'State of the Swamp' rebuttal to greet Trump at big speech

As President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, before an audience on the House floor dominated by Republican members of Congress, another gathering will take place nearby: a counter-program dubbed “State of the Swamp.”

Organized by Defiance.org, State of the Swamp is billed as a live rebuttal to Trump’s sure-to-be baloney filled speech, from the National Press Club in downtown Washington, D.C.

While Trump’s official address will most likely be a diatribe of lies, smears, innuendo, and petty grievances, among other useless exaggerations by the blowhard-in-chief, State of the Swamp will bring together members of Congress, other elected officials, journalists, activists, and cultural figures.

Guests are set to include the actors Robert De Niro and Mark Ruffalo alongside politicians like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, as well as journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, both recently arrested amid anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis.

Real-time rebuttal to Trump will come from Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s first term press secretary and communications director, offering viewers a different account of the nation’s deteriorating condition. The event will be livestreamed.

At the heart of that effort is Miles Taylor, another former Trump official turned outspoken critic who created Defiance.org as a vehicle for pushback against the president’s actions.

Last April, Trump signed an executive order and a presidential memorandum targeting Taylor, who was Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump’s first term but who swiftly turned critic, first anonymously with the bestselling book A Warning, then under his own name.

Trump also revoked Taylor’s security clearances and ordered an investigation, citing potential treason and the unauthorized disclosure of information

On Tuesday, Taylor told me that since he was targeted he has been under constant threat.

“Any day we expect it’s possible the FBI will show up at our doorstep,” he said.

“They’ll try to arrest me at an event. They’re going to bring up false charges. But if we cowered … that would say that it’s okay and that they can do that to people, so we’re not going to.”

Taylor said personal and professional costs have been steep. Before launching Defiance.org, he said, he and his wife had retreated into private life, launching a small business and focusing on family — only to see that life upended when Trump signed his order.

“It destroyed our business,” Taylor said. “It totally upended everything … there were death threats to our 18-month-old daughter.”

But he described a pivotal psychological shift when he and his wife chose to stop reacting defensively and instead adopt a posture of resistance.

“That decision to flip from a defensive crouch to a defiant one … that was a psychological game changer for us. We were like, ‘Oh, wait, we have agency here.’”

That sense of agency, Taylor said, is central to Defiance.org’s mission — answering the question he heard repeatedly from others after Trump returned to power: “What can I do?”

He traces the genesis of the organization to a late-night conversation with De Niro, who urged him to build something bigger that could offer weekly, actionable steps for people frustrated with the national moment.

Within weeks, Taylor said, he and his wife had bought their domain name and begun shaping what would become a hub for highlighting and supporting civic action, not just rallies and signatures.

“We’re a tiny little team,” he said. “Because we want to make sure that all of our member fees go toward actually countering Trump’s abuses of power, and not building some sort of big nonprofit industrial complex entity.”

Each Wednesday, Taylor said, Defiance.org announces a new initiative, from legal defense funds for reporters to constitutional challenges, to “know your rights” trainings for demonstrators.

“Every week we want to announce a tangible thing that we are doing that people can get involved in and has an actual impact,” Taylor said.

He wants to contrast that with what he views as more traditional forms of protest that lack follow-through.

Taylor said Defiance.org has purchased and distributed tens of thousands of ICE alarm whistles for frontline anti-Trump communities, with some seen being used in Minnesota.

Tuesday night’s event is part of Taylor’s broader strategy to sustain engagement beyond a single speech. Taylor estimated that roughly 600 people would attend State of the Swamp, close to capacity and potentially more than the number of lawmakers present in the House chamber during Trump’s address.

“We’re ready to fight back. We’re going to keep fighting back,” Taylor said.

“We’re happy warriors committed to persistent, organized resistance and action.”

• John Casey was most recently Senior Editor, The Advocate, and is a freelance opinion and feature story writer. Previously, he was a Capitol Hill press secretary, and spent 25 years in media and public relations in NYC. He is the co-author of LOVE: The Heroic Stories of Marriage Equality (Rizzoli, 2025), named by Oprah in her "Best 25 of 2025.”