 So I want to talk about a fairly interesting story because I feel like these types of stories Should happen more often, but they don't so Miles Taylor the individual in this photograph with Donald Trump He is a former Trump official. He worked at the Department of Homeland Security and he is the one who claims He wrote that anonymous op-ed in the New York Times back in 2018 where he claimed that there are indeed grown-ups within the Administration trying to stop Trump from acting on his worst inclinations now He explained how you know little by little as he worked for Trump. He saw how unhinged he was and Eventually he turned on Donald Trump completely He decided to announce that he'd be voting for Joe Biden in 2020 And then he started to behave as a sort of anti-trump Republican in an effort to reform the party But after trying for not that long He's already concluding that it's not possible the GOP cannot be saved. In fact, he tweeted this out I'm done. I no longer believe the Republican Party can be saved. The vitriolic rhetoric is inspiring violent radicals I'm quitting the GOP and I hope more do the same now for him It seems like the straw that broke the camel's back was the buffalo shooting He sees how the GOP has been talking about the great replacement theory specifically media figures like Tucker Carlson You have some politicians like Matt Gaetz and one of the leaders of the Republican House at least Stefanik I mean the party is becoming more and more extreme and as they continue with this extreme behavior The country will descend further into violence and fascism So he tried to kind of go the path of Liz Cheney and reform the party But he realized that it's not really something that you can do and he wrote an op-ed explaining this Titled after buffalo saving the GOP means leaving the GOP. I thought the Republican Party could be saved I was wrong and he'd be correct about that the GOP I mean at this point with how much momentum they have in one direction It'd be almost impossible for them to change course Donald Trump has remade this party in his own image But one thing that bothers me about this is that I mean Miles Taylor. He didn't see it When we all saw it, I mean it was evident that Trump was a fascist But yet he still worked for Donald Trump at the same time though I feel conflicted about that because he was one of the grown-ups in the room That was trying to stop Trump from doing stupid things like bombing Mexico or nuking hurricanes presumably I'm so we needed people like that We needed adults to explain to Trump why you can't do these types of terrible things But at the same time I find it really hard to accept the fact that they couldn't see That this was the trajectory that the GOP was headed on the GOP for decades Was pandering to people like Donald Trump and then eventually they got a little bit more than what they bargained for They fucked around too much and then they found out The monkeys have taken over the zoo now You have a bunch of feral animals controlling the GOP all the behest of Donald Trump And I think that a lot of folks like Miles Taylor they think that yes the GOP Their rhetoric is very extreme. They're proto fascists, but they're never gonna descend into full-blown fascism, right? And the answer is That's wrong Proto fascism always leads to fascism. It's an inevitability. There's always this period in fascism where There's no violence you galvanize the base you identify the enemy and then that's when you strike And we're in that transition period today. We are descending into violent fascism and This was always the trajectory I don't know how he didn't see this and I also am skeptical of his motives here Is he just saying this now at the right moment because he wants to sell books Creators own, you know a career. I think he's probably more genuine than someone like Liz Cheney I don't believe that Liz Cheney actually cares I think she's someone who is an opportunist and maybe she wants to run for president at some point As the anti-trump Republican I don't know but what I do know is that this op-ed that he wrote is actually pretty solid because he states some facts about the GOP that are Undeniable that I think that regular rank-and-file voters of the GOP need to actually internalize and question Is this what I want to support? Do I want to continue to support the party that is literally killing democracy? So let's get into his op-ed here. He writes the vitriolic GOP rhetoric is inspiring violent radicals And I don't say that lightly after more than a decade in counter-terrorism It's clear to me that my party is mainstreaming conspiracy theories that are fueling a statistical spike in Political intimidation attitudes toward violence and the specter of domestic terrorism that we witnessed this weekend in New York This isn't a partisan broadside. It's a public safety warning The Buffalo shooter was apparently radicalized by racist viewpoints that many Republicans espouse and that danger can't be tolerated any Longer an associated press poll in December found that nearly 50% of Republicans agree to some degree with the sentiments of the great Replacement theory the Buffalo shooter allegedly used as justification for hunting and killing black Americans who comprised most of the victims of Saturday's attack meanwhile the vast majority of Republicans more than 70% in a university of Massachusetts poll released more than a year after the 2020 election still contest the results of the last presidential vote This has seemed to encourage dozens of GOP candidates to compete in federal primaries by campaigning on rage over a rigged election At the same time the party is going after the foundations of democracy itself GOP lawmakers have curtailed voting rights in nearly half of US states and a slew of Republican election deniers are running for positions Charged with overseeing state elections. What's more most Republicans still favor a twice impeached Trump for president Despite the fact that at least one former aide has said he would absolutely impose some form of autocracy in a second term and some of his cabinet members have Warned he's a threat to democracy. This is not the Republican Party. I signed up for and to that I say Yes, it is Yes, it is Trump is the logical conclusion To the Republican Party to years of pandering to extremists and getting more and more extreme over the years I mean he correctly identifies voter suppression as anti-democratic But this isn't a new phenomenon. This didn't just start after the 2020 election at the behest of Donald Trump This has been a common thing The GOP has always relied on voter suppression to suppress the votes in particular of minority communities