As Donald Trump assembled a team after his election victory, he chose quite a few Republicans who ran and lost bids for elected office. As the president’s second term in the White House gets underway, he’s continuing to add to that list.
Take Joe Kent, for example. The Seattle Times reported:
President Donald Trump said Monday he is nominating former Washington state congressional candidate Joe Kent to be the director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, his social media platform. ‘As a Soldier, Green Beret, and CIA Officer, Joe has hunted down terrorists and criminals his entire adult life,’ Trump wrote.
As the Times’ report added, the counterterrorism center “coordinates the nation’s strategy against terrorism and maintains a national repository of known and suspected terrorists. It operates as a partnership of organizations including the CIA, FBI and Defense Department.”
Kent’s name might be familiar to those who keep a close eye on campaigns and elections: The Republican twice ran for Congress in a district that tends to like GOP candidates, but he also lost twice to Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
As for why Kent lost those contests, it no doubt had something to do with the congresswoman running good campaigns with a compelling message. But there were also parts of the Republican’s record that might’ve turned off some local voters. The Associated Press published this memorable report during his 2022 campaign, highlighting Kent’s “connections to right-wing extremists, including a campaign consultant who was a member of the Proud Boys.”
Kent … has also courted prominent white nationalists and posed recently for a photograph with a media personality who has previously described Adolf Hitler as a ‘complicated historical figure’ who ‘many people misunderstand.’
Similarly, this week’s Seattle Times report noted Kent’s “reported associations with white nationalists and other far-right groups, and embrace of conspiracy theories on an array of subjects.” Among the Republican’s conspiracy theories is the belief that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged and stolen” and that the FBI — an agency he’d presumably be working with — is “corrupt” and needs to be brought “to heel.” Or put another way, Trump made a curious choice to serve as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center. This is a Senate-confirmed position. If you’re thinking the confirmation hearings are likely to be interesting, you’re not alone.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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