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Washington, DC – President Donald Trump has made his appointments to the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), so Unicorn Riot started looking into their backgrounds. The list is a who’s who of troublesome and generally bigoted individuals, not unlike Trump’s cabinet. A failed political candidate who founded Bikers for Trump, a venture capitalist who promotes racist and fascist ideas, and a sheriff who denies systemic racism exists are just a few of those sitting on the newly minted council.
Representatives from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the cop brotherhood with a long history of racism, didn’t make the cut for Trump’s HSAC like they did under Biden.
The council, which advises Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, is already problematic: it meets periodically, makes recommendations, and provides advice to the Secretary of Homeland Security, but is made worse by the people who have been part of it. These appointed members of police unions with histories of promoting racist ideas, alongside corporate CEOs with similar views, provide likely biased suggestions at the cabinet level, and thus directly into the White House:
“The Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) leverages the experience, expertise, and national and global connections of the HSAC membership to provide the Secretary real-time, real-world, and independent advice to support decision-making across the spectrum of homeland security operations.”
HSAC website
While some names put on Trump’s HSAC aren’t so out of the ordinary, such as South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R) to serve as chair, and Florida State Senator Joseph Gruters (R-FL22) to serve as vice-chair, other names raise eyebrows. Let’s take a look!
Marc Andreessen is the co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, an agency heavily invested in various tech companies and cryptocurrency exchanges, with about $42 billion in assets under management. Andreessen has backed various “freedom cities” or “startup cities” effectively controlled or owned and operated by private corporate entities, and is part of a coalition to bring similar undemocratic city-states to the states.
One only has to look at Starbase, Elon Musk’s city in Texas, to see how Republican leaders are willing to allow the corporate takeover of municipal governments. With Trump talking about liberating “Democrat-run cities,” it behooves voters to pay attention to the largely overlooked statements Trump has made about these proposed cities. Andreessen, Peter Thiel, and others are clamoring to advance this agenda. The conservative Project 2025 plan angles to dismantle the administrative state and impose right-wing control on cities, while former Project 2025 head Paul Dans claims freedom cities are the “construction” that follows Trump’s program of “demolition.”
Meanwhile, Andreessen has made comments suggesting that decolonizing India from British rule has been detrimental to the nation of nearly 1.5 billion people, saying, “Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?”
Andreesen hosts group chats with tech executives and racist political influencers. The group chats included white supremacist Richard Hanania, right-wing commentator Chris Rufo, Tyler Winklevoss, Tucker Carlson, and many more. (Winklevoss’ cryptocurrency firm Gemini settled a lawsuit alleging it deceived derivatives regulators for $5 million in January.)
Andreessen also called Curtis Yarvin a friend three weeks after Yarvin said, “Everything rots when it has no owner—human beings included.” Yarvin went by the moniker ‘Mencius Moldbug’ online and has often been described as a neoreactionary and techno-fascist. Other statements by Yarvin include “If you think ‘racial equality’ is a good idea, you are not paying attention to reality” and “It is very difficult to argue that [the Civil War] made anyone’s life more pleasant, including that of freed slaves.” Andreessen named Filippo Marinetti, a Mussolini-era Italian fascist, as an inspiration in his 2023 “Techno-Optimist Manifesto.”
The Revolving Door Project warned of Andreessen’s attempts to popularize himself among liberals and Democrats, saying that the venture capitalist’s “longstanding commitment to extreme right-wing ideology makes it clear that any attempts to ingratiate himself with liberals are just a means of obtaining crypto-friendly legislation.” Andreessen and his firm are key funders for the pro-crypto Fairshake (PAC).
“Andreessen is a leading figure in both Silicon Valley’s persecution complex and its embrace of both neo-fascistic and monarchical thinking … Andreessen is quick to bemoan his supposed mistreatment at the hands of mean liberals and eager to proclaim that supposed `moderates’ like him were driven into the Republican Party’s awaiting arms. But this is simply not the case … Andreessen has long been a staunch reactionary who embraces authoritarian viewpoints.”
The Revolving Door Project
Christopher “Chris” Cox, Bikers for Trump Founder
Chris Cox founded Bikers for Trump in 2016. A chainsaw artist from South Carolina with no law enforcement or policy experience, he failed in his attempted 2020 run for political office in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. Bikers for Trump was allegedly created in response to 2016 protests against Trump’s first presidential campaign, leading to the cancellation of a rally in Chicago.
The group gained considerable attention during the 2016 election, when Trump at one point suggested that they were among the “tough people” who would support him if Democrats went too far in their investigations of his alleged crimes. In 2019, Bikers for Trump transitioned from a grassroots movement to a political action committee, allowing it to engage directly in political activities and fundraising.
“We’re not out there looking for a fight, but we’re certainly not gonna back down from one either.”
