Bush's CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden calls Trump supporters 'our Taliban' and suggests sending the 'unvaxxed MAGA' on planes to Afghanistan
A retired top US military general and former CIA chief sparked outrage over the weekend by comparing supporters of former President Donald Trump to the Taliban and calling a suggestion to send 'the MAGA wearing unvaxxed' to Afghanistan a 'good idea.'
Retired four-star Air Force General Michael Hayden on Thursday retweeted a split image of armed militants in a caravan of white pickup trucks with the caption 'Their Taliban.' Under that was a picture of cars adorned with Trump 2020 and American flags along a highway.
The second image was captioned 'Our Taliban.'
On Sunday morning Hayden took another swing at the former president's fans.
Michael Hayden retweeted this image on Thursday, fueling outrage on the internet ahead of former President Trump's Alabama rally
Twitter user JoeyG suggested 'Can we send the MAGA wearing unvaxxed to Afghanistan, no use sending that plane back empty?' in apparent reference to the US's evacuation of American nationals and desperate Afghan civilians and translators escaping the Taliban.
Hayden served a variety of intel community roles under George W. Bush, most notably as CIA Director from 2006 - 2009
The general added, 'Good idea.'
'Sad and unbecoming even from you, Mike,' replied GOP Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, a combat veteran who supported Trump's efforts to cast doubt on the election.
While he didn't respond directly, Hayden retweeted another user responding to Banks, 'Mr. Banks, General Hayden doesn't need to hear from you.'
Hayden served a variety of Intel community leadership positions across two White House administrations.
He was first appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as Director of the National Security Agency. After staying on through President George W. Bush's first term he spent a year as Deputy Director of National Intelligence before becoming his CIA director until early 2009.
Hayden sparked outrage with two tweets attacking Trump supporters on Thursday and Sunday, respectively
Hayden was previously accused of lying to Congress, in a 2014 Senate report on CIA torture that indicated he wanted lawmakers briefed using outdated information on Guantanamo Bay detainees.
He also staunchly defended the US's use of drone warfare and accused people who criticized CIA torture methods as not useful of being 'interrogation deniers.'
But the latest statements lashing out against Trump and his supporters is enraging pundits and politicians.
Republican operative Scott T. Parkinson bashed the former intel chief for labeling Trump fans 'Our Taliban.'
'What started out as calling Trump supporters #deplorables has escalated into… Former CIA director Michael Hayden RT’d a tweet comparing Trump supporters to the Taliban,' he wrote on Twitter.
Fox News contributor Sara Carter said Hayden 'should be ashamed of himself.'
Conservative pundits joined in bashing the retired four-star general for his tweets comparing supporters of the former president to the Taliban
Jose Castillo, a Florida congressional candidate, compared Hayden to a clown with an online emoji.
'This [clown] was a general? Mind you the head of the CIA. Explains a lot,' he wrote.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald called Hayden a 'CNN favorite' when blasting the retired general's comment on unvaccinated Trump supporters.
'George Bush and Dick Cheney's former CIA/NSA Director -- and current CNN favorite -- endorsing the idea that people who wear MAGA hats and aren't vaccinated should be forcibly shipped to Afghanistan.
'The US intelligence community has always been led by sociopaths,' he wrote on Twitter.
Politicians, journalists and a former Trump aide criticized Hayden's comments
Former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka mocked Hayden about his military service and called him a 'seditious hack.'
One Twitter user posted screenshots of both the controversial tweets, writing 'The fall of Afghanistan has sent former CIA/NSA Director Michael Hayden (and defender of mass NSA spying) off the cliff. Hayden now wants to see Trump supporters exported to Afghanistan and is cool w/ likening them to the Taliban.'
Hayden has been a frequent critic of Trump since before he took office.
His tweet calling for unvaccinated Americans to be sent to Afghanistan came after the former president held a Saturday rally in Alabama, where he bashed Biden for his handling of the Afghanistan evacuation.
Hayden's tweet on unvaccinated 'MAGA' wearing Americans came after Trump's Saturday rally in Alabama
Hayden sparked outrage comparing Trump supporters to the Taliban
'This was not a withdrawal, this was a total surrender, for no reason,' he told a cheering crowd. 'He surrendered our airbase, he surrendered our weapons, he surrendered our embassy.'
There were no health restrictions in place despite the area where the event was held declaring an emergency over the lack of hospital space.
Hayden's Twitter feed makes no mention of Biden but the former intel chief endorsed him in 2020.
However, his retweeted posts frequently take aim at Trump and unvaccinated Americans.
One recent post of his advocated for Afghan refugees being resettled in his community, writing 'You bet' on a picture of Afghans crowded into an evacuation flight that posed whether 'you want this plane landing in your town.'
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