When I read Chris Whipple’s Vanity Fair profile of Susie Wiles, the most powerful person in Donald Trump’s White House who is not named Donald Trump, one line stopped me cold.
["I’m not an enabler." - Susie Wiles]
I’ve heard that sentence before. I said versions of it to myself while working in the first Trump White House.
And here’s the hard truth that only people who have worked inside that White House truly understand:
[You cannot work for Donald Trump and not become an enabler at some point along the way.]
Not because you wake up wanting to be one.
Not because you abandon your values on day one.
But because the system is designed to test, erode, and eventually corner your moral compass until the question is no longer “Is this right?,” but “How bad will it be if I don’t stop this?”
Chris Whipple’s reporting lays bare something that too often gets obscured by palace intrigue and personality profiles: power under Trump is not about restraint, it’s about facilitation.
JD Vance says it plainly in the piece. Susie Wiles is not there to steer, influence, or manipulate the president “for the national interest.” She is there to facilitate his vision.
That distinction matters, because facilitation has a body count.
This is what happened on Susie Wiles’s watch: life-saving USAID programs were eviscerated, halting immunizations and aid that kept thousands alive; PEPFAR, credited with saving millions, was crippled; U.S. citizens and their children, including a four-year-old undergoing treatment for stage-4 cancer, were deported; hundreds were sent to a brutal Salvadoran prison on sketchy or nonexistent evidence; January 6 rioters who assaulted police were pardoned; presidential power expanded by whim, not law; the National Guard was deployed into American cities; political enemies, universities, and the press were targeted; and extremist actors were empowered to turn ideology into policy.
Going to church every Sunday does not negate the consequences of decisions that harmed people at home and around the world. You don’t walk out of a White House like this innocent, because innocence requires stopping harm, not facilitating it.
The Lie We Tell Ourselves Inside the Building
Every person who enters that White House tells themselves a version of the same story:
If I’m not here, someone worse will be.
If I stay, maybe I can mitigate the damage.
If I leave, I lose any ability to protect people.
I told myself those things.
COVID will haunt me forever.
Watching children being separated from their parents will haunt me forever.
Every argument I had in the Situation Room.
Every warning about what happens when you downplay a pandemic.
Every fight over domestic extremism after yet another mass shooting.
Every moment when intelligence screamed one thing, and politics demanded another.
And then there were the talking points.
Writing words you know will mislead. Defending decisions you know will cost lives. Trying to thread the needle between truth and loyalty, and watching the needle snap anyway.
You don’t walk out of that White House innocent.
Every single one of us who worked there knows the moments when our integrity, our sense of self, and our moral clarity were pushed to the brink.
Olivia Troye delivers a solid column here that busts Susie Wiles’ “I’m not an enabler” horse manure.
Olivia Troye, a former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, announced that she would run for Congress as a Democrat in Virginia’s proposed new 7th District, pending passage of a sweeping redistricting referendum this month. https://cnn.it/4sw4rCM
Hmmmm....Thoughts?
It could be a strategically interesting move, but whether it’s a “good idea” depends on a few key factors.
First, Olivia Troye has a unique profile:
Former Republican insider who worked with Mike Pence
Broke with Trump and aligned with anti-MAGA Republicans
Now running as a Democrat
That gives her crossover appeal, especially in a competitive district—but it also creates challenges.
It could be a strategically interesting move, but whether it’s a good idea really depends on a few things.
Olivia Troye has a unique background as a former adviser to Mike Pence who later broke with Trump and is now running as a Democrat. That gives her potential crossover appeal, especially among moderates and independents who are tired of extreme partisanship. Her national security experience could also add to her credibility with voters.
At the same time, that same background could create challenges. Some Democrats may be skeptical of her past Republican ties, while many Republicans are likely to view her as disloyal. On top of that, the district she’s planning to run in isn’t even finalized yet because it depends on a redistricting referendum, which adds a lot of uncertainty to the race.
In the end, it’s a high-risk, high-reward decision. If the district ends up being competitive and voters are open to a candidate with a mixed political background, she could have a real shot. But if the race is driven more by party-based voters, it could be a tough path forward.
Olivia Troye, former national security advisor to Mike Pence, resigned in 2020 and became one of the loudest critics of Trump and MAGA. Her political shift was driven especially by her opposition to the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic and what she describes as a need to prioritize "country over party," shifting from conservative, "John McCain-style" Republicanism to aligning with the Democratic party.
