Courage -> More Courage

Indivisible's weekly newsletter with analysis and action

Hey folks,

Over the past week I’ve had two big takes: The clouds are darkening, and the opposition is assembling.

Trump’s first 90 days have been both chaotic and predictable. Shortly after Trump’s election, we predicted he would overreach by steamrolling through Project 2025. We warned that our only effective strategy to halt the slide into authoritarianism depends on unified opposition. We recommended people organize that opposition on the ground. Since then we’ve seen a wave of methodical grassroots organizing that has produced the fastest growth in new locally led Indivisible groups since we started Indivisible more than 8 years ago.

But that opposition movement in Congress was flat-footed, in the words of one US Representative. In response to this “roll over and play dead” strategy, Trump did not moderate or slow down. He empowered his top donor, Elon Musk, to ransack the federal government. Together they dismantled agencies and defunded programs for special needs students, cancer researchers, and disaster preparedness. They have menaced the press, the business community, the law firms, the universities, the courts, America’s closest international partners, and the American public itself.

When the bullies found lax opposition, they escalated their bullying.

We are building a unified opposition. In the days after the inauguration this year, Representatives like Maxwell Frost, Jamie Raskin, and Jasmine Crockett joined us at a boisterous rally outside the DOGE-ransacked US Treasury building. Frost asked the crowd, “Are we the minority or are we the opposition?” Chris Murphy has consistently been on the front lines using every bullhorn he can find to shout “THIS IS AN EMERGENCY.” Cory Booker gave the longest speech in history of the US Senate to bring attention to the crisis. AOC and Bernie have drawn enormous crowds for their anti-Oligarchy tour in red and blue states.

Days ago, Sen. Chris Van Hollen flew to El Salvador to meet with a Maryland father of three who Trump had disappeared to a torture prison. Van Hollen lambasted California Governor Gavin Newsom for calling the camps a distraction, “anybody who can't stand up for the Constitution and the right of due process doesn't deserve to lead.” When House Republicans tried to prevent House Dems from making similar trips, the Dems told them to shove it.

In a moment like this, leaders of institutions, leaders of communities, and leaders in elective office are all looking around to see which way the people are going. Faced with a set of ridiculous demands from Trump, Harvard University boldly, clearly, and defiantly said NO. We have heard from credible sources who were organizing at Harvard, that their oppositional stance was directly influenced by the massive, peaceful, April 5 Hands Off! protests around the world. We have heard from our friends on Capitol Hill that the rolling waves of mass protest and town halls and empty chair town halls are injecting some courage into the halls of Congress. Organized people power is turning the tide -- it’s not happening all at once, or as fast as we might like, but it’s happening.

Regardless of what they throw at us -- we will organize. We desperately need this unified opposition to take shape, because the clouds continue to darken. In response to Harvard’s defiance, Trump escalated his bullying -- threatening to take away the university’s tax status. Inside DC and across the country, rumors are swirling that Trump could be coming after political opponents in nonprofits in the coming days. The rumored executive orders may target climate groups on Earth Day (tomorrow), or perhaps more broadly seeking to neutralize any nonprofits that could be seen as a threat.

At Indivisible, we are tracking this closely and will be responding quickly when and if these escalations against civil society materialize. But regardless of what comes, I want to be clear: Indivisible will not back down from peacefully and aggressively organizing the opposition to these power-hungry, money-grubbing authoritarians. If something big goes down in the coming days -- we will be communicating over email, text, and on BlueSky: Find me, Leah, and Indivisible there. And come hell or high water you can find me and Leah on a weekly live Whats The Plan discussion at 3pm ET on Thursdays.

Courage is contagious. Read on to Indivisible’s weekly action items to help spread it around.

-- Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible

---

Your weekly to-dos

1. Sign up for a “Stop the Cuts” April Recess event to show Congress we won’t pay the price for billionaires’ tax breaks. Members of Congress are home for April recess right now -- just as Republicans are crafting a wildly unpopular bill that guts Medicaid and SNAP to fund tax cuts for billionaires. We’re mobilizing thousands of people, at hundreds of local events, to ensure every congressional Republican feels the heat and every Democrat knows their constituents want them to fight to protect our social safety net.

2. If you have a Republican representative, call them to tell them you’re outraged by Trump’s Medicaid-slashing reconciliation tax scam. Whether or not you can join an April recess event (see above), make sure your GOP representative hears where you stand. As Members of Congress prepare to return to DC, we want their phones ringing off the hook with a loud, clear message that the reconciliation plan is politically toxic. You can also click here to call your Republican senator(s).

3. Join a demonstration on May Day (May 1) to keep sounding the alarm about Trump’s attacks on working people and democracy. Historically, May Day celebrates the progress of working people and honors those who fought for it, but as the MAGA movement rolls back workers’ rights and strips America down for profit, we’re joining a vast coalition of orgs to turn May 1 into a nationwide day of mobilization. No event near you? You can register one here.

