Sarah Matthews: "This is what Trump's priorities are, he doesn't care that people are struggling…He knows that people won't build monuments to him after he leaves office. So he needs to build a legacy for himself, and he sees that through the ballroom."

Fmr. NSC Dir. Julia Curlee: "All that mattered was that they couldn't be seen to have a trans person working in the White House…They asked me to come back after I was fired because they needed me, but they didn't want anyone to know." Alexander: "They wanted your service, but they didn't want you."

Fmr. NSC Dir. Julia Curlee: "The division of Americans into the right and wrong kind — It is weakening our national security…I don't understand why they would so casually throw away dedicated officers who just want to continue our tradition of non-partisan service."

Q: "What are Americans losing by the [LGBT community] not being included in jobs for which you have years of experience?" Fmr. NSC Dir. Julia Curlee: "It will weaken the country to drive them and other people away because they don't want to be a part of a system that does that to Americans."

Our conversation between former ICE Chief of Staff Jason Houser and Michael Fanone has been rescheduled to tomorrow, 8/20, at 12P ET, LIVE on The Home of the Brave Podcast. This one's worth the wait.

ICE Running Rampant, ft. Jason Houser

Masked agents are back in the news, and ICE’s former chief of staff is here to talk about it.

newsletter.ofthebrave.org

What's happening inside ICE right now? Former ICE Chief of Staff Jason Houser will unpack this question with Michael Fanone tomorrow, 8/19 LIVE on of The Home of the Brave Podcast at 12p ET. You won't want to miss this one:

ICE Running Rampant, ft. Jason Houser

Masked agents are back in the news, and ICE’s former chief of staff is here to talk about it.

newsletter.ofthebrave.org

Gov. Shapiro: "In Trump's world, if you don't think, look, or vote like him, then you don't count as much in America. He wants to make it harder for you to vote. I will always stand up for free elections and free expression…I won't let anybody mess with that, especially the President."

Three-time Trump voter expresses her disappointment over the Iran war: "I would tell him enough. Bring our guys and girls home…He was a 'no war' president, and now we're at war."

Fmr. UN Amb. John Bolton: "That's how Trump sees foreign affairs. If he has a good personal relationship with Kim, Xi, Putin—he thinks the US has good relations with that country…It shows Trump doesn't think strategically. He can't define American national interest, he thinks it's all personal."

Fmr. UN Amb. John Bolton on Iran: "[Trump] didn't prepare for the possibility of an extended conflict. He hasn't known how to measure what progress he's making toward his objectives…He doesn't think strategically. He has a short attention span, and we are where we are now because of that."

@pauloffit.bsky.social, Director of the Vaccine Education Center: "I don't think people realize just how serious [RFK Jr.] is about the fact that he thinks vaccines are doing more harm than good…He is a cruel joke being played on the children of this country."

@pauloffit.bsky.social, Vaccine Education Center: "You have the President of the United States casting doubt on vaccine safety at a time when we have more measles cases than we've had in three decades, including two little girls die of measles in Texas. Can he be more irresponsible?"

@repbrendanboyle.bsky.social: "Trump has said he does not think about the financial situation of the American people at all. He has also said, 'I love the inflation'…You have a president who just doesn't give a damn about the struggles of the ordinary American."

@repbrendanboyle.bsky.social: "This president and those minions who work for him, including now the Attorney General, they want to pretend that there aren't three branches of government…That's the really dangerous aspect of Trump 2.0 over Trump 1.0."

@repbrendanboyle.bsky.social: "[Trump] just wants to be able to throw fancy parties for the billionaire class that he hangs out with at Mar-a-Lago…At a time in which we have an affordability crisis, he wants to spend almost $1 billion of taxpayer money on his big, beautiful ballroom."

Karen Bramlett, grandmother of a sailor aboard USS Lincoln: "Donald Trump needs to be ashamed of himself to let them suffer the way that they're doing…They're over there fighting for our country. And this is the thanks they get?"

Trump told Hegseth to "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea based on his "very good relationship with Kim John Un," calling North Korea "unthreatening and respectful."

@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social: "The election subversion side of things remains remains very disconcerting." @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social: "This can't be the new normal… It's all based on fake emergencies that he's created to justify really excessive uses of power—that's something we can't tolerate."

"I saw the announcement that the Trump administration was taking over the Kennedy Center. And that there was an intention to install the president as chairman. I immediately called my agents and told them to cancel my show." Our latest: newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/why-i-canc...

Why I Canceled My Band’s Show at the Kennedy Center

I knew I’d get backlash for speaking out against Trump’s takeover. But I did it anyway.

newsletter.ofthebrave.org

@tomjoscelyn.bsky.social: "There's been a depreciation of American power, and I think it will further depreciate over the next two years. Even if we get through that without a major crisis, the next president will confront a situation where the Department of Defense needs real reformation."

@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social on conditions aboard USS Lincoln: " People who are close to the military almost can't believe it, it's such a disgrace…They're kind of rattled by the degree of apparent mismanagement."

This week's It's Happening Here is a must-listen. @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social and @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social dig into the Christian nationalism currently running the Pentagon and how the institution's moral and professional decline is signaling weakness to our rivals.

Trump (2024): "Gasoline will be back to $2, and maybe even less than that." Trump (2026): "For you to pay a tiny, little bit more for your gasoline…You're at $4, it's okay, I'll never apologize."

Trump says the families of sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aren't worried about conditions on the ship. The families say otherwise.

@blumenthal.senate.gov on the USS Lincoln: "What we see right now is a lack of sufficient supplies — toothpaste, soap, clean water, and even food. That is a betrayal of trust by the top officials in our Department of Defense. I call on the Secretary of Defense to pay attention and do his job."

Sen. Reed on the USS Abraham Lincoln: "This is an outrage to the men and women serving aboard that ship. Broken toilets, poor water supply, poor meals…They deserve much more than that. I think this is the result of very poor planning by the White House & Department of Defense."

Shane Gillis: "[Trump's] selling faster access to his tweets, and then you can bet on markets. It's literally insider trading." Joe Rogan: " How is that legal?…You know how crazy that is? $100,000 to get early tweets…He's just on a grab."

Mark Normand: "You took a photo with Trump a couple years back." Shane Gillis: "That was pre a lot of things…  Back then, when I was taking that picture, I was like, 'this guy's gonna release the Epstein files, and no more wars.'"

Rogan: "This government has done some shit that no government has ever done before, and one of them is the crypto stuff…Trump made billions in crypto. His sons are involved in weird business deals… There's a lot of money flowing around that you could dig in and start arresting people."

Rep. Auchincloss: "The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs understands the loss of munitions and troop readiness that this war has caused. But the president is not taking his counsel. He's increasingly acting like a drunk driver, and Congress has to take the wheel."