About the Republican party, she says, "I walked away and never looked back".
She voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
She endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024.
She frequently speaks against what she calls "Trumpism" and "MAGA", making her a popular target for the GOP.
She resigned from the White House in 2020, saying the Trump administration was "ignoring scientific data in favor of politics and conspiracy theories", a move that infuriated Trump.
She often frames her decisions as focusing on ethical leadership (!) rather than partisan loyalty, a perspective highlighted in her 2024 DNC speech.
She is a vocal supporter of reproductive rights, and acted as a surrogate for the Harris campaign, supporting abortion rights and reproductive health freedom.
She is vocal supporter of of LGBTQ+ rights and has positioned herself against conservative policies that she views as discriminatory.
Growing up in El Paso as the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, she has criticized "anti-immigrant rhetoric" and has spoken out against what she describes as the dehumanization of migrants. She also harshly criticized the use of federal troops against peaceful protesters in 2020.
She advocates for "protecting freedom" and individual liberties. She is a vocal defender of democratic processes, the rule of law, and the integrity of government institutions. She views Trump as a threat to these foundations, specifically citing his undermining of the intelligence community and military leadership.
She's a former aide to the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and emphasizes the importance of fact-based, data-driven decision-making. She resigned in 2020 partly due to the administration's "disregard for human life" and political interference with scientists during the pandemic. She describes Robert Kennedy Jr. as an "anti-intellectual buffoon" and a "menace to society".
Given the state of the GOP, it’s not easy for any Democratic candidate to pick up cross-party backing, but Kamala Harris is now backed by ma
Republicans for Kamala is taking off and includes some high profile former office holders and staffers. This is more than just the usual handful of mid level and obscure officials.
At least three former governors including Jim Edgar of Illinois (1991-1999) have publicly announced their support for the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Nine days into her 2024 candidacy, Vice President Kamala Harris picked a couple of notable Republican endorsements: Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan threw his support behind the Democrat fairly quickly, and John Giles, the mayor of Mesa, Arizona’s third-largest city, endorsed her soon after.
Given the state of the cotemporary GOP, it’s not easy for any Democratic candidate to pick up cross-party backing, so this represented a decent start. But hanging overhead was an obvious question: Would other Republicans soon follow?
The question received a rather emphatic answer over the weekend. NBC News reported:
>> The Harris campaign on Sunday unveiled more than two dozen endorsements from Republicans, including former governors, members of Congress and Trump administration officials. Many of the endorsements came from politicians who were already openly critical of former President Donald Trump, including former Republican Gov. Bill Weld of Massachusetts; former Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Va.; and former Trump administration press secretary Stephanie Grisham.<<
Those names are, of course, just a sampling. According to a press statement from the incumbent vice president’s campaign, Republicans for Harris includes endorsements from former Trump White House officials Stephanie Grisham and Olivia Troye; former Secretaries Chuck Hagel and Ray LaHood; former Governors Jim Edgar, Bill Weld, and Christine Todd Whitman; former U.S. House members Rod Chandler, Tom Coleman, Dave Emery, Wayne Gilchrest, Jim Greenwood, Adam Kinzinger, John LeBoutillier, Susan Molinari, Jack Quinn, Denver Riggleman, Claudine Schneider, Christopher Shays, Peter Smith, Alan Steelman, David Trott, and Joe Walsh; and former GOP State Chair and State Senator Chris Vance, among others.
“As a proud conservative, I never thought I’d be endorsing a Democrat for President,” Kinzinger said in a written statement. “But, I know Vice President Harris will defend our democracy and ensure Donald Trump never returns to the White House. Donald Trump poses a direct threat to fundamental American values. He only cares about himself, and his pursuit of power.
“That’s what we saw on January 6 when he sent a mob to overturn our lawful election, who violently attacked law enforcement and ransacked our nation’s Capitol in the process,” the former member of the Jan. 6 committee added. “There’s too much at stake to sit on the sidelines, which is why I wholeheartedly endorse Kamala Harris for president. Now is the time for us all to unite to save our democracy and defeat Donald Trump one last time.”