4. Send an email to your Members of Congress demanding they do everything in their power to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia home. With President Trump defying the Supreme Court to keep Kilmar Abrego Garcia (along with hundreds of others) imprisoned in El Salvador, we find ourselves in a moral and constitutional crisis. Calls and emails to Congress aren’t sufficient to end these crises, but they are necessary to ensure our elected officials understand the public won’t move on until Abrego Garcia is home and the disappearances end.

5. Hear the latest on April recess, reconciliation, and more -- direct from Indivisible’s co-founders -- this Thursday at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Every Thursday, we take a step back to absorb the news, draw inspiration from the work Indivisibles and our allies are doing, and talk about how we fight back. This week, Leah and Ezra will share the latest from our Congressional recess events and other ways to fight Trump’s reconciliation plans.

P.S. Indivisibles are fighting on so many fronts -- stopping the SAVE Act, fighting GOP reconciliation plans, protesting attacks on democracy, and pushing Dems to meet the urgency of the moment. That requires a great team, top-notch tools, and huge investments in local organizing. If you can, please pitch in to sustain our massive (and still growing) movement and help Indivisibles keep fighting everywhere we’re needed.

---

The May Day National Day of Action is Coming

If there’s something approaching a single through-line of Trump’s chaotic first 100 days, it’s this: Working people are getting fleeced while billionaires grow their wealth and power.

The guy elected on promises to cut costs has pursued an economic agenda that’ll cause prices to skyrocket; he’s allowed his top donor to lay off tens of thousands of civil servants; he’s shuttered the agencies meant to protect consumers; he’s attacked unions and public education; he’s undermined Social Security; and he’s trying to slash Medicaid to fund tax cuts for the ultra rich.

This is a moment for working people to remind ourselves -- and the billionaires controlling our government -- of our power.

On May 1, the labor movement, immigrants rights groups, and a large coalition of organizations (including Indivisible and our Hands Off! partners) are leading a nationwide May Day mobilization to demand leaders put our families over their fortunes.

The administration wants us to be divided -- it’s why, as they use one hand to pick our pockets, they use the other to point the blame at immigrants, Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs, or our trans siblings.

This May Day, let’s come together in solidarity and show that we, the people, are indivisible. Find an event near you or register to host one. (Note: In some areas, hosts have decided to hold their events on May 3, so double check the date when registering).

---

The Latest on the Trump Tax Scam

(aka GOP reconciliation bill)

Republicans are using a procedure known as reconciliation to try to gut popular programs like Medicaid and make billionaires even richer. Our plan to stop them hinges on making reconciliation a long, chaotic, and confounding process, but we don’t want to confuse you, too!

In the coming months, we’ll help demystify reconciliation with short weekly summaries of what the GOP is doing and saying -- and how we’re responding to stop them.

This week, most congressional actions are on hold while members return to their districts for recess, but Republicans are still negotiating reconciliation plans from afar. As Trump, Musk, and GOP hard-liners push for the biggest cuts imaginable, a dozen vulnerable Republicans -- enough to sink the bill in the House -- wrote a letter pushing back on plans to decimate Medicaid.

That’s good news, but we certainly can’t celebrate yet. The letter’s demands are pointedly vague and could simply be a face-saving ploy, destined to crumble after Trump fires off some mean tweets. But this letter does highlight the cracks in the Republican caucus -- and we’ll work to turn those cracks into impassable chasms.

That’s why we need to turn the heat up on Republicans now: Sign up for a “Stop the Cuts” event this week. Call your Republican representative. Email them, too.

---

New blue state toolkit: Urge your state Attorney General to act against ICE abductions

Over the last two months, ICE has ramped up detentions of international students, visa holders, and green card residents -- not because they’ve committed any crimes, but because of their First Amendment-protected speech. People like Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Badar Khan Suri, and Mohsen Mahdawi were taken from their homes, schools, and campuses for expressing support for Palestinian rights. Some were disappeared for over 24 hours. Some had their visas revoked on the spot.

This is an attack on dissent. Period.

We’ve put together a new toolkit to help you take action where it counts: by pressuring Democratic state attorneys general (AGs) to intervene. These AGs have the power to push back on ICE, investigate federal overreach, file legal challenges, and defend those being targeted.

The toolkit includes:

• A breakdown of what’s happening and why it’s not normal

• Specific actions attorneys general can take now

• Call and email scripts you can personalize

• A list of states where AGs need to hear from us most

If you’re in a state with a Democratic attorney general, you have an important role to play in protecting the right to dissent. Get the toolkit >>

---

IndivisiWIN of the week

Members of Indivisible Mid Maine turned out twice in one week to demand their representatives (in both parties) fight hard against Trump’s plans to gut Medicaid, SNAP, Social Security, and more.

On Monday, they hand-delivered a letter asking Maine’s concerned, but often complicit, Senator Susan Collins to oppose her party’s cuts to lifesaving services. On Thursday, they braved frigid temperatures to show Democratic Rep. Jared Golden that his constituents demand a full-throated fight against the MAGA agenda, earning coverage in the local newspaper.

---

Follow us on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads to keep up on the latest information, and text “INDIVISIBLE” to 59798 to opt-in to our text messaging program, where we send rapid response actions a few times a month.