OUR FOUNDERS
MILES TAYLOR
FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTORMiles Taylor served as chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he published a bombshell “Anonymous” essay in The New York Times, blowing the whistle on presidential misconduct in the first Trump administration. He later published the #1 national bestseller A Warning, revealed himself to be the author, and launched a campaign of ex-officials to oppose Trump’s reelection. He’s worked as an advisor in the George W. Bush administration, on Capitol Hill, as a CNN contributor, as the Head of Advanced Technology & Security Strategy at Google, as co-founder of a DC-based charter school, and as the leader of multiple democracy-reform groups. Taylor is also the author of The New York Times best-selling book Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from Trump’s Revenge and a frequent commentator on MSNOW, CNN, BBC, NewsNation, and more. He received his MPhil in international relations from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar and BA from Indiana University as a Harry S. Truman scholar.
CO-FOUNDERXANDER SCHULTZ
Xander Schultz is a social entrepreneur, impact investor, and activist who has spent more than a decade building technology, donor networks, and campaigns in defense of democracy and marginalized communities. He is the founder of Defeat By Tweet, the viral pro-democracy fundraising platform that won Fast Company's World-Changing Ideas Award, and co-founder of One For Democracy, a network of philanthropists who pledged one percent of their wealth to strengthening American democracy. In Silicon Valley, he helped found the consumer technology companies Kifi (acquired by Google) and Complete, and he later served as an entrepreneur-in-residence and CEO within Mike Novogratz's Galaxy family of ventures. With his wife Zoë, he co-founded the refugee-aid organization When We Band Together. Xander served as executive producer of Foxcatcher, the Academy Award-nominated film about his late father, Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz.
Membership Questions
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To become a Member of DEFIANCE.org, you pay a monthly or annual subscription — 100% of which goes toward the anti-corruption fight. We are a nonprofit.
All you do is sign up here.
Then you’ll get:
Invited to a private monthly briefing where you’ll help choose what Missions we fund next.
Invited to weekly spotlights with national figures and org leaders.
Curated recommendations on actions you can take personally to protect our democracy.
Unlimited, Members-only access to news, podcasts, the Club chat, and VIP content.
And more!
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All of your Members-Only content is available on our NEWS & ACTIONS page.
Here’s how you log in to see all the updates:
Go to the login section of our NEWS & ACTIONS page.
You’ll be prompted to enter your email address. Enter the email address you signed up with.
You’ll receive a verification code in your email. Open that email and click “verify email.”
Then you’ll be prompted to create a simple profile page. After that, you’re in!
Now you have access to the Members-Only chat, updates, live broadcasts, and more.
REMEMBER: All your Members-only updates will ALSO be emailed to you from “defiance@substack.com.” Be sure to search your trash and spam if you’re not receiving them.
Still not getting emails from us? Check out Substack’s support page here.
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See examples of what we’ve funded on the home page, DEFIANCE.org. Or you can check out recent Weekly Missions (every week, we announce a new effort we’re funding) here.
Things are changing fast. We respond rapidly to Trump’s abuses of power — and go where support is needed most to defend the rule of law and democratic institutions. One week, we might fund a lawsuit against an unconstitutional Trump administration policy; the next week, we might be organizing nationwide protests with pro-democracy allies.
We’re “keeping it lean.” The bulk of all Membership fees directly fund the Missions our Members want us to take on, including tracking what the Trump regime is doing and taking direct action to defy it. We meet once a month in a “Members only” meeting to plan ahead and get feedback on what efforts we should fund.
If we don’t act together, we’ll be targeted alone.
NOTE: We do NOT currently fund candidates, PACs, or political campaigns.
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The best way to get involved is to become a Member. Monthly Member Meetings are the best place to send ideas. We’re a tiny team with limited bandwidth, but if something needs to be urgently put on our radar, email support@defiance.org.
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Don't worry — this is just an automated notification from our email system, and it doesn't affect your Membership.
Here's what it means: As long as you're a Member of DEFIANCE.org, you receive a complimentary subscription to our NEWS & ACTIONS emails. Because that benefit is meant to last for the life of your Membership, Substack's system sometimes automatically sets the subscription to a very far-out expiration date — roughly 30,000 days, or just under 100 years — as its way of saying "this never expires."
What this does NOT mean:
Your paid Membership has not been extended.
You have not been charged anything beyond your normal Membership fee.
