I remember something alex vindman once told me after his testimony. when we are comparing notes about how he wished more people had testified in trump s impeachment, he said, miles, intimidation works. and he is right. it works. and they know it works. trump knows it works. i was really struck by something, chris, in your opening remarks tonight about how a lot of these votes are facing threats. and they don t talk about it on the record. anwhen i talk to a lot of people who ve been in these circumstances and they don t even go into the detail of how serious it is. i think it is important, though, when people are willing to share those things. i will give you an example, chris. just last weekend, i had to buy another gun. because we are worried about threats from maga stalkers and concerned we have not armed ourselves sufficiently in every circumstance we might be in. and that is years after i came forward against donald trump. and it is still happening. why? because they are so fearfu
It is disruptive, bad for their families. but it s not going to stop them from doing what they are doing. i think there are people in republican politics where it will. i think the romney point about, it i think that again, i don t want to take away from the fact that trump genuinely has this organic, this real appeal. i think he would be probably winning even without this aspect of his politics. but again, this aspect of the politics colors enough that, like, i just think it is difficult to disentangle his ability to reclaim his position as front runner from that force that is sort of just offstage. chris, it doesn t stop people from coming forward. i agree with your point and that folks who ve already come out, there they are out there. but i ve had folks in the backyard sitting around the bonfire that were senior trump officials, who have not come forward, who have said, i just don t know if i want to go through what you guys have gone through. it works. the intimidation works.
This messaging from conservatives against him. they are worried it will deny him victory. but more so than that, chris, we ve seen trump re-post videos, these messianic videos, where in the videos people claim he is our savior. that s how he has radicalized supporters. do you think they are defending some kind of messiah. that is beyond what people do when it comes to backing their political candidates. and it explains again this messianic level of violence people are worried about. and certainly. people within the party have opposed trump feel bubbling just under the surface. to the point about your personal experience was just striking, it sounds awful. and that sort of intimidation works. i do think it is the most effective in this sort of internal discipline function. if you look at judge chutkan or jazz smith or judge engoron, all these, people i don t think they will be intimidated. what it is is it s a hassle for them.
Testimony. when we were comparing notes about how we wish more people had testified, in trump s impeachment, he said, miles, intimidation works. and he s right. it works. they know what works. trump knows it works. i was really struck by something, chris, in your opening remarks tonight, about how a lot of these folks are facing threats, and they don t talk about it on the record. you and i both talked to a lot of people who have been in these circumstances, and they don t even go into the detail of how serious it is. i think it s important though, when people are willing to share those things. i will give you an example, chris. just last weekend, i had to buy another gun. because we are worried about threats from maga stalkers, and concerned we have not armed ourselves sufficiently in every circumstance we might be in. that is years after i came forward against donald trump. and it s still happening. why? because they are so fearful of this messaging from conservatives, against him.
From doing what they re doing. but i think there s people in republican politics where it will. i think around the point about it, and i think, again, i don t take away from the fact that trump generally has this real appeal, he would probably be winning even without this aspect of his politics. again, this aspect of the politics covers enough that i just think it s difficult to disentangle his ability to reclaim his position as front runner from that force that sort of is just offstage. well, chris, it does stop people from coming forward. i agree with your point that folks who ve already come out there, they are out there. but i ve had folks in the backyard, sitting around the bonfire, that were senior trump officials, who have not come forward, who have said, i just don t know if i want to go through what you guys have gone through. it works. the intimidation works. unfortunately, because of donald trump, this is going to
They are worried it will deny him victory. but more so than that, chris, we ve seen trump repulsed videos, he s messianic videos, were in the videos, people claim he s our savior. and that s how he has radicalized supporters. to think they are defending some kind of messiah. that s beyond what people do, when it comes to backing their political candidates. it explains this, again, messianic level of violence that people are worried about, and certainly, people within the party, who have opposed trump, feel bubbling just under the surface. that point about your personal experience was just striking, it sounds awful. and that sort of intimidation works. again, i do think it s the most effective, in this sort of internal discipline function. if you look at judge chutkan, or jack smith, or judge a goren, all these people. i don t think they re going to be intimidated. what it is his hassle for them, it s destructive, it s bad for their families. but it s not going to stop them
Say, to take a stand, real significant republicans, i m looking at you mitch mcconnell? this violence is confounding. and i will conceive that in some ways in some ways, it s a gift to donald trump. it s absolutely a gift. and it s what he depends on. and he s actually learned, as my friend alex vindman told me, miles, intimidation works. and that s what they ve learned is that this tool of intimidation allows him to keep total and complete command over the republican party. donald trump, make no mistake, as a dark chokehold of every senior republican in the party, despite the fact that in private they fear him, and in private they demean him but they say nothing but by a senior citizen who doesn t currently have a job, right? who s living in florida and in new jersey facing two indictments and a possible third. why is he so scary? well, he is scary because his dog whistle is actually really loud.
The powers of the government against the political opposition. this isn t how taxpayers imagine their departments are going to operate, as an attribute of tools for a single man s anger. but that s what they re planning for, and they are giving it the lightest veneer of legality and policy justification. but make no mistake, this is driven to satisfy one man s anger. okay, you know this. republicans know this. former trump officials know this. and in the book, you write about all sorts of republicans who are privately disgusted by this man and his mission, but they don t say anything. what will it take for people to say, to take a stand, real significant republicans i m looking at you mitch mcconnell? this violence is confounding. and i will concede that in some ways in some ways, it s a gift to donald trump. it s absolutely a gift. and it s what he depends on. and he s actually learned, as my friend alex vindman told me, miles, intimidation works. and that s what they ve l
People. we ve seen far right supporters hunt down and try to assassinate sitting members of congress. it is a volatile political climate. but my friend alex vinman puts it simply. he said to me, miles, intimidation works. and the only way to counter it is to show that you won t be intimidated. and the more people who do that, the easier it becomes for people to stand up. there s strength in numbers, and that applies just as much as it does for the crazies on the extreme violence side as it does for the people willing to be courageous and stand up and do the right thing. so i think we all feel the justice department has been acting sluggishly. i do have hope merrick garland and team will do the right thing, they re trying to build the case the right way. it is indeed shocking we may see action at the state and local level before we see the u.s. department of justice take the action that so clearly they need to take based on the publicly
How do we stop him? it s going to be a deeper level of involvement. there are folks that say this is not our war to fight. the war in ukraine is not a local war. it s a global war. the russian federation government committed the digital equivalent of 9/11 by intervening in our elections. this doesn t stop in lviv. this is a global war that they re taking against the west and we have to look at the big picture and consider our involvement. i want to add one last thing, nicolle. you and frank made this point. another reason it doesn t stop here is that those authoritarians will influence people like trump and people that come after donald trump. when i came out against trump, i said the cruelty was the point inside the administration. you re seeing that with vladimir putin. the brutality is the point, the intimidation works. if that s seen as successful by