Trump Leaves Post Death Instructions!

Summary

The Parnas Perspective

Episode: Trump Leaves Post Death Instructions!

Host: Aaron Parnas
Date: July 10, 2026

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Brief Overview

In this episode, Aaron Parnas unpacks startling new revelations about former President Donald Trump preparing explicit posthumous instructions in case of his assassination—particularly by Iran. The episode explores escalating threats against Trump following intelligence warnings and Trump's own extreme directives for retaliation. Aaron also hosts a discussion with political commentator and author Brian Tyler Cohen about the shifting balance of political power in America, the dire consequences of Democratic passivity, and strategies for progressives in a post-Trump political environment.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Trump’s Post-Death Directives and Heightened Threats

[00:26 – 04:03]

• Reporting on Trump’s “Death Instructions”:
  Donald Trump reportedly told the New York Post that he’s left explicit instructions for U.S. President J.D. Vance to “bomb [Iran] at levels they’ve never seen before” if he is assassinated by Iran.
• Concrete Preparations:
  Trump’s memo is said to be in the Oval Office’s Resolute desk, ready for Vance to act on should an attack occur.
• Threat Level Escalates:
  Israeli intelligence reportedly warned Trump of an active Iranian assassination plot. In Tehran, anti-Trump sentiment is openly displayed with effigies and public threats:

  “We will kill Trump. That’s what Iranian residents say." — Aaron Parnas [01:13]

• Impact on Trump’s Movements:
  Security concerns forced Trump to use the older Air Force One instead of his preferred jet when leaving Turkey, due to concerns that Iranian missiles could threaten his flight.

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2. On-the-Ground Details: Trump's Security Measures

[03:30 – 04:48]

• Reporter Insights:
  On board Air Force One, journalist Charlie describes unusual security protocols (e.g., being told to close window blinds during a “dangerous leg” of the flight).
• Trump’s Commentary:

  “If I go, you go. I’m number one on their list.” — Donald Trump to reporters on Air Force One, as related by Aaron [04:48]

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3. Interview with Brian Tyler Cohen: Wielding Power in a Post-Trump World

[04:48 – 14:31]

a. The Power Imbalance in U.S. Politics

• Why the Book?
  Cohen explains the Democratic and Republican divide on political power:

  “Republicans abuse power. Democrats are too scared of their own shadow, refuse to wield it… If we want to get anything done, we have to get past that.” — Brian Tyler Cohen [05:17]

• Consequential Impact:
  He notes Republican abuse of power translates into real harm, highlighting losses in healthcare coverage and living standards.

b. Democrats: A Path Forward

• What Should Democrats Do if They Regain Power?

  “We can start to look into the egregious corruption that’s happening... We’re seeing short sales... Trump heaps benefits... onto his kids... so the corruption is so staggering.” — Brian Tyler Cohen [07:51]

• Importance of Immediate Oversight:
  If Democrats seize Congressional power, Cohen advocates wielding subpoena power and chairing committees to curb ongoing corruption.

c. The Problem with Bipartisanship Under Current Circumstances

• On Normalcy vs. Effective Action:

  “We tried going back to normal. That was Joe Biden’s presidency, and that gave rise to Trump... There is no more status quo to return to.” — Brian Tyler Cohen [10:47]

• Rejecting ‘Left-Authoritarianism’ and Status Quo:
  Cohen insists Democrats must take lessons in power from Trump’s methods—but not his motives:

  “We have to be able to do it not for self enrichment ... but to actually deliver for people.” [11:24]

• Warning:
  Failure to deliver meaningful change—on costs, healthcare, climate, voting rights—risks eroding public faith in democracy itself:

  “If we don’t actually show that we can lower costs... then people are going to lose faith in government altogether. And those are the conditions in which autocracy can thrive.” [12:28]

d. On the Supreme Court’s Slaughter Decision & Use of Power

• Should Dems Use Full Presidential Power (e.g., Firing Opposing Commissioners)?

  “If you have power, wield it.” — Brian Tyler Cohen [13:06]
  He criticizes the Democratic tradition of ceding power for bipartisanship when holding office.

e. More on the Book and the Fight for Democracy

• Mark Elias’ Work for Democracy:
  Cohen cites election lawyer Mark Elias (author of the book’s foreword) as a role model:

  “[Elias] is on the front lines... litigating more than 80 cases right now in the courts, many of which he’s winning.” [09:47]

• Where to Buy and Tour Dates:
  Cohen's book "The Day: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World" is available at his website and select book tour locations (Washington, DC, New York, LA).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [01:13] Aaron Parnas:
  “We will kill Trump. That’s what Iranian residents say. And while it’s not really hypothetical anymore, Trump himself is taking him seriously.”

