IHIP News: 🚨 Former Trump Insider DROPS BOMBSHELL! Republicans Are DONE But Too COWARDLY to Say It!

All right, Trump's illegal war in Iran. is dragging on with absolutely no end in. sight. And Pete Hegseth, who was wholly. unqualified, a Fox News narcissist, went. to Capitol Hill for a second day and. made very clear. who he thinks the real enemy is. This is. breathtaking. Play the clip. The. adversary we face at this point are the. reckless naysayers and defeatist words. of congressional Democrats and some. Republicans. Defeatists from the cheap seats who two.

months in seek to undermine the. incredible efforts that have been. undertaken and the historic nature of. taking on a 47-year threat with the. courage no other president has had. Okay, to unpack this, joining me today. is Miles Taylor. He is the founder of. defiance.org. and former DHS chief of staff under. Trump 1.0, who quit during the first. administration in protest. He is the.

author of New York Times number one. bestseller, A Warning About the Dangers. of a second Trump term. Miles, how are. you? I'm great. Fantastic to be with you. What do you make of Pete Hegseth. grandstanding and lying and saying that. the the real enemy. are are Democrats and some Republicans? When you see Pete Hegseth talk, you know. how bad he's lying by how passionate he.

gets, right? The guy only tells the. truth when it's like close to a whisper. and there's very little gesticulation. Like there that's when he's telling the. truth. This was one of those moments. where he was clearly lying through his. teeth about the extraordinary gains of. this war and the defeatism of the. adversaries. I mean, that that rhetoric. I it Jennifer, it legitimately belongs. in a 20th century autocracy. It feels so. weird in this moment to see people talk. in those terms when they know it's not. true. This isn't any victory for anyone.

And forget what you say about it or what. I have to say about it. The American. people now, according to polling. yesterday, say this is the least popular. war since Vietnam and more unpopular. than Vietnam. Okay, that just happened. yesterday and I wonder why? Because gas. hit $4.68. a gallon. This war is a catastrophe that. no one asked for. And the more grandiose. this administration gets, the more you. realize that they are cowering because.

they know that this thing has to end or. it's going to collapse the entire MAGA. movement and the Republican Party. You. can see that in the way they they react. to say nothing of the national security. implications here, which I I really. sincerely think are quite grave. I mean, this war has set the United States back. in a lot of ways. From a conventional. preparedness perspective to a. geopolitical perspective to an alliance. perspective. There's almost no way you. can cut this that is favorable towards. US national security.

What do you make of at the end of that? And all everybody in Trump's orbit. always has to say this is the only. president who had the courage to do. that. Is all of that blustering, which. is just it's so embar- I'm so. second-hand embarrassed for them to do. that? Are they so locked in that loyalty. to this man is the number one objective. and they're always speaking for an. audience of one? Yeah, they are. I mean, there's, you. know, a long time ago there was a. scholar that put this in terms that are.

easy to understand today. It was. Friedrich Hayek wrote something, a book. that that conservatives used to love for. a long time called The Road to Serfdom. And in that book, there is a chapter. called Why the Worst Rise to the Top. And in the '40s, he was trying to. explain this exact phenomenon that you. just pointed to because back then, even. though there was no cable news or social. media, it was still obvious from the. papers to so many people that there were. just dozens and dozens and dozens of.

public servants in Nazi Germany and. Allied countries who spoke this way, who. were clearly educated, clearly knew. better, but were just obsequious. in their pleasure remarks towards the. leader, just how grateful they were, how. pleased they were to have this. incredible leader and his explanation, Friedrich Hayek's explanation on why the. worst rise to the top was pretty. straightforward. He said when you have a. leader. whose only criteria is loyalty,

then you have to be willing to do. literally anything to succeed in that. orbit. So, if the leader says, "I want. you to do something illegal," loyalty. means a willingness to do something. illegal. And as a result, the people. with no centering values, the people. with no morals, the people with no. limits on what they're willing to do are. the ones who most quickly rise to the. top because the moment someone has a. moral thought or a moment of conscience, they either self-select out of that.

orbit or they get kicked out of that. orbit. This is exactly what happened in. the first term. I witnessed it. It was. like a PhD in cowardice studies. I saw. people around Donald Trump who the. moment that light bulb went off and. their conscience lit up, he could see. it. If he's got a radar for anything, it's for the human conscience. He would. see it, he would get them out of his. orbit, and now we are left with the. actual bootlickers, the people who would. literally be willing to put their. tongues on his floor-shine shoes in. order to stay in that orbit. It's true.

