Indivisible: Time is speeding up. Get energized. Take Action

TLDR:. Join the training at 6:30pm ET / 3:30pm PT tomorrow, September 23.
https://act.indivisible.org/go/860141

https://indivisible.actionkit.com/mailings/view/120655
LINKS AT THE SITE
I can only copy text. But it's damn good text.
(OK, just a few links)

This week’s actions are all about fighting bravely and pushing others to be brave with us -- from Disney execs in the Kimmel showdown, to our Democratic senators in the funding fight, to our communities on No Kings Day. But first, Ezra addresses the past few days' big news.

DU'er, is it just me, or does it feel like time is speeding up now?

A while back, Leah and I watched the HBO miniseries Years and Years, which tells a dystopian fictional story of the UK’s slow decline into authoritarianism. Each episode jumps forward a few years, with the technofascist story lurching ahead ever more menacingly. Emma Thompson is great as an authoritarian leader, but it may hit too close to home if you’re (reasonably) looking for escapism now.

Unfortunately, our reality is not just some dystopian fiction. Things that all-knowing political commentators dismissed as alarmist months ago are now being defended by MAGA footsoldiers and both-sided by upstanding political commentators. The simple facts are galling:

• The president of the United States said publicly, "I couldn't care less" about right-wing political violence.
• His regime then bullied ABC/Disney to censor Jimmy Kimmel for being too critical.
• And the administration is now widely reported to be preparing a crackdown on political opponents.

But as threatening and dangerous as all this is, what I see here is a weak regime lashing out. This is desperate, bizarre stuff that will backfire if we make it backfire.

The regime is making a mistake. We’ve got to take advantage of that.

I’m not a professional political commentator (thank god), so here’s my take as a pro-democracy organizer instead:

The regime is overplaying its hand. They think they are now justified in cracking down on free speech, peaceful protest, and the opposition. But they’re wrong -- they don’t have the support for it.

We’ve seen this kind of overreach and blowback again and again this year. “Winning” issues for Trump -- immigration, cancel culture, crime -- all crumble in the aftermath of his spasms of authoritarian power grabs.

Americans don’t like masked men disappearing people to foreign gulags. Americans don’t like invading and occupying American cities. Americans don’t like rigging the next election to protect the regime from accountability. Americans don’t like crackdowns on freedom of speech.

And over the past few days, Americans have shown that. Just as we were about to send a different version of this newsletter, ABC/Disney reinstated Kimmel.

Pressure works! This happened because Disney executives -- including CEO Bob Iger and Entertainment Co-Chair Dana Walden -- felt the heat:

• Tens of thousands of Disney fans moved to cancel their streaming services, Disney trips, and more until Kimmel was reinstated. At one point, so many people were cancelling their Disney+ subscriptions that the page crashed.
• They were joined by Disney stars who announced their own account cancellations and skewered their employer for capitulating.
• Responding to popular outrage, enough people in power spoke up. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez sounded the alarm about the illegality of threats by her colleague, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, and congressional Democrats called for Carr to be subpoenaed.

By all accounts, ABC/Disney caved to Trump because they thought it’d be the easier thing to do, but they were not in any way prepared for the blowback that followed. They bought into the image of Trump as all powerful -- but found out pretty fast that everyday people hold a lot of power, too.

The regime wants to look all powerful -- we shouldn’t let it. On Friday, I talked to Jen Psaki on MSNBC about the Disney pressure campaign and the regime’s escalation. My main point: The best way to fight back against Trump’s attacks on our rights is to exercise those rights.

We did that over the last few days by pushing Disney to reverse course. Now, we’ve got to do it again -- by making No Kings on October 18 an enormous, historic demonstration of people peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights.

We’re closing in on 1,500 events on the map with nearly a month left. We’re exceeding the rate of new event registration we saw for No Kings in June -- then the largest domestic protest in years -- meaning this is shaping up to be the largest peaceful protest in modern American history.

I want to close out with the guy who closed out our official No Kings launch last week. Mark Ruffalo -- one of the Disney stars who pressured the company to reverse course -- told us: “We’re the home of the brave and the land of the free. But if we want to be free, then we gotta be brave.”

