A massive scandal has erupted in the wake of the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting as Americans realise that Donald Trump’s head of counterterrorism and threat prevention is a 22-year-old former intern who fired 75% of his staff.
We need to drive this story to the forefront of the mainstream media…
A ProPublica report in June revealed that Thomas Fugate III had been placed in charge of the Department of Homeland Security’s “main hub” for terrorism prevention, which includes control of an $18 million grant designed to help communities prevent violent extremism.
Prior to taking on the incredibly important position, Fugate worked at the Heritage Foundation, the infamous far-right think tank. He has no experience in national security but fits the only criteria that matters to this administration: he’s a fanatical MAGA cultist.
Notably, he posted on Instagram that when he was thirteen years old, he recognised in Donald Trump the “capacity for real and lasting change.” This is exactly the kind of deranged, sycophantic praise that results in swift ascension within the MAGA political structure.
“The big story here is the undermining of democratic institutions,” one former Homeland Security official told ProPublica. “Who’s going to volunteer to be the next civil servant if they think their supervisor is an apparatchik?”
Fugate oversees the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3). As ProPublica wrote, the center is supposed to be responsible for “nationwide efforts to prevent hate-fuelled attacks, school shootings and other forms of targeted violence.”
“Maybe he’s a wunderkind. Maybe he’s Doogie Howser and has everything at 21 years old, or whatever he is, to lead the office. But that’s not likely the case,” one counterterrorism researcher who has worked with CP3 officials told ProPublica. “It sounds like putting the intern in charge.”
With yesterday’s tragic shooting in Minnesota, it’s become clear that this former intern is not up to the job — and likely isn’t interested in carrying out his duties at all. Two children aged 8 and 10 were killed and 17 others were injured in the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School. The killer used a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol.
KTSP reported that the killer appears to have posted videos to YouTube in the leadup to the shooting. They showcased their guns, ammo, and a manifesto while flashing “a white supremacy sign” and saying racial slurs. If Fugate and his prevention hub were doing their job properly, the shooter might have been flagged before they were able to carry out their attack.
Under Fugate’s woefully inept leadership, CP3 slashed its workforce from 80 employees down to fewer than 20, meaning that those who remain are spread incredibly thin. Crucially, Fugate pivoted the hub away from combatting domestic extremism towards drug cartels and border security.
This staggering institutional incompetence, coupled with the Republican Party’s adamant refusal to pass even the most rudimentary gun safety laws is a recipe for continued disaster. Conservatives are constantly complaining that Democrats “politicize” mass shootings, but mass shootings are a political issue. We have the means to stop this gun violence epidemic; we just need lawmakers willing to do it.