It is the biggest collection of bottom. feeders. It's really breathtaking. It's. absolutely breathtaking, but I always. think when we all witnessed January 6th, it was so horrific, and we all I never. thought he would be in power again. And. then after he won, I thought, "Oh, the. people who want to go work for him after. this, these are going to be the worst. among us." And you wrote a piece this. week titled In Private, Trump allies. tell me that they're done. I know why. they're scared to speak up. What are.

they saying and tell us about this. article? This is a hard one. Uh this is a hard. one, Jennifer, because it's been so many. It's been so many years of this. It's. been so many years of these Republicans. behind the scenes bashing Trump and. still being unwilling to do it publicly. And I'll tell you the reason I wrote the. piece is the thing that motivated me to. reach out to a number of these members. of Congress was the other week when. Donald Trump said, you know, tonight a.

civilization will die and in talking. about bombing Iran. And I thought, you. know, some of these Republicans that I still. talk to, that I used to work with in the. House or work with in the Trump. administration, they've got to draw the. line at nuclear genocide, right? Because. that's obviously what the tweet was. All. right, as a practical matter, you can't. kill 90 million people with conventional. weapons. So, if it's a threat you're. going to make good on, you must be. threatening nuclear war, nuclear. genocide against a population. That's. got to be where they draw the line, right? And so, I reached out to some of.

these members of Congress that I'm still. kind of friendly with. And over the. course of several days nudged them with. a hey, the water's warm, this is the. moment to come out if you're ever going. to define yourself against what happened. in this moment in the eyes of history, now is the time. With a lot of them, Jennifer, messaging me back, oh my god, this is unbelievable. Do you think this. guy's crazy? Is he off his rocker? Has. he lost it? Has he know, all the things. that we all say, all the things that any. American who watches this would say. But. guess what? You didn't hear from a.

single one of those people I was. messaging with. They didn't come. forward. And I always say it's never too late to. do the right thing. I get the. inclination to say, screw these guys for. spending years and years and years on. the inside saying one thing in private. and another in public." I always want to. give them the off-ramp and the. opportunity to come forward. I'm no. Marjorie Taylor Green fan, but I am awed. at the extent to which her coming. forward has brought so many other people. in the MAGA movement forward. It can.

make a difference, but this cowardice. is, you know, it's. it's like a virus, you know, more. contagious than COVID. And, you know, that's why I felt like I needed to write. this piece is it's keeping these people. silent. They are scared for their lives. of this man, and they're scared of. getting kicked out of the tribe. And, that's how this has happened in the. first place. That's how any. authoritarian movement is enabled is by. people like that who know better. So, Miles, here's what I think because.

it's so like you, I'm so frustrated they. with Republicans, MAGA supporters. And, I think there's degrees like I grew up. around country club Republicans in. Oklahoma. And, then you [clears throat]. have just like the full-blown MAGA, you. know, cultist, rural voters that have. been overlooked that felt seen by him. And, it seems to me like Donald Trump can. move with impunity on anything. Listed a. million times in the Epstein files. Floating that he might pardon Ghislaine.