Former Pence aide Olivia Troye: ‘The patriotic, American thing to do right now is to give the transition team a chance to meet with the experts … It’s time to stop being sore losers and really focus on what’s happening’
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was pushed to play down the risks of the coronavirus pandemic in reopening schools for in-person classes, Olivia Troye, a former top adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, confirmed to CNN Monday.
What happened to individual privacy in America?
If you’ve been reading my work, you know I’ve been raising alarms about the national security implications of this administration’s overreach for months, starting with what looked like a politically motivated purge at the NSA. That was the first clue. Now, we’re seeing the broader plan come into focus: a vast federal database powered by Palantir, bringing together the private records of millions of Americans.
Yes, Palantir, the company founded by Peter Thiel, a major Trump donor and MAGA megaphone. The same Palantir that’s been embedded within our intelligence community for years, developing tools to track terrorists and build connections across massive datasets for counterterrorism efforts. Tools that, when used with oversight and restraint, helped save lives. I know because I’m familiar with them, given I spent most of my career in national security. But those same tools, in the wrong hands, can become the backbone of a mass surveillance regime. And that should make all of us, regardless of our political affiliation, uncomfortable.
Palantir didn’t just appear out of nowhere. It has spent nearly two decades embedding itself within the U.S. government, from the Pentagon to the CIA, from the IRS to ICE, which recently awarded the company with a $30 million contract to target and also track the self-deporting of illegal aliens (the company has been on the books for ICE since 2009). Are they tracking all the U.S. Citizens and people legally residing in the United States, too, that ICE is “mistakenly” picking up during their raids? Perhaps Palantir could provide a better data system so the Trump Administration doesn’t lose track of the children being separated from their parents this time around…but I digress. Palantir has been a partner in navigating the post-9/11 security state and, over time, evolved into the go-to contractor for everything from border enforcement to COVID-19 vaccine distribution to battlefield intelligence, securing over $2.7 billion in U.S. government contracts since 2009.
Throughout the past week, reporting has surfaced that the Trump Administration has tapped Palantir to build what basically amounts to a national surveillance platform, one that likely links together Americans’ health data, financial transactions, education records, immigration history, and law enforcement files across agencies, into one master system. This is not speculation. This is happening right now under the direction of an administration that is openly working on punishing political enemies, attempting to control dissent, and bypassing legal checks.
Let me put this in plain terms: This is how authoritarian regimes take root–not overnight, but bit by bit under the guise of "efficiency," "safety," or "patriotism." They collect the data, connect the dots, and then target the people.
And here's the twist that should stop everyone in their tracks: Even Trump’s own base is sounding the alarm. MAGA influencers and far-right allies are now openly asking if Trump has turned on them. Longtime loyalists described the Palantir national citizen database plan as Orwellian, questioning why this administration, their administration, is building a database that could be used to track Americans like political enemies.
Olivia Troye wrote a column on how Palantir will play Big Brother and target your freedoms.
See Also:
For Such A Time As This (Andra Watkins): State-Sanctioned Moral Values
Welcome to 2025: now streaming state-approved truth.
Olivia Troye at Living It With Olivia Troye:
Headlines scream daily crises, yet the quieter threat creeping underneath is more dangerous. Officials are erecting essentially “free-speech” commissions that decide which protests are acceptable, which books remain on shelves, and which experts may speak. Cross their line and you risk a lawsuit, unemployment, or even jail.
I’ve spent my career balancing national security and civil liberty—one hard-won rule: when any administration builds panels to manage speech, they risk crossing the line from protection into policing. In 2025, the hypocrisy has gone full tilt—because those now screaming “freedom” are the ones enforcing silence.
Across the country, new laws, and campus regulations are rolling out under the guise of liberty. But peel back the label, and you’ll find a pattern: political appointees deciding which speech is acceptable, which books are permissible, which protests are tolerable. And if you cross the line? Expect lawsuits, job loss, or even jail time. This isn’t theoretical. It’s happening. And the party that once lectured everyone else about the marketplace of ideas is now stocking the shelves with only one brand of truth.
The GOP once prided itself on being the party of the First Amendment. But today, that legacy has been replaced by loyalty tests and selective silencing. On November 30, 2023, I testified before U.S. Representative Jim Jordan’s so‑called Weaponization of the Federal Government committee. I was prepared to discuss how Trump-era pressure influenced DHS threat assessments and what we did when contacting social media companies. The microphones were on, but the appetite to listen was not. Republican members who once shouted about viewpoint diversity cut me off the moment the facts strayed from their narrative.