• [01:58] Donald Trump (via NY Post):
  “I’ve been on their list for a long time... I've left instructions if anything happens to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before.”

• [05:17] Brian Tyler Cohen:
  “Republicans abuse power. Democrats are too scared of their own shadow, refuse to wield it.”

• [10:47] Brian Tyler Cohen:
  “We tried going back to normal. That was Joe Biden’s presidency, and that gave rise to Trump. So there is no more status quo to return to.”

• [13:06] Brian Tyler Cohen:
  “If you have power, wield it.”

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Timestamps: Important Segments

• [00:26] Trump’s posthumous instructions and intel report on threats from Iran
• [01:58] Trump’s direct quote: “bomb them at levels they’ve never seen before"
• [03:30–04:03] Security concerns during Trump’s recent flights
• [04:48] Trump to reporters: “If I go, you go”
• [05:17] Beginning of Brian Tyler Cohen interview: Democrats’ struggles with power
• [07:51] Steps for Democrats if they regain Congressional power
• [10:47] Rejecting “normalcy” in the post-Trump era
• [12:43] Discussion on Supreme Court’s Slaughter decision and wielding presidential power
• [14:04] Brian shares book info and tour details

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Overall Tone & Noteworthy Aspects

• Urgent and Unvarnished:
  The episode maintains Aaron’s signature blend of rapid, informed analysis with direct language about the real dangers in U.S. and international politics.

• Action-Oriented:
  Both host and guest call relentlessly for progressives to move past old institutional habits and use available levers of power decisively.

• Insider Observations:
  Exclusive insights from political reporters and insider commentary about Trump’s mindset and current Democratic strategies.

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This summary gives you an in-depth look at the substance, urgency, and personalities driving this episode of The Parnas Perspective. It covers developments on Trump’s personal security and global threats, and offers a blueprint for a Democratic response in an increasingly volatile era.

Transcript

[Kiana]

I'm Kiana and I leveled up my business with Shopify. Once I figured out that Shopify was a thing, I never turned back. I can create a site with my eyes closed. Shopify thinks ahead of us, you know, and it thinks about the customer more than anything. Every day I'm thinking about some other new business, but Shopify is doing it to me because it's so easy to use. It's like, I can't stop. I'm addicted.

[Aaron]

Start your free [e-mail] Donald Trump has left instructions for his death. He is planning for his death. That's what he told the New York Post today. He says that if Iran were to ever kill him, well, he tells the United States President J.D. vance, presumably to bomb the hell out of Iran comes as threats against Trump's life are increasing. According to new reporting, Israeli intelligence told Donald Trump that, well, Iran has a new plot to assassinate him. And despite what Trump claims that he wants to meet with Mujtaba Khamenei, new Iranian leader, and says that Iranian officials are will work with him. What we see is anything but. Effigies of Trump are being burned in Tehran. Signs of Kill Trump are being spread across the city. We will kill Trump. That's what Iranian residents say. And while it's not really hypothetical anymore, Trump himself is taking him seriously. So much so that he had his newly minted Air Force One jet from Qatar fly alone to the United Kingdom the other day because it didn't have enough security features to, well, protect him in the event that Iran wanted to strike Air Force One as it was leaving Turkey. I have the latest Like Comment Share subscribe subscribe to my Substack link below to support get the word out. The more you do, the more people see this afternoon, this is what Donald Trump told the New York Post. I've been on their list for a long time. That's what we're dealing with, he says. The only thing is I've left instructions if anything happens to just literally bomb them at levels that they've never seen before. There had been previous reporting that Trump wrote a letter to J.D. vance, that the letter is in the Oval Office, that the letter is in the Resolute desk and it outlines exactly what Vance should do in the event that Trump is dead, that the Iranians assassinate him. And, well, what we're learning now is to, quote, bomb them at levels that they've never seen before. That's the instructions that Trump is leaving Vance. Now, ultimately, Vance, if he is the president of the United States After Trump, he can do whatever he wants, whether bomb Iran or not. But Trump is preparing, seemingly, for his death. And it's maybe because we see images like this. We kill Trump. That's from downtown Tehran during the funeral of the late Ayatollah. Kill Trump. That's from mourners in the funeral for the late Ayatollah. It's not just that we see Lego effigies of Trump being burned. And it's not even a hypothetical anymore, because recently, the newly minted Qatari Air Force One jet that Trump really wanted to parade around couldn't fly him from Turkey to the United Kingdom. And instead, he had to take a flight on the old Air Force One because of possible threats from Iran. See, Iranian missiles could launch and strike near Turkey, can't reach the United Kingdom. And Trump even made reference to that to Breitbart reporters on the flight.

