The Adult in the Room

Apache helicopter pilot. FBI Special Agent. SWAT officer. Bestselling author. Don Bentley has worn many hats in his lifetime. But now he's taken on one of the biggest challenges of his life: continuing the story of Vince Flynn's legendary CIA counter-terrorism agent, Mitch Rapp. In his new novel, Bentley turns back the clock to tell the tale of one of Mitch's most vital missions: gathering intel in preparation for the operation to capture of the most wanted terrorist in US history, Osama Bin Laden. In this special interview, Bentley shares what inspired him to tell this story, celebrates its debut at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, and even reveals a few Easter eggs he added as tribute to friends and family. Enjoy this chat with the author of one of the most hotly-anticipated action thrillers in years!

J. Christian Adams returns to the program to talk about a number of topics including the investigation into the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, as well as Trump's New York convictions. But his primary focus as President of the Public Interest Legal Foundation is election integrity, and he has some very serious concerns. He details the organization's research into illegal voters and poorly-maintained and -audited rolls, and the findings that recently resulted on a trip to Capitol Hill. On the eve of one of the climax of one of the most tumultuous and controversial election seasons in memory, Adams explains why preventing voter fraud is more critical than ever before.

One of the biggest controversies of the 2024 election season has been "Project 2025," a proposed policy roadmap formulated by a team at the Heritage Foundation to guide the Trump administration's first year in office if re-elected. The project garnered so much negative publicity from the mainstream press that the Trump campaign publicly distanced itself from the contents and the project leader stepped down. But was that really necessary, or the consequence of misinformation from left-wing media presenting selections without context?

On this special episode of The Adult in the Room, Victoria is joined by PJ Media commentator Kevin Downey Jr. to talk about the upcoming election season and the project's contents, before speaking with Steven Groves, Margaret Thatcher Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and one of the legion of contributors to the nearly 1,000-page document. Hear straight from the source how the media sabotaged the project, what is actually contained in the proposal, and why fearmongering and rhetoric are causing this election, perhaps more than any other, to spiral out of control.

Economist, author, and former Democrat Peter Navarro was one of Donald Trump’s most critical advisors during his campaign and administration, helping to shape White House trade policy. He was among the first outside the scientific community to see the looming danger of the 2020 pandemic and its economic implications, as well as the overall threat of China on the world stage. Just under two weeks ago, he was released from prison after being found in contempt of Congress. Now, he’s releasing a new book: The New MAGA Deal: The Unofficial Deplorables Guide to Donald Trump’s 2024 Policy Platform.

J. Michael Waller is Senior Analyst for Strategy at the Center for Security Policy, and a leading expert in the fields of foreign propaganda, political warfare, psychological warfare, and subversion. But he never thought he'd have to be exercising that expertise within his own country. He once worked for the CIA in Central America and provided essential analysis in the wake of the fall of the USSR, and he joins the program in the aftermath of the attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump to discuss the failures of the country's intel infrastructure at multiple levels -- the CIA, FBI, and Secret Service. He explains the history of the modern CIA and its connections to the origins of critical race & gender theory, as well as how government has been turning these assets against its own citizens, including politicians who don't toe their line.

Buy J. Michael Waller's newest book, Big Intel: How the CIA and FBI Went from Cold War Heroes to Deep State Villains on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Intel-Heroes-State-Villains-ebook/dp/B0CB1QJJFJ?tag=victoriataft-20

Newsmax Chief White House Correspondent James Rosen joins Victoria with a fun and enlightening conversation about life in the White House briefing room, what it's like to be the de facto arch-nemesis of Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and his career as an author, namely his multi-volume biography of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, as well as his research into the facts beyond the conspiracy theories relating to the Watergate Scandal.

BUY JAMES ROSEN'S BOOKS ON AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/stores/James-Rosen/author/B001JRYIKG?tag=victoriataft-20

Studies by government agencies and academic institutions insist that crime is dropping, but for many Americans it sure doesn't seem that way. Major cities are becoming retail deserts as grocery stores, pharmacies & major brand stores flee rising retail theft. City street "takeovers" result in property damage and violence. Police departments are outmanned and underfunded, with lengthy response times endangering lives. Prosecutors are declaring that they're going to stop filing charges for certain crimes, in the name of "equity." And all the while, state & city government continuously seek ways to restrict citizens' rights to defend themselves...a right that even the Supreme Court's liberal wing has repeatedly upheld. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center joins the show to discuss why the perception of crime simply doesn't line up with the federal government's numbers.

Gregg Schumacher's family started one of the first and most prestigious furrier companies in the Pacific Northwest, Portland's Schumacher Furs. Now it no longer exists as a business in the city of its birth, thanks to a targeted harassment campaign from mainstream activists like PeTA and their violently extremist cousins, the Animal Liberation Front. The city government refused to help. The police refused to help. The courts refused to help, and even demanded he and his wife pay tens of thousands of dollars in the activists' legal fees. Now, Schumacher has launched a new initiative, Restore Law & Order. Its purpose? To use the legal system to force municipal governments who fail to protect their citizens from groups like those common in the PNW who destroy property and threaten lives to send an extremist political message. Gregg Schumacher joins the program to talk about the organization & its strategy, and to discuss his personal experience with the fringe left and how it has caused the city he once called home to rapidly deteriorate.

The Article III Project's Mike Davis returns for a wild episode, all about the New York trial against former President Donald Trump for allegedly falsifying corporate financial records so that his lawyer & "fixer," Michael Cohen, could deliver secret hush-money payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels. Davis explains (in very colorful terms) why he thinks the charges are bogus and another example of the Democrats' strategy of lawfare against the former President, and why he believes Trump will ultimately be vindicated.

More than half a year has passed since terrorists operating from Gaza raided border settlements in Israel, killing hundreds as they lay in their homes and on the grounds of a music festival organized to promote peaceful coexistence. 132 people still remain counted as hostages of Hamas. Meanwhile, in the US, entitled college students have taken to college campuses to denounce Israel and even call for its annihilation. On this very special episode, Victoria speaks with Jerusalem's Deputy Mayor, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum regarding the situation in both Israel & Gaza, and how activists are being misled by a Palestinian government that promotes terror and blood libel while also using its own citizens as human shields.

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Show notes, previous episodes & more available at VictoriaTaft.com

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Read Victoria's regular columns at PJ Media