Hands Off worked. What comes next?

Indivisible's weekly newsletter with analysis and action

Apr 08, 2025

It’s going to take some serious time for all of us to comprehend the full import of what we accomplished with Hands Off! on Saturday. Some of it is objective and we have some early numbers -- 1,300 events worldwide. More than 100k people in DC, more than 250k in Chicago, who knows New York yet? Every single state -- many with dozens spread across city centers and red and rural areas. But also Paris, Berlin, Brussels, London, Lisbon, Lyon, Nice, Ottawa, Guadalajara, and more across the world. We saw Detroit protestors wave across the river to protestors in Windsor, Ontario. We saw the town of Bolivia, North Carolina -- population 235 -- hold a protest with more than 235 people in the crowd. Here are 9 of the 1,300 in an image that’s been making the rounds on social media:

A photo collage showing tens of thousands of people marching during Hands Off! protests in nine cities across America

This was historic. Literally historic. This was the first mass public demonstration of this new Trump/Musk era with eye-popping, global strength. Just look at this chart for a sense of the scale:

Screenshot from Google trends showing a tremendous surge in searches for Trump Protest around April 5'

Source: G. Elliot Morris

But numbers are just numbers. I think this piece by Tim Murphy in Mother Jones starts to get at some of the immediate meaning of the moment. Our goal was to bust through the myth that opposition was impossible or irrelevant. To show Democrats how much demand there is to fight. And to show Musk, MAGA, and Trump how vulnerable they are. We did it -- we sent a very clear message.

What message did we send? This breadth and depth of this day of action sends not just one message, but three different messages to three different audiences:

Musk, Trump, and Republicans. A massive protest like this tells these malicious muppets and cowardly capitulators that they are weak and unpopular. Their coalition is not all-powerful. It is not secure. It is vulnerable to fracture, and we are going to fracture it. To the marginal member of the MAGA coalition: rethink your allegiances.
Elected Democrats. For too long, Democrats like Chuck Schumer have denied we’re in a crisis and have embraced the James Carville “roll over and play dead” strategy. Those days should be over. The people are demanding Democrats find their spines, stand up straight, and fight back. Smart Democratic electeds will read the room, adapt, and lead. Dumb ones will be left behind. We didn’t just tell them that -- we showed them that.
Everyone else. Fascists want normal people to feel alone. They want us all to feel at their mercy. But what Hands Off! demonstrated is that we are not mere victims of political events. Democracy is a participatory sport, and we are active participants. I’ve seen so many reports from people who said, “This was my first protest, and I’m ready for the next one.” We just placed the welcome mat out for millions of new members. Hell yeah!

Please take some time to feel good today -- seriously. Head over to our social channels (Bluesky, Instagram) to scroll through the incredible photos -- or check out this quick video highlighting events in all 50 states. I hope everyone who is part of Indivisible feels a real sense of accomplishment here. I cannot overstate how incredibly central Indivisibles were to the success of this day. And you didn’t do it on your own. We worked alongside MoveOn members, and Working Family Party locals, 50501 chapters, and Planned Parenthood volunteers. We worked with faith leaders like Reverend Barber. We worked with our union brothers and sisters in the AFL-CIO, SEIU, AFT, NEA, AFGE, and National Nurses United. We pulled in friends, family members, and total strangers to put on the largest display of people power in years.

It’s important for us to recognize this accomplishment and celebrate it. We should not just take our wins in stride. Bask in the win. Admire it. Brag about it to each other. And brag about it to people who were not there but could be part of the next one. We pulled off something very real, very powerful, and very cool. And the more we internalize that, and the more we advertise it to the world, the more real, more powerful, and more cool our next action will be.

Closing out the DC rally with 100,000 peaceful and boisterous protestors holding funny signs and chanting righteous cheers, Leah and I told the crowd this is an inflection point.

“Are we going to accept Democratic leaders who tell us to roll over and play dead?” NO!

How many kings? No kings!
How many kings? No kings!
How many kings? No kings!

When we win, people will talk about Hands Off! as the turning point in the fight against the American fascist movement. Courage is contagious, y’all. And we are going to win.

-- Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible

Your weekly to-dos

Gear up to fight the Republicans’ Medicaid-slashing, billionaire-first tax plan during the Congressional recess. Every Member of Congress is going to be back in their home states and districts from April 12-27 -- right smack dab in the middle of GOP efforts to craft a massively unpopular reconciliation bill that guts Medicaid and SNAP programs to fund tax cuts for billionaires. Our goal is to organize hundreds of rallies to turn up the heat on Republicans and mobilize the public against this absolutely heinous bill. If you were inspired by the rallies this weekend and think you’re ready to host an event, our toolkit will give you the info you need. Once enough events are registered, we’ll let folks know what’s going on nearby.
Join Indivisible and Crooked Media for a strategy call on fighting the Republicans’ Medicaid-slashing, billionaire-first tax plan, this Thursday at 8pm ET / 5pm PT. Once you’ve skimmed our toolkit (to-do #1), you’ll be ready for the strategy call this Thursday with our Pod Save friends at Crooked Media. We’ll be digging into the messaging and tactics we’ll use to fight the Republican tax plan and save Medicaid.
Call your representative: Help block Republicans from disenfranchising millions of voters with their “Silencing Americans Act." This Thursday, we expect the House to vote on H.R. 22 -- one of the biggest threats to voting rights we’ve seen in a generation. You may know this bill as the “SAVE Act” but we are calling it by a more accurate title -- the “Silencing Americans Act.” The bill requires voters to show proof of citizenship documents that match their current legal name -- something tens of millions of Americans simply don’t have. It’d cause massive challenges for married women and trans and nonbinary people who’ve changed their names, and disproportionately impact people of color.
Hear from Indivisible co-founders Leah and Ezra about how we plan to build on the Hands Off! protests, this Thursday at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Every Thursday at 3pm ET, 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, we’ll discuss how we’re capturing the momentum of the historic mass protests on April 5 and next steps to push even harder on Trump, Musk, and our Congressional representatives. (And for those tracking the to-dos, that’s TWO Thursday calls. Join whichever you can -- and if you’ve got time for both, amazing).

P.S. Nationwide organizing -- like our work to help mobilize millions across 1,300 protests last Saturday -- takes a lot of resources, so our resistance grows bigger and better when folks like you pitch in. If you can spare a few dollars to build on this weekend’s momentum and fuel our organizing through the upcoming Congressional recess, please consider a donation today.

Victory in Wisconsin

It already seems like an eternity ago, but it was just last Tuesday that the people of Wisconsin (with help from Indivisibles nationwide) elected Susan Crawford to their state Supreme Court, in a resounding 55-45 rejection of the Trump-endorsed, Musk-funded MAGA candidate.

Indivisibles wrote over 40,000 letters and postcards, knocked thousands of doors, made over 350,000 phone calls, sent 250,000 text messages, and chipped in with thousands of donations to help make this victory possible.

The win maintains a liberal majority on the court, heading into potential cases on voting rights and gerrymandering. And it also weakened Elon Musk's hold on the Republican Party. Up to this point, he has used his wealth to threaten any Republican who defies Trump with a primary challenge. But his $20 million investment in this race was an overall drag on the conservative candidate, an outcome that should serve to defang his threats.

IndivisiWIN of the week

This is the section of our newsletter where we highlight the work of one Indivisible group. It was hard to choose one group this week given how many estimate-shattering Hands Off! events were held this weekend, so we’re going to back up a few days and celebrate a bit of organizing that took place outside the April 5 mobilization:

A photo of Cory Booker speaking with the quote from his 25-hour Senate speech: 'Our constituents are asking us to acknowledge that this is not normal, that this is a crisis, so I am going to stand here until I no longer can.'

Days before Senator Cory Booker began his record-setting speech on the Senate floor, delegates of Indivisible One New Jersey met with him to highlight the urgency of this moment and the need for bolder resistance. We don’t know if that specific meeting is what Senator Booker was referencing at the outset of his speech -- but the work of Indivisible One New Jersey certainly had an impact.

During his remarks, over 1,000 Indivisibles called the senator’s office to thank him for grabbing the spotlight and setting an example of how Democrats can fight back while in the minority. They urged him and his colleagues to continue stepping up their defiance against Trump’s authoritarian agenda.

Now, it’s on all of us to make sure that historic speech wasn’t just a one-off moment, but a spark that lights the fire of full-blown congressional opposition to Trump and fierce defense of our democracy.

Help fight disinformation with the Truth Brigade

Disinformation thrives in our overwhelming “attention economy,” where human attention is the most valuable resource driving profit and political outcomes. Algorithms and sensationalism exploit our emotional responses, luring truth-seekers into false narratives. In a society where sound decision-making depends on access to accurate information, inattention poses a serious threat.

Join Indivisible and Julie Millican, VP of Media Matters for America, this Wednesday, April 9, at 6:30pm ET / 3:30pm PT for a conversation covering Media Matters’ recent study about who really dominates American media and how to protect truth in today's media landscape.

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