Sebastian Gorka

About

Sebastian Gorka is an American military and intelligence analyst who served as deputy adviser to President Donald Trump for the first seven months of his administration. He is known for his far-right politics and loyalty to the Make America Great Again movement, and claimed he left the White House because he thought the movement was compromised.

History

Gorka was born in England on October 22nd, 1970.^[1] He graduated from Heythrop College at the University of London with lower-class second honors. He worked for the Hungarian Minister of Defense while getting his Masters Degree, and following the September 11th, 2001, Attacks, appeared on Hungarian television as a counterterrorism expert. After lecturing and working at various institutions over the following decade, he was hired by Steve Bannon in 2014 as an editor for national security affairs for Breitbart, where he worked until 2016.

Trump Administration

In January of 2017, Gorka was appointed Deputy Assistant to President Trump. He was a member of the Strategic Initiatives Group with Bannon and Jared Kushner, though he never received the required security clearance to work on national security issues and the group never materialized. His appointment drew criticism from several media outlets and commentators who described Gorka as a fringe figure with anti-Islam views. His credentials were also described by several commentators as suspect. Gorka dismissed the critiques as a "proxy war" against President Trump. The White House was rumored to consider moving Gorka out of the White House in April of 2017, but Bannon and Kushner lobbied for his position. He left the White House in August. According to Gorka, he was leaving because White House officials were undermining the Make America Great Again movement. However, The White House claims Gorka was asked to leave and is not allowed back in The White House.

Gun Collection Meme

In November of 2017, Recoil Magazine,^[2] a magazine for gun owners, published an interview with Gorka. In the interview, Gorka stated he always carries a pistol, a tourniquet, and a copy of the U.S. Constitution. On November 25th, Twitter user @RobertMaguire_^[3] tweeted a link to the article along with a picture of the relevant section from the interview.

The interview sparked a jokes about Gorka. Twitter user @ZeddRebel^[4] tweeted a joke that Gorka's picture made him look like the character McLovin from Superbad, gaining over 8,400 retweets and 33,000 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @AlexHortonTX^[5] said Gorka appeared as a "maybe-veteran," someone who acts as though they've served in the military but has not (shown below, right). The jokes were covered by Daily Dot.^[7]

Controversies

In 2007, Gorka announced his support for the Magyar Gárda, a paramilitary group run by leaders described as neo-fascist and anti-semitic by various sources (shown below).

Gorka has also flaunted the Order of Vitez, a Hungarian order of merit organized in 1920. The order was listed by the United States as having been "under the direction of the Nazi government of Germany" during World War II. This has led to accusations that Gorka is a Nazi sympathizer.

In 2016, Gorka was detained at an airport for attempting to bring a gun onto an airplane. Gorka claimed he had forgotten he had packed it in his carry on. The gun was confiscated and Gorka was detained. The case was dismissed by a judge on February of 2017.

Online Presence

Online, Gorka is on Twitter^[6] where he has over 310,000 followers. As of November 2017, Gorka serves as a contributor on Fox News.

Search Interest

External References