Chris Cox during Trump’s 2020 campaign launch
Cox also referred to COVID as the “plandemic,” citing a discredited yet popular conspiracy theory that argued the pandemic was planned and orchestrated by global elites for the typical “globalist” purposes, a term sometimes used as an antisemitic dogwhistle in hard-right discourse.
Mark Dannels, Cochise County Sheriff, Arizona
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, who sat on Trump’s HSAC during his last term, was removed from the council after Biden’s DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas terminated the existing membership of Trump’s HSAC in March 2021. Daniels is known for participating in an anti-immigrant border rally sponsored by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group that is part of the Tanton Network.
Dannels is no stranger to racially charged anti-immigrant rhetoric, calling immigrants a threat to public safety. He has inflated the number of migrants crossing the border to fuel panic, and called the U.S.-Mexico border the “largest crime scene in the country” during a House Judiciary hearing in 2023.
At the height of attacks against the Black Lives Matter movement in 2021, while serving as leader of the Arizona Sheriffs Association, Dannels joined the fray to denounce the movement when he attacked the idea that bias in policing exists, saying that “isolated bad acts provide evidence of a systemic problem is maliciously unsupportable and patently false.”
“Those who, through prejudice, stereotyping, bias, and discrimination, indict all of law enforcement officers as being systemic racists now use those assertions as a platform to mandate law-enforcement reform. Some even tacitly or directly encourage violence against law enforcement. They do so based upon the zealous false assertion that law enforcement is systemically racist. This assertion does not move us forward. Rather, it divides us. It detracts from any real and meaningful law-enforcement reform.”
Mark Dannels
Dannels is only interested in police reform involving people with law enforcement experience, suggesting he’s not interested in community involvement or community-centered policies, as stated in his 2021 open letter when he bemoaned “political leaders with no law enforcement experience” seeking to “direct law enforcement reform”:
“The issue of law enforcement reform is now infected by politics. Political leaders with no law enforcement experience now seek to direct law enforcement reform. They do this with political agendas or to gain favor with some political constituencies.”
Dannels is currently the chair of the National Sheriffs Association Border Security Committee.
A former cop and private investigator, some of Bo Dietl’s newsworthy work over the last decade has been geared towards protecting the far-right media sphere. Dietl was hired by Fox News to investigate and attempt to discredit women who accused former executives Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes of sexual harassment. Dietl worked with Steve Bannon to investigate Bannon’s ex-wife and chatted on the radio with Don Imus to intimidate a colleague over a disagreement.
Ford Motor Company accused Dietl’s private investigations firm, Beau Dietl & Associates, of barging into people’s homes while the co-founder of Arizona Iced Tea accused him of intimidation.
Dietl has also made various racist comments. In 2017, he compared a Black female judge to former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s former wife, Chirlane McCray, who is Black. Dietl, a staunch Republican, was running for mayor at the time, and Judge Debra James barred him from also running in the Democratic primary. Dietl has also made comments suggesting racial profiling was necessary when people “act like a terrorist.”
Dietl now advises Trump and Noem on Homeland Security policy.
Mark Levin, Broadcast News Analyst, The Mark Levin Show
Prolific conservative commentator Mark Levin has been known to spread wild conspiracy theories on his Fox News TV show “Life, Liberty, & Levin” and on the radio via the Mark Levin Show. His talk radio show generally ranks in the national top 10.
He took part in the “Deep State” conspiracy theories about former president Barack Obama wiretapping Donald Trump’s offices during the 2016 election, claiming that Obama loyalists were waging a “silent coup” against Trump.
During the 2020 election, as media outlets were reporting that Joe Biden had won, Levin told his radio audience that Biden was “stealing the election,” and insisted to his followers on social media that “there’s lots of evidence of voter fraud and election screw-ups.” He posted that Republican state legislatures should assert “final say” over presidential electors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Levin asserted that the flu killed more people and downplayed the threat of the coronavirus.
Levin also has strong ties to the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity network.
Corey Lewandowski, Chief Advisor to the Secretary, Department of Homeland Security
Corey Lewandowski is best known for his assault on a reporter at a Trump rally in 2016 while he was Trump’s campaign manager, but he has also faced allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. After taking a plea deal to avoid a misdemeanor battery charge from a woman who said he groped and harassed her in Las Vegas in 2022, he was promptly fired from running Trump’s Super PAC and from his consulting position for Noem and other Republican politicians.
Lewandowski has also suggested that “you have to respect” white nationalists and was once accused of having an affair with Noem, then-Governor of South Dakota. He has also stepped in to defend Trump against accusations of racism on many occasions. Lewandowski is also known for mocking a young girl with Down Syndrome in 2018. He has refused to apologize for anything.