You are not locked into anything new.
It's simply Substack confirming that your complimentary access to DEFIANCE.News will continue for as long as you remain a Member. If you ever cancel your Membership, that access ends, no matter what the automated email says.
One small footnote: Apparently, sometime around the year 2126, access to our archives will lapse. We'll leave it to your great-grandchildren on Mars to sort that one out.
Billing & Payments
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Email us at support@defiance.org and tell us you want to cancel. Make sure you’re emailing from the email account you signed up with.
Once it's canceled, your card won't be charged again — you're all set. There's no penalty and no hard feelings; times are tough and we're grateful for any support you've given.
You can automatically cancel on your own, if you know how you signed up.
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Right now, speed and the survival of democracy matter most.
We launched DEFIANCE as a not-for-profit 501(c)(4) — NOT a tax-deductible 501(c)(3). So while we’re bound by non-profit rules, our supporters cannot get a tax deduction for contributions and Member fees. If you’re just here for a tax write-off, you’re in the wrong place.
We did this so we could move fast, take louder stands, and avoid restrictions that limit what traditional nonprofits can say or do. That means we can call out politicians by name, speak the raw truth, and respond instantly to threats by supporting a vast array of groups, whereas traditional 501(c)(3)s have further restrictions.
All proceeds go directly to mission-driven work. We have zero interest in building a bureaucracy — we’re building a movement.
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You cannot pay by check to become a DEFIANCE.org Member, but you can make a donation by check.
Make checks out to / mail to:
DEFIANCE.org
11 South 12th Street
#630
Richmond, VA 23069 -
The most secure way is for us to cancel your current donation cycle, and then you re-start a fresh one with your new card here. Just send us an email at support@defiance.org if you need us to help you reset.
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Before you contact us: Please contact the shipping provider listed in the email confirmation you received. Our orders ship through services like DHL and UPS, and you'll get a myorders.co tracking link.
Because a third party prints and ships everything, delivery can take a couple of weeks. If tracking shows it was delivered but you never received it, tell us and we'll work with you to make it right. Email support@defiance.org.
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Return Policy
Below is the policy that is provided at checkout in the DEFIANCE.org Swag Store.Returns and Refunds
All DEFIANCE.org merchandise is made to order through a print-on-demand fulfillment partner. Because each item is created specifically for you after you order it — and 100% of profits go toward or pro-democracy causes — we cannot accept returns or exchanges for sizing, color preference, or change of mind. Please review our size guides carefully before ordering.
Defective or Damaged Items. If your item arrives with a manufacturing defect, printing error, or shipping damage, we'll replace it at no cost to you. To request a replacement, email support@defiance.org within 30 days of delivery with: your order number, a description of the issue, and clear photos showing the defect. Please retain the original item until your replacement is shipped.
Lost or Undelivered Packages. If your tracking shows delivered but you haven't received the package, contact us within 14 days at support@defiance.org. We'll work with the carrier and our fulfillment partner to resolve.
Wrong Item Received. If you received an item different from what you ordered, email support@defiance.org within 30 days. We'll replace it with the correct item at no charge.
What's Not Covered. Sizing issues (please consult size guides), color preferences (slight variation between screens and printed product is normal), wear and tear after use, and items damaged through customer mishandling are not eligible for replacement.
Refunds (rare exceptions). In the limited cases where a replacement isn't possible — for example, if an item is permanently out of stock — we will issue a full refund to the original payment method.
EMAILS & ACCOUNT ACCESS
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Most emails to paying Members and free subscribers come from “defiance@substack.com.” Be sure to search your trash and spam for that email address if you’re not receiving them. And be sure to add us to your contacts and/or approved sender list in your email.
Still not getting emails from us? Check out Substack’s support page here for trouble-shooting tips to make sure.
Still no luck? Email us at support@defiance.org.
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Here’s how you log in to see all the updates:
Go to the login section of our NEWS & ACTIONS page.
You’ll be prompted to enter your email address. Enter the email address you signed up with.
You’ll receive a verification code in your email. Open that email and click “verify email.”
Then you’ll be prompted to create a simple profile page. After that, you’re in!
Now you have access to the Members-Only chat, updates, live broadcasts, and more.
Still having trouble or not getting emails from us? Check out Substack’s support page here.
Worst case? Drop us a line at support@defiance.org.
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Check out our privacy policy HERE.