[Charlie]

They had us close our window blinds. That was not usual. Well, yeah, because you're, you know, probably on a dangerous leg. Because if the sleaze bags that we have to deal with thinking that Iran was possibly thinking, Charlie, I mean, if they asked you to close your windows, probably they feel that way. They didn't ask me to close mine, but if they did, I would have done it. These are sick people. So I could see something like that. I didn't. I didn't know they did that, but I could see something like, were you

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

aware of any credible threat by Iran against her?

[Charlie]

Well, I have a threat all the time. I'm number one on their list before you. But if I go, you go.

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

But was there a specification today?

[Charlie]

Perhaps someday you want to change professions.

[Aaron]

That's what he told reporters on Air Force One. If I go, you go. I'm number one on their list. And I spoke with Brian Tyler Cohen, who wrote a book about what the post Trump world looks like and what Democrats should do to fight back. Take a listen. Like Comment, share. Here's my conversation with Brian. Excited today to be joined by the great Brian Tyler Cohen, who is selling right now an upcoming book called the Day how to Wield Power in a Post Trump World. Brian, I'm so excited to be here. Here with you. Got to get started. Why'd you write this book?

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

I wrote this book because there has been such a glaring asymmetry between the two sides in terms of wielding power. Republicans abuse power. Democrats are too scared of their own shadow, refuse to wield it. And that leaves us in a position like we're in right now, where obviously Trump and Republicans are running roughshod over the government. And meanwhile, you have. Democrats, when they get into power, rely on deference to norms and institutions and traditions and the parliamentarian and the filibuster.

[Charlie]

And.

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

And if we want to get anything done, we have to get past that. Trump has shown us that you can barrel through a lot of these barriers. But I think what we need to do is focus not on self enrichment like he is, but instead on delivering outcomes for people, whether it's on climate, on health care, on raising the minimum wage, on expanding voting rights, you name it.

[Aaron]

So are you running for office? Is that what I'm hearing?

[Charlie]

Never.

[Kiana]

I am.

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

I. I'm a masochist, but not that much of a masochist.

[Aaron]

What do you say to someone who says, oh, this is just another political book. Why do I need to buy it?

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

Look, this is the. The reality is we have. We have a major problem right now in terms of Republicans basically dismantling every institution of government to consolidate power forever. And this isn't just politics. I mean, this has had a direct impact on health care. We have seen 17 million Americans lose Medicaid. We've seen 24 million Americans see their. See their costs of ACA coverage get increased. We've seen those who rely on food assistance get their food assistance gutted. We've watched as Americans have to contend with higher prices on groceries, on electricity, on utility bills, on. On gas prices because Donald Trump decided to engage in a war in the Middle east that he swore he would avoid. We have victims of Epstein's pedophile ring who don't have any accountability for what's happened. So. So this might seem like it's just politics, but it touches every single part of our lives. And so long as we have a branch of government that has decided we don't. That. That we're no longer a democracy, but rather an autocracy that revolves around one man, then you may think it's political, but it has an impact on all of us. And so, you know, politics is everything. And, and until. And unless Democrats learn how to wield power effectively, these problems are just going to continue to. To persist and even exacerbate.

[Aaron]

So let's talk about wielding power and what that looks like. Let's say Democrats take over in November. What's your recommendation to the party?

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

I think that we have to start. First of all, I think we have to have this conversation now, because if Democrats take control, not just in November of 2026, but, you know, in January of 2029, I think that we can't waste what precious time we have deciding whether it's worth it to engage in these processes and empanel commissions that are going to, you know, return a recommendation in 18 months that, that ultimately Democrats choose not to abide by. I mean, like have this argument now, have this debate now so that if and when we get back into power, we can use that time effectively in terms of 2026. Look, I think the immediate benefit to Democrats taking control of some of these congressional committees is we can start to look into the egregious corruption that's happening at the hands of this. I mean, we're seeing short sales on a daily basis where all of a sudden somebody, you know, made some move in the stock market and the Donald Trump makes an announcement five minutes later and that person's turned into a millionaire multiple times over. We're watching as, as Donald Trump heaps benefits and military defense contracts onto his kids who've invested in these companies five minutes earlier. We're watching as foreign companies like countries like the UAE and Qatar are investing in World Liberty Financial and Trump's meme coins. So the corruption is so staggering. And so long as we president who's focused on his own self enrichment, he's not looking into working in the best interest of Americans. So that needs to stop immediately. We'll obviously have limits to what we can do without the presidency, but I think it's a good first step to try and restore some sense of law and order in a country by virtue of giving subpoena power and the chairmanships, the gavels to Democrats who are actually going to do oversight.

[Aaron]

I thought something interesting in the book was who wrote the forward? Jamie Raskin, who has really led a lot of fights and.

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

No, no. Mark Elias. Mark Elias.

