Come Retribution

Sitting down with 'This American Life' to talk about what's possible

Are you paranoid?

Have you ever asked yourself that question? I found myself asking it as I stepped outside to let my dog relieve herself before bed a couple of months ago. There are no homes across the street from mine on my modest street in the suburbs so it was odd that a blacked out pickup truck was idling and straddling my and my neighbors property line facing my house at 10:30 at night.

This was on the heels of my name appearing on a doxxing site as a target for SWATing which had been part of the results of Mike Flynn suing me for $150M for three tweets over two years ago. Oddly his address didn’t appear on his initial filing but my former address did. A month later I had a late night visitor.

My neighbor called the police on his own. A cop came. Chatted with the person for at least twenty minutes while I watched from my darkened bedroom with my personal weapon in my hand. He eventually left and I went to bed.

I’m an old soldier.

I don’t like surprises.

Not my first rodeo

I recall often the time I did an interview in Baghdad for CNN in July of 2003. I couldn’t get a military ride back to the airport for my helicopter to pick me up so the local driver for the bureau drove me through downtown traffic to BIAP.

As we sat in traffic people in other vehicles started noticing an American soldier in full battle gear sitting in the front seat of a civilian vehicle. My paranoia went up a notch and spidey senses were tingling.

I unholstered my side arm, charged a round, took off the safety, and rested it on the door. When the driver looked at me sideways questioning what was up, I simply replied, “life insurance.”

He nodded and we made our way safely to the gate of the airport.

Life gets spicy

I never expected to be standing in my bedroom in my hometown feeling the urge to take out my ‘life insurance’ then but here we are in 2024 and that is part of my life and many others. There comes a point where the regular threats, publishing of your personal information, promises of retribution, and strange events add up to tell that all of the talk that so many dismiss as just that…might not be just talk.

It started for me not long after joining the Lincoln Project but blew up when the New York Times story about one of the original co-founders, John Weaver, approaching young gay men on Twitter and engaging in what can only be best described professionally as ‘fucking creepy as hell’ conversations before offering them jobs at LP.

Buried deep in the story was an anecdote that one of the young men had been 14 when Weaver first started talking about politics with him. While he never spoke about sexuality or risque conversations with him until he was over 18, I knew as soon as I read it what was coming.

I was right. I was the Executive Director. It was my first day.

Things got super fun after that.

This American Life

I won’t ruin the story because a colleague referred the journalists at legendary NPR show and podcast ‘This American Life’ to me as they prepared to examine what Donald Trump’s promises of ‘Retribution’ might look like. They wanted to talk to people who might be in the crosshairs about what we thought might come, what we have already experienced, and what we were planning in event he wins a second term.

It’s a fascinating show and an uncomfortable one for me to participate in. I felt it was important that Americans understand that this all isn’t a theory to many of us. It’s our current reality and we shouldn’t dismiss these threats just because the people saying them are full of hot air…or whatever excuse you might find.

They command the attention of millions of unstable people. After all several thousand showed up in Washington D.C. after being promised a wild time by Trump. It only takes one to get a bright idea that someone like me is a soft target.

I am not a soft target.

I hope you will check it out and take it seriously. I know I certainly am.

Listen to the episode at This American Life: Come Retribution