In the Donald Trump era, Rick Wilson has made a name for himself as one of the more fiery members of the small minority of conservatives who are willing to speak out against Trump.

Wilson, who worked in the State Department under Dick Cheney and was a campaign strategist for Rudy Giuliani, spoke about his new book, "Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever," on "Salon Talks."

He told Salon's Amanda Marcotte that Republicans have a responsibility for allowing Trump to happen and for not doing more to rein him in. "It's a leadership failure in the beginning," Wilson argued. "The leadership thought, 'We're going to let this guy play it out. Otherwise he'll jump out of the race, run as an independent, and he'll screw up with these populist voters.'"

Watch the interview above to hear why Wilson blames the party's "money folks" and how they wrongly approached the 2016 race, plus how the GOP can save its historical legacy from being destroyed by Trump.