Damn, Mark, you said it. Read on to this week’s action items for some actionable ways to be brave -- and push others to be brave, too.

In solidarity,
Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible
Your weekly to-dos

1. Check the No Kings map to see if we’ve added a protest near you on October 18. As Trump wields government power to censor free speech and threaten political opponents, we need to make No Kings Day a historic day of resistance! We’ve added nearly 1,000 events since our last newsletter, so please find the one nearest to you today.

2. Call your Democratic senator(s) to demand that they HOLD THE LINE against funding deals that hand Trump a blank check. With a huge government funding deadline looming, we need to remind our Democratic senators that we expect them to hold their ground -- not roll over like last time.

3. Volunteer for a virtual phonebank to help Dems win big in Virginia this fall. We’re making 1,000,000 calls to voters to help VA Democrats build a vital defense against Trump’s authoritarian overreach -- a Democratic trifecta in his own backyard! All you need is your phone and a computer. Join a live phonebank training here.

4, Sign up for a powerful discussion about how teachers defend truth, combat disinformation, and protect democracy. Be part of American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten’s virtual chat on the importance of educators in the fight for democracy at her talk Frontline in the Fight: Why Fascists Fear Teachers.

5. Join “What’s the Plan?” on Thursday as Leah and Ezra answer your questions on Kimmel, the funding deadline, and more. Our co-founders go live at 3pm ET every Thursday to break down our key initiatives and answer your questions directly! Sign up now for an interactive chat about what’s next in the fight for democracy.

P.S. With so many institutions caving to Trump’s threats and falling in line, it’s never been more important to support grassroots organizations that are keeping up the fight for our democracy. Please chip in with a donation of any amount, if you can.

No Blank Checks for Trump

With just over one week until the government funding deadline and a potential Trump Shutdown, Republicans still appear dead set on holding the government hostage -- all to lock in Trump’s healthcare cuts and hand the regime more unchecked power.

Over the weekend, House Republicans left DC with the job left undone, while Trump kept insulting Dems and refused to give them any input at all. It bears repeating: Republicans are acting this way because they fully expect Democrats to roll over and hand Trump the blank check he’s demanding.

For now, Senate Democrats are (to their credit) saying they’ll only back a deal that averts MAGA healthcare cuts and places some checks on Trump’s lawless spending. But some Dems are questioning whether they should hold the line or fold when Republicans threaten to force a shutdown.

We cannot afford another Democratic surrender!

If you have a Democratic senator: Send an email demanding that they call on Schumer to keep fighting. They CANNOT ROLL OVER for a bill that locks in healthcare cuts or lets Trump go unchecked.
Email Dems now >>
https://act.indivisible.org/sign/funding-fight-democratic-senator/

If you have a GOP senator: Send an email demanding that they work on a bipartisan basis -- the way funding has always been done -- to save healthcare and avert a Trump Shutdown.
Email Republicans now >>
https://act.indivisible.org/sign/funding-fight-republican-senator

Fight back with friends (at No Kings and beyond)

Stopping this authoritarian onslaught is going to take all of us -- and that means bringing new friends into the fight. Fight Back with Friends (FBWF) is a nationwide program that empowers you to help your own friends and neighbors get off the sidelines!



https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/765804/
Digital flier for the Fight Back with Friends monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 23 -- Click to register for this event

Massive nationwide events like No Kings Day are an ideal opportunity to welcome new folks into this fight -- and we’re relying on Indivisibles across America to make October 18 huge and historic! This Tuesday, September 23, the FBWF team is jumping online to talk through fun, new ways to get our personal contacts into the streets with us.

Sign up for the FBWF monthly meeting at 6:30pm ET / 3:30pm PT this Tuesday to join our team, activate your friends and family, and make No Kings Day a historic success.
Fight Back with Friends
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/765804/

New to the Fight Back with Friends team? No worries! We'll do a live training session on the call -- walking you through how to download the app, upload your first contacts, and start having effective conversations with your network. Join the training at 6:30pm ET / 3:30pm PT tomorrow, September 23.

https://act.indivisible.org/go/860141