A time for courage
Trump is ramping up his threats. I beat Mike Flynn by never offering any compromise and the incredible support of fellow Americans. Time for us all to step up to the moment.
It’s not comfortable
No one wants to find themselves in the crosshairs of lawsuits, threats, or worse. Any human seeks safety and comfort. We are built that way. We have thousands of years of development that from our earliest days seeking out caves and building shelters was designed to provide safety from the elements and threats in our world.
It’s literally in our DNA to seek safety.
Now is not that time. Because, also throughout our history are moments that called upon humans to step out of safety and comfort to defend their families, friends, and their civilizations. This is one of those time.
Some of us who have served in the military, police, fire, and a myriad of other careers understand that society survives with people who are willing to risk their lives, livelihood, and families for the greater good. Most people will never do any of those jobs or even face those moments.
I have bad news. It’s your turn now.
Donald Trump and his supporters promised retribution against those who opposed him and now its here. Last week he issued Executive Orders demanding investigations for Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs for treason because they had dared to stand up to his lies during his first term.
He has issued Executive Orders against law firms and stripped them of their security clearances to defend Federal whistleblowers. Just this weekend he issued a statement on his stupid social media network demanding that CBS lose its broadcast license because he doesn’t like the stories on ‘60 Minutes.’
What is dismaying is how many of those he is targeting are surrendering without a fight even. They see danger, loss of money, loss of status, and shrank from the moment.
Imagine being at the top of your professional life as a high-powered Washington D.C. attorney. Partner at one of the oldest most distinguished firms that has stood up to government, corporate powerbrokers, and wrong doers for possibly a century then meekly kiss Donald Trump’s feet, agree to provide millions in pro bono work for his agenda, and apologize like a small child caught stealing cookies.
History is riddled with examples of cowardice in the face of authoritarianism and where it leads. Yet, here we are witnessing it in real time as leaders in this nation cower for their comfort and safety. It won’t be here tomorrow.
All of this unfolds as we approach the 250th Anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. It happens as Donald Trump has decided to deport a man illegally and refuse to comply with a Supreme Court order to return him and muses about using the same process for U.S. citizens.
He has declared himself above the law.
As I watch it all unfold I thought I would lay out my own experience when a very public moment came for me to make a choice, the people that came to help me when I was in need, and what we all must do.
It’s not great
I found out Mike Flynn decided to sue me one morning when I woke up and was scrolling through my emails as my coffee brewed. My Google Alerts caught a story that the former Executive Director of the Lincoln Project was being sued for defamation over three tweets.
That was me.
As it turned out disgraced former general officer Mike Flynn had decided that two months before the statute of limitations would run out for libel on three tweets I had sent after the invasion of Ukraine, he would sue me for $150,000,000.
Yes. You read that right. The allegation was that these three tweets had cost him $150 million in work. He didn’t say what that work was. He didn’t lay out the damage but promised to in court someday.
I’d be lying if I wasn’t slightly panicked at first. I am not a rich man. I was literally living in a rental home with a 9-year old car parked out back, and my 13-year old dog. I owe the government money from the failure of my former company during the pandemic and half my Army retirement pay goes to my ex-wife.
So, not exactly rolling in the cash. It only gets more ludicrous when you realize that they misread one of the three tweets and that case law for at least a century says calling someone a “traitor” isn’t libel but hyperbole and thus, protected speech. But, little of that mattered as I sat in my kitchen running through my options to fight back.
This is where the story takes the turn that we all must learn from.
I got help.
Lawyers and money
I was fortunate to meet Mark Zaid and Brad Moss at the promotion ceremony for my friend, and now Representative, Eugene Vindman back several years ago and my colleague Olivia Troye was being represented by them in an ongoing battle with Ric Grenell. I got Mark’s number and called.
In one phone call he agreed to represent me pro bono and got to work building a team. We needed a Florida based attorney that we would have to pay for as well as the usual filing fees and costs of research and other work that goes with a major lawsuit. For that, Mark set up a GoFundMe for our case.
To say that made me uncomfortable would be an understatement. I am what you call a public-private person. While I am very public with much of my life, I also crave a certain amount of privacy and wall off portions of my life to protect my family and personal sense of security.
That had to go out the window. We needed money and public support.
We got it.
As a matter of fact as the case is dismissed with prejudice once and for all this week, we all but broke even almost perfectly. For that I will always be grateful.
Here is the tough part
After I found support I needed resolve. Our first filing in the case got two of the tweets thrown out. It came down to one sentence for $150 million. I wasn’t backing down.
From the start I told Mark and Brad if they were fine with it, I would offer NOTHING…ever. Flynn and his fellow MAGA travelers had won previous cases by muscling their targets into using their property owners insurance lawyers to defend themselves, emptying their investments, or drawing from friends. He has unlimited funds from his new line of work, and supporters with deep pockets, so he would simply launch the lawsuit and let them drain their resources.