So they can win and you know make sure that They stay in power and they are all about staying in power by any means necessary And this is kind of the tipic point right because demographics are indeed changing younger voter voters don't identify with the Republican Party So they can't just let Demographic changes, you know change the outcome of these races They actually have to rig the system in their favor in order to continue to be electorally viable and you know Reaching out to younger voters reaching out to minority communities is out of the question because the way that they get support is By fueling white rage the way that they Distract people from all of the things that their oligarchic donors are doing is by trying to blame Immigrants scapegoat minority communities LGBTQ plus people and this isn't just a Trump thing This is a GOP thing broadly speaking So I'm glad that he saw the lights, but if you didn't see the warning signs there then it just it feels really um I Don't know what to say it like again It feels bad because I'm conflicted on one hand. I want to encourage people to change I want to celebrate people when they do change and when people leave the GOP and explain how it's not a reformable party It's not even a functioning political party at this point. It's a death cult like when people do that I want to celebrate that but when you're a public official like this, I feel like you've got to know better How do you not see what everyone else has seen you don't have to be a political scientist to see that the writing was on the wall That Trump was the logical conclusion to what the GOP's project was That at some point the GOP's proto-fascism would inevitably devolve into real full-blown violent Undemocratic fascism. I mean history has showed us that this is what happens and now the GOP base itself is Starting to embrace violence much more a poll released in February of 2021 by AEI found that 39% of Republicans believe political violence might be necessary And white supremacists in michigan were convicted for plotting a civil war I mean these things don't happen in a vacuum. They're all connected, right Now It's good that he's doing this like overall I think that this is a necessary thing And what I want is for one person to do this and create a sort of domino effect But the problem is that this individual he's not high-profile enough to really make that big of a difference You need really high-profile Republicans to stand up and say I'm not just An anti-trump Republican, but I'm literally leaving the party Because it's not reformable at this point You can't just expect this fascistic party to change directions when they are full-blown Authoritarians at this point effectively. I mean how many people think the election was stolen 70% he cited the bull You can't reform that you can't get them to think suddenly that our institutions are going to be conducive to democratic change So they're going to more and more opt for extra democratic means of affecting political change and oftentimes that leads to terrorism violence as a way of You know changing the country hence why 40% of Republicans almost believe that political violence is necessary Now he gets something hugely wrong here. He says that there are still good Republicans like Liz Cheney Now, I'm sorry. Liz Cheney. She's not a fascist, but she's still a psychopath her foreign policy is Insane. I mean if you listen to what she said with regard to ukraine and russia She wanted a no fly zone, which means she's okay with Basically shooting down russian planes over ukrainian territory. That's what would be entailed with that if you wanted to enforce that And that would almost certainly lead to a direct confrontation I mean it is a declaration of war on russia to be clear And that could catalyze world war three lead to nuclear annihilation. So it's like How are there any good republicans? How can you maintain this when your options are fascists? or Warmongers who might get us all killed in a different way I mean see the problem is that if you're going to disavow the republican party You've got to swear it all off swear it all off. There are no good republicans Now when I say that i'm not referring to the base I think a lot of them are stupid and misinformed, but when I say there are no good Republicans i'm talking about elected officials. None of them Are good. They all know That the issue is serious because if liz chaney actually were serious About trying to stop her party from being extreme She could actually stop voting with them. She could actually propose legislation that would economically help her base So that way, you know Her party doesn't have to scapegoat immigrants for their economic issues She could explain listen. I am the one who's trying to help you unionize and raise your wage But they're not they're anti labor. They're against basic human rights and this is The recipe for fascism neo liberalism always leads To fascism and if you don't have a strong opposition like the democratic party, which they are not strong It leads to fascism. I mean we've seen this time and again throughout history But also we have modern examples Tayyip Erdogan in turkey would not have been able to become A pseudo autocratic leader killed democracy in turkey had it not been for the weak opposition in turkey the liberals who just wouldn't stand up to him So, you know, it's like on one hand. I'm so conflicted because Yeah, this should happen more. I don't think that he's gonna be, you know The one that makes the damn burst and make a bunch of republicans in unison all disavowed this party You know, I don't think that a single issue like abortion is going to make it happen What's going to make it happen? I don't know But you know, it's a good thing when it does happen, but at the same time it just feels Bizarre that somebody like this who's a member of government didn't actually Know what the republican party was didn't actually know what trump was until he saw it firsthand And again, I applaud him for being the voice of reason apparently in trump's administration But I mean until more people have a little bit of foresight Then Things are going to continue to deteriorate in this country, you know, looking back and acknowledging That you were part of this cult is one thing hindsight is 2020, right? But you know having the foresight to be able to anticipate where The trajectory is headed that's something entirely different and until more people wake up and read the warning signs and educate themselves Things are going to continue to get worse The humanist report is fake news Mike only cares about crazy bernie and his wacky socialist ideas Sad very sad. I'm unsubscribing