Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Gen. Michael Hayden, claimed in a tweet Wednesday that Republicans hold the most “dangerous” and “nihilistic” views.
Financial Times editor Edward Luce first tweeted Aug. 12 that “nothing” came close to the alleged extreme ideology of modern Republicans.
“I’ve covered extremism and violent ideologies around the world over my career,” Luce tweeted. “Have never come across a political force more nihilistic, dangerous & contemptible than today’s Republicans. Nothing close.”
Hayden, who served as CIA director under former President George W. Bush, retweeted the post Aug. 17 and stated, “I agree. And I was the CIA Director.” The tweet has been re-shared over 24,000 times and liked over 84,700 times as of Thursday morning.
I agree. And I was the CIA Director https://t.co/LRAHDDyy4n
— Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) August 17, 2022
“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin made a similar claim in May that Democrats are centrists while Republicans are “extremists.”
“The Republican Party is really the party of insurrectionists, it’s the party of white supremacy, and it’s also an extremist party,” Hostin said at the time. “If you look at the state, there’s a new report that shows just how extensively the far-right groups and the Republican Party have intertwined. More than 1 in 5 Republican state legislators in the U.S. are affiliated with far-right groups and that works out to about 22% of all Republican state legislators. That is what the party is today.”
A March CBS News/YouGov poll found 54% of respondents said they would use the word “extreme” when describing the Republican Party, while 51% of Democrats described Democrats as “weak.”
The poll sampled 2,041 adults in the U.S., and had a +-2.5% margin of error. (RELATED: Republicans Are Turning A Massive Swing State Solidly Red)