I have no big pile of resources. I work. I get paid. I’m a regular American with military retirement, 100% VA disability, and the money I make from my various content
projects.
A friend called and said there is nothing more dangerous than a man with zero assets, and zero fucks.
I am that man. So, from day one we said we would never offer a settlement. I would not rest until Mike Flynn sat across from me at a deposition and walked us through, under oath, where he makes so much money that a single tweet would cost him that much money.
Last month he dropped the case and we expect the final disposition this week.
Now it’s your turn
Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”
I don’t think I am particularly courageous. I just made a commitment that setting aside fear after lawsuits, death threats, doxxing, stalkers outside my home, and more was more important than giving into their goal. Shutting me up.
I reached out for help and got it in ways that steeled my resolve. Hundreds of average people, and my incredible brother-in-law, stepped in to help me fight.
Now we all face that moment.
I get that it’s not what anyone wants. I get that it should have gone differently. We can ‘woulda shoulda’ this stuff to death but in the end we are here…now. Now is the moment where the President and his government are attacking our nation.
Masked men are grabbing innocent people off the streets for their words to ship them to a third world torture prison. The government agencies meant to protect us are being turned against Trump and his allies personal enemies. Mysterious anonymous Musk agents are firing government employees and reportedly monitoring their communications. They are banning books in the military academies and forcing students at a Senior Non-Commissioned Officer school to throw out papers on diversity after firing nearly all of the woman flag officers and the lawyers.
Our nation has never faced a moment like this and that is not hyperbole in any way. Will we step up when it’s our turn? Will we back those in the line of fire now? Will you do business with the ones that resist and reject the cowards that don’t? Will you take the inconvenience, discomfort, and some amount of danger to step in?
I will argue you must or we will lose it all for this generation and more to come. Will you give to their GoFundMe’s? There will be a lot.
Will you donate to causes and groups like Mark’s Whistleblower Aid so they can defend those who take a stand against the overreach and assault on our rights?
What about groups like VoteVets that are standing up to Trump and Republicans who are politicizing the military and destroying veterans healthcare and benefits?
I could keep writing all the ways you can safely stay at home and still fight. In the end though you will have to step out of your comfortable life and hit the streets. You will have to make your voice heard. I’ve never been a protest kind of guy. Now I’ve done three and am planning Unite for Veterans. Unite for America where thousands of veterans and allies to march peacefully in Washington D.C. on June 6th to let this regime know we aren’t taking their attacks sitting down.
250 years since the shot heard round the world
History has its eyes on you. Whether you like it or not. April 19th will be the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The battle that began the long fight for American independence. As British troops marched west to destroy militia gun caches they found themselves meeting stiff American resistance.
What came to be known as the Boston Alarm went out militia companies from across Massachusetts answered. Private Joseph Wellman was a minuteman in Col. John Daggett’s Regiment. He and his fellow soldiers marched over 20 miles to join the siege of Boston. When the call went out my great-great-great-grandfather grabbed his musket and marched to the sound of the guns.
He would join the Continental Army two weeks later when Washington took charge at the direction of the Congress and serve a remarkable career including the Battle of Trenton.
He answered the call.
It is not a time for arms, however, it is a time for courage.
We saw the sickening attack on Governor Josh Shapiro’s home by a far-right lunatic. There is violence bubbling. We must meet it with peaceful protest. We must join as one. We must use our numbers and our angry. We have strength as a wave of freedom loving people.
Go to mobilize. Go to Indivisible. Go to the DNC. Find the protests and town halls in your area and make your voice heard. Call your Congress member. Write them. Fax them. Fill their voicemail. This is the time.
You have to ask yourself…what will your kids say about you if you sit it out now? On my show ‘Too Late to Cancel’ on Sunday, economist Peter Simon asked that question. How do we explain to our children if we sit this out?
Do you want the next generation to wonder why you were silent?
Find your place and move out. Every minute you sit back and watch the cowards roll over is another minute counting down to losing everything our ancestors fought to chase from these shores.
Are you in?
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NO ONE is America should now have any doubt that we ARE in a FULL BLOWN Constitutional Crisis!!! Trump and his entire administration have gone rogue and are IGNORING the Constitution, The Bill of Rights, the Rule of Law........and saying to everyone in America - FU! We are doing WHATEVER THE HELL WE WANT AND WE DARE YOU TO STOP US!!!!!!
This gripped me and moved me. I’ve been an activist since the 60’s. My latest was canvassing through Arizona and Nevada for Harris. But for the first time in my life, I’ve been seriously considering how more vocal and active I can become. It’s not my age or an infirmity that makes me pause before activism, it is fear, plain and simple. I fear being singled out and losing my Social Security. This would impact my whole family who would insist on taking on my costs of living. I’m ashamed to admit this fear. I still donate when I can and I write letters to Congress but since I live in California I’m preaching to the choir. But as I contemplate my fear, I realize that being afraid is the most important reason to redouble my actions to bring down fascism. Thank you for your inspiring article!