MUST READ: A club for courageous Americans

Will we rise to the moment? I hope so. I'm putting my heart and soul into this.

When a president uses the machinery of government to punish his critics, there are only two real choices: submission or defiance. That’s it.

I wasn’t supposed to be back in this fight. I really wanted to move on after the first Trump administration and after years spent warning Americans about a second. After everything that’s happened to us during this time — the smears, the harassment, the intimidation — I thought maybe it was time to step back, focus on my family, and let others deal with the vulgarities in our politics.

But Trump and his loyalists returned. And they mounted a sweeping campaign to silence critics to enable the president’s autocratic takeover. They came after me, my friends, my family, my colleagues, and my livelihood. In doing so, they tried to turn me into their piñata. They wanted to send a message that anyone who stands up to them would be destroyed. In fact, they said it out loud:

Trump told the cameras and the assembled press that “I think he’s guilty of treason,” referring to Taylor and — of course — citing zero evidence…

“Donald Trump needed to send a message,” a White House official explained to Rolling Stone, adding that the public, executive-order-branded nature of it was in large part because Trump had said he wanted to deliver a warning to others on his enemies list.

Another Trump administration official adds that the president’s “showmanship qualities” practically necessitated, at least for this administration, a televised salvo of vengeance.

When the government you once served turns its sights on you — orders you investigated for high crimes, without evidence — you learn quickly what kind of country you’re living in. When people told me, “Just lay low and let it blow over,” I’m not sure they realized that silence meant choosing the first of those two options above. Submission. These thugs have taken a lot from me, but the last thing I’m going to do is lay down, submit, and let them take my country from me, too.

So I’m continuing to choose the other path. Defiance.

Yesterday, I sent out a note explaining what I meant by that. To me, resistance means holding your ground. But defiance means taking the high ground. And as a mentor once said to me, you always take the high ground because — up there — you have the best field of fire. That word became the seed of something bigger. After speaking with many of you, I thought maybe we could turn this personal fight into something collective. Something that helps all Americans who refuse to be bullied by power.

Out of that came DEFIANCE.org.

I launched it last night. This is a pro-democracy club built around a simple premise: if Trump is building a movement of revenge, we need to build a movement of defiance. As part of it, we’re creating a sort of “mutual defense pact” for people who refuse to cower to a president’s threats and who will defend one another when attacked. Most of all, it will be a place where Members get to pool their support, direct it to great causes, and get answers to the question, “WHAT CAN I DO?”

A club for courageous Americans.

You can watch our announcement last night on MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace (video below), or read the CBS News launch story. Also, check out the remarkable patriots who signed the Declaration of Defiance — including former Members of Congress, White House officials, and democracy leaders. I’m also deeply grateful to Robert De Niro for agreeing to do a video and calling on Americans to stand tall and refuse to kneel to a king. You can see that on the website.

Here’s what I want you to know right now. This isn’t just another website or random nonprofit. It’s a place for us to highlight great work being done out there and to use our collective action to offer support where it matters and when it matters most. I hope you’ll accept this invitation to link arms with the people who still believe in the rule of law, free speech, and basic human decency.

This is in the earliest stages. Think of it as a startup — imperfect and growing fast. I’ve got some amazing volunteers helping to run the “back end” of this thing, and we’ll need at least a few weeks to sort out the kinks. But honestly I was tired of waiting for someone else to just do this. So we did. Next month, we’ll kick off our first briefing for Members and start taking action.

(In the meantime, I know that you care because many of you are already flooding the DEFIANCE.org inbox with ideas!)

So when someone asks you that questions — “WHAT CAN I DO?” — now there’s a concrete answer, or at least a starting point. Send them to DEFIANCE.org, and let’s build this together.

P.S. Don’t worry. I will continue writing here on TREASON. Your support for this publication is what is allowing me to do all of this. You’re literally funding my fight. Later this week, I’ll update you on some other plans I have for the TREASON newsletter. I’m filling my plate with a lot. But this country has given us so much. I’m not really interested in telling our daughter that we gave it up without a fight. Thank you for standing with me.

Your friend, in defiance,

P.S. WHAT’S HAPPENING ON TREASON

Here’s what’s coming up.

1. TOMORROW / I will be doing Substack LIVEs throughout the day — 12noon ET, 1230, 2p, and 4p talking about DEFIANCE.org with friends and great journalists, including

   THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali
   ,
   Steve Schmidt
   ,
   Thom Hartmann
   ,
   Jim Acosta
   and more. I will send a roundup if you miss them.

2. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT / EXCLUSIVE - New Book Release - Autocrats vs. Democrats w/ Ambassador Michael McFaul - I welcomed former senior Obama official Michael McFaul for the official release of his new book, which you can pre-order online. His tome outlines America’s future on a turbulent world stage. You can watch the replay here.