Maxwell. Posting himself as Jesus Christ. Threatening nuclear holocaust. Nobody moves the needle at all. And, I. have this theory that. um. the Magnificent Seven, these AI tech. companies, have kept the stock market up. like a Ponzi scheme, and they're trading. it to keep the S&P 500 and keep the Dow. up. It is inevitably going to burst. The. bubble will burst. And, when the stocks. start tanking, the North Star to all of.

these country club Republicans that will. start calling up Republican senators. that will start calling Republican. congressmen, all of a sudden they will. say, "Enough is enough." And I think. it's going to be money. I think our. worship, particularly MAGA's worship of. money, is so important. uh to this component. It's gross, but. that it is what it is. And I think when. that happens, then you're going to see. more people jump over to Marjorie Taylor. Greene's camp and start using this, "Oh, he lost his way. This isn't the guy we.

voted for." You know, that's what she's. telling herself. Now, which whatever, I'm with you. Like, I had no idea he was. crazy and a con man. And so, I think. we're going to start hearing that, but I. think the stock market is going to have. to crash first. You were inside the. Death Star. What is your take on all of. this and what will ultimately unravel. this entire sickening, horrible, abusive. cult we're all living in? Well, it is like a Death Star. I mean, I. I've said for years, in fact, I'm glad. you used that terminology. For years, I've said it's like Donald Trump has a.

Darth Vader-like chokehold on people. It's You can't I mean, you know how. Darth Vader can choke people from afar? You're like, "I don't understand. Why is. this person acting the way they're. acting? Something else must be happening. here." Oh, it's the hand of Vader on. their necks. And that's really what this. is. And I You're right. I mean, at the. end of the day, and and I think the. insight goes beyond MAGA when it comes. to the economic component. I mean, you. know, we need to find a way to refer to the. James Carville. uh quote, "It's the economy, stupid." I. mean, is it the Carville thesis? But.

look, that drives politics. Pocketbooks. drive politics. um on both sides of the aisle. And I do. think a catastrophic recession is the. final wake-up call for some of these. holdouts. Now, I am. um seeing the numbers shift because of. these MAGA influencers break. Whether. you think it's transactional or moral, the Megan Kellys and the Alex Joneses. and the Tim Pools and the Marjorie. Taylor Greenes breaking are impacting.

Donald Trump's floor. The polling is. devastating. He's basically lost 10. points in the polls because these people. are allowing for Maga grassroots to. break away from him. So, that's that's a. good thing. for democracy. It's a very bad thing for. Donald Trump. But, on the recession. piece, this is how his numbers could go. even further south and how our democracy. could endure more damage. if there is a recession from all of. this. And really, I should say when. there is a recession, Jennifer, because.

it is inevitable, okay? History tells us. that we're going to hit another. recession, and Donald Trump is doing. everything possible to trigger it. Here. is why, and no one's talking about this. Here is why that recession is going to. be worse than any recession we've seen. And I can't predict how far the market. tanks because of oil, but what I can. tell you is right now we are playing. with fire by tempting fate on a. recession because companies all around. the world that have to lay off their. employees in a recession now can avail.

themselves of the worst type of scab in. world history, which is an automated. one, which is a machine that can take. the job and never give it back. See, we're used to in recessions battening. down the hatches and waiting for hiring. to start again, but right now companies. are flirting with the idea of replacing. employees with AI agents. It's happening. all over the place. I just had a lovely. phone call with a car rental service. that was AI generated, and I will admit.

it was way better than waiting for a. half hour. I got everything fixed in 3. minutes. It was great. But, those. employees are never coming back. Companies are dabbling in this right. now, Jennifer. If there is a recession, expect mass long-term layoffs, not 1, 2, 3, 4 years like we experienced after. 2008. Companies will use this as the. opportunity to replace their workforces. for good. There will not be be bounce. back people think. That's why Donald. Trump is playing with fire. If he wasn't. goading a recession, this process might.

happen semi-naturally, where companies are experimenting with. this, workers are pushing back, people. are defending their rights, they're. somehow reaching accord. It's not what's. going to happen. Donald Trump triggers. this recession, millions of people lose. their jobs, robots take them and never. get them back. I think I think you're right. I mean, I. tell my listeners all the time it was. never the immigrants or the LGBTQ plus. people they're taking your jobs. It's. always been the billionaires and AI. That's who is taking jobs. That's who's. taking jobs from working class.

