The wrong way to respond to this regime

The regime is escalating.

National Guard troops in Washington, DC are now carrying M4 rifles and M17 pistols. Those troops are being joined by the National Guards of six mostly former Confederate states -- all of which are home to cities with worse crime rates than DC. The occupation of DC follows the occupation of Los Angeles earlier this summer, and Trump has his sights on new occupations in cities across the country, including Chicago, Baltimore, and New York.

If we were a foreign country, the press would cover this simply: The regime is tightening its grip on political power by occupying the largest cities led by opposition party members.

This is a well-trodden path of Trump’s authoritarian predecessors and contemporaries. Mussolini, Hitler, Pinochet, Putin, and Erdoğan all used some form of state-aligned armed forces to pick fights in the streets under the guise of law and order. They all then used the resulting conflict to justify further consolidation of power and additional crackdowns.

Is Trump merely trying to look strong in a news cycle, or is he actively trying to provoke a bloody conflict to further his regime’s goals? Leah and I debate this.

I don’t know if Trump is smart enough to have a grand vision for his regime, but I think he is instinctually authoritarian. He wants to look strong. He escalates his attacks on our cities to demonstrate that strength. And if the people rebel against his tightening grip, he’ll welcome the conflict to further demonstrate his strength.

So what do we do? We need the opposition party to lead, which means we have to show them where we want them to go.

Some Dems lead. Others follow the polls. If you’re wondering why Schumer or Jeffries or other Democratic leaders respond to the regime’s blood-curdling escalations with bland statements about the economy, the answer is often that some well-paid political consulting firm showed them a table that shows boring stuff polls modestly well. One such influential political consultant circulated this memo last week advising Dem politicians to pivot away from DC and talk about Medicaid or tariffs instead.

But you cannot defeat the fascists with a strategy that starts with message-testing. To defeat the fascists you must start with a strategy aimed at defeating the fascists. Then, you figure out the messages that help land that strategy, shape public opinion, and change the political landscape.

Learn from the political fights we won this year. The same political consultants who are advising Dems to shift focus away from the regime’s occupations now are the ones that advised Dems to ignore LA or Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s kidnapping earlier this year.

But Trump’s military escalations in LA were a political failure, and his campaign to disappear immigrants to a Salvadoran work camp similarly backfired -- dragging his approvals down on immigration.

What happened in these cases was a mix of grassroots and political leadership. People on the ground and some number of leaders… led. They did not simply read the polls and change the subject. They organized to defy the regime, focus public attention on the illegitimacy of the regime’s action, and, in doing so, rallied the public to their side.

There are plenty of Dems who are leading rather than following polls. Dems like Jamie Raskin, Maxwell Frost, Michelle Wu, JB Pritzker, Chris Van Hollen, the Texas House Dems, and others who are shaping, not reacting to, events. We should cheer them on, rally to their side, and demonstrate to them and their more poll-conscious compatriots that the public wants Dems who fight back.

The next No Kings Day is coming, and when it does, we need to show up as one nation to convince our would-be leaders to lead. We’ll announce more on that very soon, but until then we still have work to do -- so I hope you’ll read on to this week’s to-dos.

I’ll give the final words to Abrego Garcia, who rallied all of us this morning while being threatened again with deportation: “Never lose hope. Promise me you’ll continue to pray, fight, resist, love, and demand freedom -- not just for me, for everybody.”

In solidarity,
Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible

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Your weekly to-dos

1. Sign up for a Signs of Solidarity canvass to support our immigrant neighbors and stand up to fascist ICE raids. Looking for concrete ways to counter ICE terror? Talk to local businesses about putting up signage to help protect employees from ICE raids and show solidarity with immigrant communities. Our toolkit has all the info and materials you’ll need.
   

2. Blue State Indivisibles: Call on state Democrats to fight fire with fire by readying new congressional maps. As red state Republicans redraw their maps to try rigging the midterms, blue state Dems must even the playing field by responding in kind. Use our tools to demand Democratic leaders act now.
   

3. Join Fight Back With Friends’ call tomorrow, August 26, at 8pm ET for a new way to activate friends and family. Fight Back With Friends provides tools to recruit your network into the fight against authoritarianism. In September, we’ll be talking about how we can push universities to stand up to Trump’s attacks.
   

4. Join our campaign to make Avelo Airlines’ deportation flights too costly to continue. Avelo Airlines profits off Trump’s terror tactics by running secretive (often illegal) deportation flights. We’re organizing to ground “ICE Air” by undermining the pillars that prop up Avelo’s business.
   

5. Join “What’s the Plan?” on Thursday as Leah and Ezra answer your questions on the news and upcoming fights. Every Thursday at 3pm ET, our co-founders go live to break down our key initiatives and answer your questions directly! Be part of an interactive chat about what’s next in our fight for democracy.

P.S. Too many institutions are bending or bowing, while too few of our leaders are fighting bravely and with moral clarity. But Indivisible is leading the charge to demand better from those in power and ensure Trump’s enablers pay a price. Please consider donating to fund Indivisibles' nationwide disruption and defiance of the Trump regime.

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Build contagious courage through non-cooperation

Donald Trump’s authoritarian house of cards is propped up by the cowardice and compliance of others in positions of power: business leaders, universities, law firms, media, and more. His authority collapses without their support, but right now, too many powerful institutions are meekly enabling the regime.

This summer, we began training one million people like you in strategic non-cooperation, and now, we’re putting defiance into action on a massive scale! We’re building up three big campaigns to chip away at the pillars upholding Trump’s power -- and calling on you to join (at least) one:

✈️Ground Trump’s deportation flights by turning the heat up on Avelo Airlines. Avelo is a relatively small airline profiting from Trump’s terror tactics by contracting with DHS to run (often illegal) deportation flights. We’re turning the heat up to make those contracts too costly to continue.

🪧Protect customers and workers from ICE raids at your local businesses. Signs of Solidarity is a new initiative to stand against fascist ICE raids by placing signs to protect and support immigrants in local businesses. We’re asking Indivisibles to canvass local businesses in defiance of ICE.

☎️Fight back against Trump’s Redistricting Coup with state-specific actions in our toolkit. Whether you live in a red state, blue state, or purple one, there are things you can do to help stop Trump from rigging the midterms. Our redistricting toolkit lays out exactly what to do based on where you live.

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Fight climate lies with the Truth Brigade

Indivisible’s Truth Brigade is the nation's largest grassroots disinformation-countering program, and this September, we’re confronting the lies behind the devastating dismantling of climate protections that harm our vulnerable communities most.

On the Truth Brigade’s monthly call on September 10, Abbie Richards of EcoTok and Media Matters will show us how the media, corporations, and other bad actors fuel confusion or apathy about the climate. Then, we’ll provide tools and info to fight back with the truth.

We can’t be silent as lies replace science and disasters are exploited for profit. Fight back by signing up for the next Truth Brigade call Wednesday, September 10, at 6:30pm ET / 3:30pm PT!

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IndivisiWIN of the week

On Saturday, over 200 activists from Traverse Indivisible, Leelanau Indivisible, and their allies gathered at the Cherry Capital Airport in Michigan to take a stand against Avelo Airlines (aka “ICE Air”) and its $150 million contract to run deportation flights.

By showing up in force, Michigan Indivisibles showed the Trump Administration, Avelo, and their community that there’s a price to pay for propping up the Trump regime -- a great step in our collective campaign to make Avelo’s deportation flights too costly to continue.