Country over Party
These have been incredible times for the Forward Party! Literally millions of Americans are eager to take control of our future and provide a new approach and alternative to the major two parties. The meetings and calls I have been on have been awesome.
We can’t act quickly enough. This past week, Peter Meijer lost his Congressional primary in Michigan to Joe Gibbs. I’ve met with Peter – he’s one of the 10 brave Republicans in the House who voted to impeach Trump.
Of those 10, four announced they would not run and two already lost in their primaries. Liz Cheney’s primary is on August 16th and things are not looking good. David Valadao in California and Dan Newhouse in Washington survived their primaries and may be joined by Jaime Beutler also in Washington.
That’s 3 out of 10 who might make it back to Congress. For those out there who question whether Trump still controls the Republican Party, a 70% elimination rate is extraordinarily high and virtually unheard of for incumbents.
Trump’s not done. He has been in Alaska campaigning against Lisa Murkowski, the lone Republican Senator who voted to impeach who is on the ballot in November.
Peter Meijer’s case is particularly egregious because Joe Gibbs, his extremist election-denying Trumper opponent, was supported by the Democrats. That’s right, the Democrats decided to boost Gibbs because they thought Peter Meijer would be a more formidable opponent in the general election. Their plan worked, though it remains to be seen if it will work in November.
I find this to be an absolutely awful message – Peter Meijer did the difficult thing and defended democracy against extremists in his own party. And Democrats, so driven by partisanship, decided that it didn’t matter if Peter did the right thing – they’d rather see him lose to an extremist to marginally increase their own odds.
Peter Meijer faced death threats over his vote. That kind of courage should be rewarded and lauded, not taken advantage of. The Democrats decided to put party over country. Peter clearly had done the opposite.
One reason I started the Forward Party was because it’s clear that hyperpartisanship is tearing our nation apart, and one of the only ways out is for more people to start putting country over party. Peter Meijer did it. So did Liz Cheney and Lisa Murkowski and Adam Kinzinger. Too many of these figures have been hung out to dry or even, in Peter’s case, undermined and attacked.
This week on the podcast I interview another figure who put country over party and endured death threats to do so – the new co-CEO of Forward Party, Miles Taylor. You may know Miles best as the anonymous author of “A Warning” and the NYT essay “I am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.” Miles was the chief of staff of the Department of Homeland Security under Trump but left to publicly campaign against Trump’s re-election.
“I spent Election Day under armed guard in a safehouse,” Miles relates in our interview. After the election, Miles co-founded the Renew America Movement, an effort to combat extremists within the Republican Party.
“The environment we’re in today is an environment of enormous political intimidation,” Miles describes in our talk. “Someone like me from the national security community was pretty well-prepared, or as prepared as you could possibly be, to be on the receiving end of a vitriolic commander-in-chief . . . But the poll worker, the community leader, the school board member, the people we’ve heard from on the January 6th select committee hearings, those people weren’t prepared for the consequences of speaking out, and now it’s happening to everyday Americans. That’s what I worry about . . . we’re seeing by my estimates a tenfold increase in attitudes toward political violence now as opposed to before when Donald Trump was President. . . . it’s a really alarming environment and one of the indicators of why a pressure release valve is needed in our political system . . . I think a lot of the vitriol we’re seeing is driven by the fact that people feel there are no alternatives in the political system, there’s no peaceful way for them to convey their political opinions. ”
Over the past number of months, Miles concluded that the Republican Party was beyond restoration, and decided to join forces with Forward as part of our historic merger. Now we work together each day to build a third party movement that can truly give Americans a path forward and a way to express themselves that will bring us together. Miles is easy to work with, in part because after what he’s already been through, nothing fazes him.
We have some very exciting developments on the way – stay tuned! Our national tour begins in Houston on September 24th with dozens of other locations on the way leading up to our first ever national convention next year.
Miles, Peter Meijer, Lisa Murkowski and others are examples of the kind of selflessness we need in this tough time for the country. Can more Americans break free of the thrall of our current polarized time? Our goal with Forward Party is to make it easier for millions of Americans to do just that. If there are enough of us supporting them, we can make it easy, not extraordinarily hard, for people to do the right thing. Let’s build this new tribe as quickly as we can. Country over party should be the norm, not the exception.
You can check out my interview with Miles here and support the Forward Party here – we are growing fast and would love your help!