Americans. All right, let's talk about. Donald Trump's myopic focus on the. ballroom. And he turned this uh shooting. incident at the White House. Correspondents Dinner with a. millisecond, with laser focus, and then. all the sycophants jumping on, "This is. why we have to have a ballroom. I mean, we clearly have to have the ballroom.". What do you think the psychology is. behind his desire to have this ballroom? And do you think if. there is a blue tsunami, if we are able.

to get past all of the rigging, all of. the threats of ICE and military at the. polls, because they're going to roll all. of that out. And then also another part of this. question is fast forward to '28, and. he's not able to go around the. amendment. Do you think he ever. visualizes himself leaving that White. House, because I think the. uh narcissistic. wound that he took when Marine One came. and picked him up after Joe Biden kicked.

his ass in 2020. I don't think he's ever. fully recovered, and he was broken to. begin with from that. And I just don't think he has any idea. of leaving, and I think he thinks, "I'm. going down in that bunker, and I'm going. to stay there with all of my things and. my cell phone and McDonald's and a Diet. Coke.". >> [laughter]. >> Well, I'm I'm looking at my phone right. now because I'm trying to look up this. um trying to look up this note. I can't. find it, but I'll I'll I'll.

uh I'll paraphrase it for you. One, I think you're right. Two, I think people have seen this about. Donald Trump for years. The quote I was. looking up was my former boss in the. first Trump administration, John Kelly, had warned to me before 2020. I can tell. you where I was because I remember this. conversation so vividly. We were on the. phone. I was parked outside. uh the Department of Homeland Security's. former headquarters. We had both since. left the administration. I was just in. that part of town, and we were talking.

about the coming election. And Kelly. said, "You know, here's what I think is going to happen. I think the guy is going to chain. himself to the Resolute Desk, and they. are going to have to drag him out in a. straitjacket for people to realize how. crazy he actually is." Okay, this is. like a year before January 6th, and. Kelly was not that far off from what. actually happened. >> I think he was just a few years behind. on the reality of that image because.

that is what I feel like we are trending. toward in 2028. Donald Trump sees. whatever life he's got left in him, if. the man even is alive, is. it's totally dependent on his remaining. in office. His life, his legacy, his. personal freedom. And Jennifer, he's. probably right. A man who has committed. so many obvious crimes is right to. project that if he leaves office, he.

probably trades it for a jail cell. So, it's it's it's really hard to imagine. given the volume of crimes that have. already been committed in his first year. back in office. I don't mean that. hyperbolically. I mean that very. literally. Obvious criminal conduct. How. does he stay out of jail? Well, he stays. in power. That's how he stays out of. jail in his own mind. And so, I do. sincerely think that Donald Trump is. continuing to consider ways to seed the. public narrative to allow for his.

continuance in office. They're going to. look at the loopholes in the. constitutional amendment. They're going. to try to I think they're going to try. to play this game where it's Vance Trump. on the ticket. They flip tickets. He's. running as vice president. They try to. do. something along those lines. Or they do. a Vladimir Putin, which, you know, Putin, of course, before he was able to. change their constitution in Russia, became the equivalent of our speaker of. the house while Dmitry Medvedev took. over his job. You could very much see a.

scenario where Trump's successor becomes. president and he tries to get named. speaker of the house by a Republican. majority where he's still pulling the. strings. Very possible. You don't have. to be an elected member of Congress to. be named the speaker of the house. And. guess what? When Donald Trump was out of. office after 2020, this idea was. actively considered by his core team and. he himself. They had conversations with. people. I can validate that. They had. conversations about whether he might. seek to be named speaker of the house.

