Gorka: Bureaucrats, Policymakers Opposing Trump Agenda

Purge of conservatives underway in White House, government

President Trump's agenda has been stymied by government bureaucrats and some of his political appointees opposed to tougher policies on terrorism and new approaches to countering Chinese economic warfare, former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka says.

Gorka, until recently deputy assistant to the president and a counterterrorism expert, resigned on Monday following the departure of several senior national security officials who were forced out or sidelined as part of an effort to purge the White House of conservative hardliners.

The most significant departure was the resignation of chief White House strategist Steve Bannon who Gorka directly worked for.

"Why did I resign? Very simply, I came on board because I believed in the president's Make America Great Again agenda, and part of that was a very clear national security stance on the threat of radical Islamic terrorism to this nation," Gorka told the Washington Free Beacon.

"And the real believers, the real ‘MAGA' fighters inside the building were being progressively boxed out, or fired from the [National Security Council] which was even more disturbing."

The catalyst for leaving was the president's Aug. 21 speech on Afghanistan. Until the speech, the president frequently railed against radical Islamic terrorism. But all references to Islamic terror were scrubbed from the speech.

"When you have a speech, a very significant national security speech on the longest war America has been engaged against jihadism, against al Qaeda, ISIS and the Taliban and there is not one mention of radical Islam or radical Islamic terrorism, we have a serious problem," Gorka said. "And that's when I realized that I can do a lot more for the president on the outside of the building than I can on the inside of the building."

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