[Aaron]

Oh, Mark Elias. Maybe that was, I guess your, that

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

was the first, that was the first

[Aaron]

book, your first book. Why'd you choose Marc Elias?

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

Mark Elias has been a hero for democracy and, and frankly, there is nobody that exemplifies fight more than he does. I mean, he is on the front lines. He's litigating more than 80 cases right now in the courts, many of which he's winning, most of which he's winning. And I think that, that. Look, the, the, the North Star of this book is about fighting, is about getting in the ring and making sure not to just blindly defer to the status quo while, while Republicans run roughshod over democracy, he's doing it like he is. He is in there fighting in the courts every single day. And so I think he's a good example of what it looks like to have a Democratic Party that doesn't operate with its tail between its legs and instead is willing to use every lever at his disposal to not only fight, but win.

[Aaron]

That's looking forward to 2028. I've spoken to a lot of people, some people who say, well, we just want to get back to normalcy, what normalcy look like pre Trump. Others say, I just want a left version of Trump to go after everyone on the right. What do you say?

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

I say it's neither one of those. We tried going back to normal. That was Joe Biden's presidency, and that gave rise to Trump. I mean, Merrick Garland's DOJ and refusing to. To rein in his corruption and criminality is what gave Trump this renewed sense that he can commit criminal acts with impunity. And that's the situation that we're in right now. So there is no more status quo to return to. And even if there was, frankly, what we've seen lately is a repudiation of the status quo. Voters do not want that. It doesn't work for them. Most people can't afford a $400 emergency. Why a party would run on a retrenchment back to the status quo is beyond me. Terrible electoral politics. But beyond that, you had also mentioned a left version of Trump. I think we can learn from Trump in terms of how he has wielded power, but we have to be able to do it not for self enrichment, not for vanity projects, not to consolidate power for ourselves for the sake of having power, but to actually deliver for people. I think that we will have one shot because we have a disillusioned electorate who obviously recognized that Democrats weren't willing to do whatever it took to deliver for them in the pre2024 era. They realigned, went to Trump. Trump clearly has no intention of delivering. The guy won't even sign his own housing bill that he ran on. He won't end a war that he swore would never happen. I mean, there are a million examples. And so we have a disillusioned electorate already. I think if we have one more shot to get these people and show that we can actually deliver, then if we don't. If we don't actually show that we can lower costs, if we don't show that we can make health care affordable to everybody, if we don't show that we can take serious action on climate change, if we don't show that we can expand voting rights, then I think then people are going to lose faith in government altogether. And those are the conditions in which autocracy can thrive. So we have a vested interest in not just being the left wing version of Trump that just goes after his enemies, but showing people that there is a reason that they go out and vote for Democrats.

[Aaron]

Well, something that I want to talk about and I just want to get your thoughts on in terms of so as you know, the Slaughter decision recently in the Supreme Court kind of gave the president ultimate authority to just fire whoever he wants out of these no longer independent commissions. Trump did so last night with a bunch of election officials on a bipartisan commission. Do you think a Democrat should just go in in 2028 and fire all Republicans on these commissions?

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

Yes, I think that a major problem Democrats have had is once they get power, they say, okay, now we're going to usher in a bipartisan era of kumbaya politics and Republicans will have just a seat at the table as Democrats do. And we basically hamstring ourselves because we decide that it's more important to have the optics of bipartisanship than it is to actually get something done and bring about our agenda. And our agenda is more popular. We are not the party that runs on on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. We are not the party that pretends climate change doesn't exist. We're not the party that, that wants to continue subsidies in the billions and billions and billions of dollars for fossil fuel companies. We're not the party that wants to strip women's reproductive rights. So we have the more popular agenda. Why we insist on giving a seat at the table to Republicans who are against that agenda and want to perpetuate unpopular policies is beyond me. If you have power, wield it.

[Aaron]

Ryan. If people want to buy this book, where they where can they go?

[Brian Tyler Cohen]

You can go anywhere Books are sold. I have a link on my website briantyler cohen.com book. You can grab the grab the book there. And if you'd like to see me on tour, I'm going to be in D.C. new York and Los Angeles D.C. on July 14, New York on July 15 and in LA on July 18. Those tickets are still available. You can both get book tour tickets and the book [e-mail] book Brian, thanks so much. Thanks Aaron.

[Aaron]

Hey folks, thanks so much for watching. Feel free to add this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you watch for the latest breaking news and daily hits throughout the day. Make sure to follow subscribe. See you soon for more I started

[Ornod]

Ornod in 2013 and we make bike apparel. The best part of Shopify for me is our ability to run the business as essentially non technical people. We're able to admin everything on the back end, front end and sell things online easily. If Shopify were a bike accessory, I think it would actually be the bicycle. It's the thing that you do the thing on. We run the business on Shopify. Start your free trial on Shopify. Com.