Lewandowski is the “de facto chief of staff” under Noem at the Department of Homeland Security with “almost singular authority to fire people,” according to a source for CNN (archive).
Georgette Mosbacher, Co-Chair, Three Seas Programming, Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, Former Ambassador to Poland
U.S. Ambassador to Poland from 2018 to 2021, Georgette Mosbacher once criticized a Polish law which banned blaming Poland for Nazi Germany’s actions during the Holocaust, saying it was responsible for a rise in antisemitism in Europe. She received backlash from the Polish government, which deemed her comments unacceptable. She was also critical of the European Union’s relationship with Poland.
Omar Qudrat, CEO, Maden, Founder, Muslim Coalition for America, Major, U.S. Army Reserve
Omar Qudrat is an attorney and former U.S. Department of Defense official. In his national security career, Omar spent 18 months in Afghanistan during the surge as the coalition’s Deputy Chief of Rule of Law and Political Advisor to the NATO Ambassador. A military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay for an unknown number of years, Qudrat has worked with pro-Israel groups through his Muslim Coalition for America. An op-ed justifying why he supports Trump, and comments suggesting the U.S. could “learn from countries like Israel” about building a border wall, likely explain his position in an advisory role for the Trump administration.
“Harris tells us we will never be equals, and Trump tells us we are already cherished. Harris is telling us to vote for her because of the color of our skin, and Trump is telling us to vote for him because he represents our best interests.”
Omar Qudrat, 2024 op-ed in Newsweek
Qudrat started his career at the Carlyle Group Entrepreneurship Program, where he worked on the acquisition of technologies and identifying emerging markets. While the Carlyle Group itself does not have direct defense contracts, the companies it owns or controls have done billions of dollars’ worth of business with the Pentagon.
Rudy Giuliani, Former NYC Mayor and Disbarred Prosecutor
Rounding out the list of problematic people on a council that advises the White House on homeland security is former New York City Mayor and Trump acolyte Rudolph W. Giuliani, a major drop in status from his post-9/11 glory days, when the mass media christened him “America’s Mayor.” Before 9/11, Giuliani was infamous for defending NYPD police killings of unarmed Black people, pushing racist “broken windows” policing and causing long-term damage to NYC’s queer community by cracking down on LGBTQ nightclubs.
A former federal prosecutor, Giuliani was disbarred in New York and the District of Columbia in 2024 for his actions as an attorney while trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Others on the HSAC
In addition to Giuliani, the roster represents many corporate leaders and former Trump officials.
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Stephen Sloan, Global Head of Secondaries at Future Standard (formerly Portfolio Advisors). Co-Founder, Cogent Partners.
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James “Jim” Pallotta, Managing Partner and Founder, The Raptor Group. Highly networked billionaire, often listed as one of the top 20 hedge fund managers in the nation.
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Edward T. McMullen Jr, Senior Policy Advisor, Adams and Reese LLP. Former Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein during the first Trump term.
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George M. Lund, CEO and Chairman, Torch Hill Investment Partners. Treasurer and Executive Council member at the Atlantic Council.
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Nicholas Luna, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Implementation, The White House. Luna previously worked for Vice President JD Vance and in the first Trump Administration as a personal aide “who travels most frequently with the president,” according to CBS News.
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David Chesnoff, Attorney, Chesnoff and Schonfeld, is prominent in Las Vegas criminal defense. Chesnoff represented fellow HSAC member Lewandowski on a misdemeanor battery charge settled in 2022.
- Matthew J. Flynn, Attorney, Steptoe, former Deputy Assistant to the President, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics and Global Threats. A GOP policy aide and advisor, including on the Trump-Vance transitional team. (Not to be confused with a Wisconsin Democrat of the same name.)
- Harvey C. Jewett IV, Executive at Performance Capital Partners, retired President of Super 8 Motels Inc., retired President and Chief Operating Officer, Rivett Group LLC., President, Great Plains Education Foundation, Inc.
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Steve T. Kirby, Founding Partner, Bluestem Capital Company.
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Robert “Bob” Smith, Former U.S. Senator, New Hampshire.
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Alexei Woltornist, Co-Founder and President, ATHOS PR firm. Former Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of Homeland Security. Melkite Catholic priest, Project 2025 training video contributor.
Cover image and other compositions by Dan Feidt. “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” directed by Stanley Kubrick (Columbia Pictures, 1964). Mark Levin and Rudy Giuliani source photos by Gage Skidmore. Marc Andreessen source photo Kevin Maloney/Fortune Brainstorm Tech. Bo Dietl, Chris Cox, Bob Smith and group photos via the Department of Homeland Security on Flickr.
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 The post Chuds on Parade 2: Trump’s Homeland Security Advisory Council appeared first on UNICORN RIOT.
2025-09-13 22:57:51 UTC
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