He's going to be looking at ways to stay. in power. And this is as fascist as it. gets. Um and so, yeah, I think the. bunker factors into all of this. Long. way of saying the bunker is something. that has stayed in his mind since the. protests in 2020. A lot of people don't. remember this. The first time Donald. Trump ever experienced the Presidential. Emergency Operations Center, the PEOC, is when he was pulled from the White. House during these protests and taken. down there. And in classic Trump. fashion, he was like,

"I don't like the digs down here. I. don't like the setup. We've got to. renovate this thing." Why would you. renovate a bunker if you don't expect to. spend time in that bunker? The man. expects to spend time in that bunker. It's the only reason he would dig up his. own yard to do it. Donald Trump is. digging up that yard because he expects. to spend time there. That's what I'm. worried about. This is not hyperbole. This is real. We have to think about the. psychology of a man who wants to do.

something like this. You're so spot on. I mean, he he's all. about aesthetics. He's all about optics. I mean, he has terrible taste. But, I. mean, what he's done with the Oval he is. he is renovating everything because he. believes that house and that property is. personally his. Final question, Miles, and I could talk to you for hours and I. want to have you back on again very soon. because I think your insight is so. helpful. Something that really bothers me. is that so many people from Trump 1.0, and I'm I'm a Democrat. I'm a. progressive.

So many people from Trump 1.0 that. worked with him that were are loyal to. the Constitution, more conservative than. me, but not bad people, came out of that. administration saying, you know, he has. no respect for the military. He is. a fascist through and through. He asked. um I think it was Mark Esper, can I. shoot protesters uh in the legs? Yeah. And we heard Americans heard all. of this. We heard We saw January 6th. with our own eyes. We saw all of these.

experts, Republicans, neocons, telling the world this about a man that. they worked with. You telling the world. about a man that you worked with. And this party that you were devoted to, they are demonizing you for being. honest, where honesty is being. demonized, and people are not believing. their eyes and ears or adjusting reality. to suit the ego, the fragile ego of the.

senior citizen toddler nutcase. And it's. just not that deep, so I'm not going to. use deep words about what he is. And it really bothers me that people. like you and other people with whom I. disagree with politically, but I believe. the veracity of their claims and I knew. they took great risk great risk to come. out of that regime. and say we have a problem. This is very. very problematic. This man is bad. He is. dangerous and he doesn't give a.

about anybody but himself and the people. didn't listen. Yeah. >> And it really will you speak to that in. our closing words because it that's the. part that really bothers me about all of. this. I get a crazy person. I get Trump. in solitude. It's the people that put up the. permission structure to excuse evil. that really bother me Miles. Well, if it's this is probably cold. comfort, but you know, as a student of. history, this is a phenomenon you run.

into. so consistently, you wonder if it's. somehow been pre-planned by by some kind. of higher power, you know, regardless of. what your faith or view of the universe. is. You're like, wow, this is remarkable. that this lesson happens all the time. from antiquity to the dark ages to the. early years of the Republic. I mean. again and again you see this remarkable. theme of people seeing the freight train. of fascism coming. Yeah. Denying it, denying it, denying it.

Then experiencing its consequences and. waking up. What seems a little too late, but again, it's never [clears throat]. too late to do the right thing. I mean. you may suffer extraordinary. consequences. in doing it, but I mean, you know, I. I was just finishing a a book about the. the early years of the Roman Empire just. at the end of the Republic as the. Republic fell. It's not like there was. just one or two voices sounding the. alarm. I mean it was a cacophony of. warnings and yet they still barreled.

forward uh towards Caesar's reign and. the destruction of the world's really. early experiment in in human freedom. This happens. What you tend to see, Jennifer, is that people at the end of. the day, it's not even death that they fear the. most. It's being kicked out of their. tribe. And I had a conversation years ago with. my buddy Adam Kinzinger about this. We. were down in Savannah, Georgia, and.

we've all had this conversation a. million times over coffees and. barbecues. And but I said to Adam, "Man, why are these friends of ours, these. Republican members of Congress and other. people that I had served with in the. administration before I quit, why are. they still saying staying silent?" And. at the time I had speculated it's. because they saw the death threats Adam. and I were facing. You know, his newborn. baby at that time was being threatened. I had had to leave my home, my job. I. had an armed security detail because of.