And while the members were busy curating testimony, the gallery had its hecklers. Ivan Raiklin, the far-right operative who now cheers Kash Patel as FBI Director, sat just a few rows behind me that day, flanked by his usual crew, heckling my remarks and lobbing comments at my husband. (And yes, I’m on his “retribution list.”) The same group that mocked me in that hearing room later packed Patel’s FBI confirmation hearing, proving this new “free speech” brigade isn’t just about controlling the mic; it’s about punishing anyone else who picks it up. That hearing crystallized the danger we face: these new “free‑speech” champions don’t want more voices, they want curated voices. And if your evidence complicates the storyline, you’re the next target for their gavel. If we don’t call it out now, we’re going to wake up in a country where the only speech truly protected is the kind that flatters those in power.
[...]
The Quiet Crackdown—A Snapshot of the War on Dissent
Social Media Fear: As federal pressure on digital platforms increases, Americans should be asking: what’s safe to share, and what might get you flagged? Trump-aligned officials have suggested that even reposting a meme critical of the government could be considered a threat to "public trust." The shift is pushing users to second-guess what they post and when. As Gizmodo reports, this crackdown has led to a chilling effect across social media, with users already being warned, implicitly or explicitly, to keep their content "on message."
Wait. Wasn’t this the outcry of the far-right not long ago, claiming they were being silenced online? Now they’re building the very apparatus they claimed to fear. Free speech for me but not for thee.
Public Broadcasting Power Grab: Earlier this week, the Trump administration sued the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in an attempt to remove Democratic-appointed board members and realign the network under Trump-loyal control, part of a broader strategy to defund NPR and PBS and strip public media of independent oversight.
Anti-Protest Dragnet: 41 bills targeting protests have been introduced in 22 states. They range from impacting demonstrations on Gaza to climate change. In Ohio, lawmakers are even considering whether participants in noisy or disruptive but nonviolent protests, and the people and organizations who support them, could be hit with expensive lawsuits. So would this include a 'No Kings' protest? It’s not just about silencing the crowd. It’s about chilling the entire community around them.
Curriculum Control Boards: Florida’s expanded “Stop WOKE” Act, and similar bills in Ohio, Arizona, and Indiana, let political appointees veto university lectures and ban “divisive topics.” These efforts strip away academic freedom and redefine college instruction as government speech.
Book Ban Tribunals: School boards, under vague “sexually explicit content” laws, have removed hundreds of books. A 5th Circuit decision in May ruled parents and students have no legal standing to challenge these bans, even when entire libraries are gutted.
SLAPP Lawsuits as Financial Muzzles: Corporations and political operatives are suing activists and critics into silence. In one example, Energy Transfer sought $667 million from Greenpeace over Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Closer to home, former FBI assistant director Frank Figliuzzi is now fighting a defamation suit from Trump’s current FBI Director, Kash Patel. And let’s not forget Ric Grenell’s lawsuit, supported by Patel, against me. It was dismissed, but they’re at it again. Whether it’s an intelligence chief, a former cabinet member, or a Fortune 500 energy firm, the tactic is the same: drag critics into expensive, years-long litigation, betting they’ll shut up before trial.
Meanwhile, in real time, California's sanctuary laws are colliding head‑on with Washington’s new crackdown, and the fallout shows exactly how “free‑speech” promises morph into federal muscle the moment dissent threatens power. Sanctuary statutes are being overridden by federal warrants and National Guard deployments. California shows the “board‑to‑baton” funnel in real time.
Again, the dangerous irony in all of this is that those claiming to “restore” free speech are the ones building the machinery to silence it. They wave the flag with one hand while turning the Constitution into a weapon with the other.
What You Can Do
Document Everything. Sunshine is the strongest disinfectant.
Support Legal Challenges. The courts remain one of the last guardrails.
Stand With the Silenced. From students, librarians, journalists, whistleblowers and former DOJ employees—amplify their voices.
Refuse to Self-Censor. Speaking uncomfortable truths is the essence of freedom.
Free speech doesn’t need more review boards. It needs people brave enough to defend it when it matters most.
The nerve of the Trump Regime to consider themselves fighters for “free speech”, yet they are repressing free speech critical of the regime.