the threats. Um it was it got really, really ugly. And Adam said, "You know, I don't even think it's the death. threats. I think they've built their. lives and their identities so much. around this tribe, this Republican. tribe, that they worry that if they. publicly break with it, that's it. Their. future prospects, their career, their. life, everything, their internal. identity is destroyed." And I talk about. this sometimes when I speak to student. groups, but it made me think of a Jerry. Seinfeld joke. And unfortunately, when I.

say that, student groups are like, "Who's Jerry Seinfeld?" I'm like, "Okay, well." Um but Jerry Seinfeld used to. make uh this joke. He would open sets. and he would say, "You know, a survey. came out of Americans' top 10 fears, and. number one on the list is public. speaking, and number two is death. So, your average American would rather be. sitting in the casket than delivering. the eulogy.". And you know, Jerry Seinfeld would get. laughs when he would do that joke, but. there's a truth there. People would.

rather be caught laying down in the. casket than up there at the podium. speaking out telling the truth. That has. been consistent throughout history, and. there's one way to get over Jeff. There. is only one way, which is you got to. increase the supply of people speaking. out to lower that price of dissent. It's. econ 101. In econ, anytime something's. too expensive in a marketplace, so if. the price of dissent is too high, if.

dissenting like I did means your wife. and your 18-month-old daughter are going. to get threatened with shooting in a. firing squad and hanging, which members. of my family have been threatened with, the only way to make that price lower so. that doesn't happen to more people is. you got to increase the supply, and then. the price goes down. And I will say, closing on an optimistic note, that is. happening in this country. A year ago, I. would not have said there was a defiance. with a backbone in the United States of. America. Left and right, institutions.

and people were capitulating, cowering, and bowing, you know, bowing down to the. leader. That is not happening now. It is. the reverse. There is a tidal shift. towards the defiance in the United. States of America, and that has meant. the price of dissent is getting lower. and lower. You'll see though that the. people who join at the very end will. only join when the price is near rock. bottom, and you'll know a lot about. their character when that happens. >> [snorts]. >> Miles, thank you. Tell my listeners how. they can find you and about your. organization Defiance. Yeah, if they.

just head over to defiance.org, uh we. are a nonprofit club focused on. countering Donald Trump's abuses of. power. So, every single week we announce. real actions we are taking to push back. Uh that includes funding some of the. lawsuits against his unconstitutional. policies. We are funding journalists who. get arrested and their legal fees. We. are supporting whistleblowers. Literally. every week we announce something new. And last week Jennifer, it was we. announced an effort called GTFO ICE. Get.

the facilities out ICE. That sounds like. a different GTFO. We. >> [laughter]. >> got this. And it's a it's a rapid response network. to notify people if an ICE prison is. going to open in their community so they. can go cancel it. So anyway, people. should go check out to find org. Come. join the club. This is all I'm doing. until the guy is gone. And it's not what. I wanted to be doing Jennifer. I built a. private life away from politics out in. the woods. I wanted to be done with. this, but I am going to fight every. single day until this guy is gone and.

we've restored the rule of law in this. country. So folks want to come join me. in that, we would welcome them. Well, I am going to start and I'm. leaving here shortly and I'm taking. a taxi to an event and I'm going to sign. up. I'm going to donate money to. defiance.org. We have to come together. We have to. unite. We have to support each other and. only we can save us. Um and so I cannot thank you enough. Miles for joining me. I'm a huge fan of. yours and your courage for speaking out. And this has been so insightful and I.

know my listeners and viewers will love. it and I would love to have you back on. soon. Well, right back at you. And I'll. just say to those listeners and viewers, stick with this gal cuz she's a badass. protecting democracy. And I said to her. in the green room beforehand, I love. love love watching her out there. She's. like the voice of conscience for this. country right now and she just does not. let the enablers. get away with it. So Jennifer, I'm so. grateful for you and everything you do. Thank you Miles.

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