Indivisibles,
Tomorrow marks eight years to the day that a (golden) escalator ride
changed the course of history.
[1]Trump rides down the escalator at Trump Tower while a group takes
photos on their phones
Photo by Christopher Gregory/Getty
On June 16, 2015, Trump stared into the cameras and proclaimed “thousands”
were in attendance (there were a few dozen -- it later emerged that the
Trump campaign had paid folks 50 bucks to stand there, make noise, and
wave signs in MAGA merch they’d just been handed). Andrew Lloyd Webber’s
“Music of the Night” blasted on repeat while reporters waited for the
spectacle to start. He used his (xenophobic) announcement speech to
demonize Mexicans and promise to build a “great wall” on our southern
border.
No one took it seriously. Or literally.
The media. The other Republican candidates. I sure didn’t (at least, not
right away).
If you Google articles and news reports from that day, it wasn’t even that
prominently covered. Articles include headlines like “Is Donald Trump’s
Presidential Bid for Real?” Time reporter Charlotte Alter, who was there,
reflects, “I don’t think anybody came away from that announcement thinking
he was going to be the next president.”
But we all know what happened next.
Here we are eight years later with a very different image of Trump -- not
on an escalator this time, but in a federal courtroom in Miami following
his indictment on 38 different counts, including charges under the
Espionage Act (read: willful retention of national defense information,
obstruction of justice, false statements, and concealment) after Trump
took classified documents from the White House after he tried and failed
to overturn the 2020 election.
[2]A courtroom sketch of Trump flanked by his legal team. A judge sits
above him.
Sketch by Bill Hennessy for [ [link removed] ]PBS NewsHour
And now, eight years and a lot of protests/district office
visits/townhalls/calls to Congress/canvassing/textbanking/postcarding
later, a lot of people are reacting much like they did the days after that
escalator ride back in 2015: they’re not taking his candidacy seriously --
or at least as seriously as warranted by the threat he represents.
We get it.
We would like to think that any person facing charges for threatening our
national security surely couldn’t be elected president. Just like we
thought back in 2015 that any xenophobic white nationalist whose biggest
accomplishments included appearing on The Apprentice or selling steaks on
QVC couldn’t be elected president. We’d even like to think that maybe the
courts could save us (lol) or even that Trump’s supporters would choose to
bail, given the seriousness of the latest charges.
But we know better.
[ [link removed] ]As Meagan told you last week, there’s a lot we don’t know about Donald
Trump’s trial and how long it could take -- but here’s what we do know:
Donald Trump is still the frontrunner for the Republican presidential
nomination. He’s still allowed to run for president. He could still win.
And if he does, he could shut down federal investigations into his crimes
and even pardon himself for this very indictment and any future federal
indictments.
And if we learned anything from that escalator ride eight years ago and
the garbage fire that followed, it should be that we should count Donald
Trump out at our own peril.
We cannot afford to underestimate the danger that Donald Trump poses to
our democracy again.
[ [link removed] ]If you’ve heard enough and are ready to chip in to supercharge our work
to hold Donald Trump and his MAGA enablers accountable and retake our
Democratic trifecta in 2024, click here or one of the donate links below.
If you want to hear a little more about how we’re going to do it, keep
reading.
If you've saved your information with ActBlue Express Lane, your donation
to Indivisible Action will go through immediately:
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The truth is that Indivisible was born from regular people all over the
country who wished they’d done more to stop Trump from being elected when
they had the chance. Since 2016, we’ve gotten reallllllllllly good at
resistance. But look, given the choice of prevention or resistance, we
should pick prevention. Every time.
Next week marks 500 days until the 2024 election. And what we do right now
at this moment -- with all of the lessons we’ve learned together over the
last eight years -- is going to determine whether we prevent Trump, or any
other MAGA candidate, from getting their hands on the power of the
presidency again.
Indivisible’s campaign to win in 2020 required tens of millions of dollars
to mobilize and train tens of thousands of volunteers; recruit new people
to their local Indivisible groups; provide voter contact resources, tools,
and technology to our entire network; and make sure we were running ads
throughout the cycle to persuade and turn out key voters.
Real-talk: Our work in 2023 and 2024 is going to take even more. And it
couldn’t be more critical ([ [link removed] ]chip in here).
Our right to choose is on the line.
Our right to have our votes counted.
Our right to breathe clean air and drink clean water.
Our right to be who we really are and love who we love.
Our right to learn accurate history and give our kids the education they
need to fulfill their potential.
Between now and election day 2024, we’ve got a lot of work to do, and this
isn’t hyperbole: Our democracy is on the line.
[ [link removed] ]We can’t wait. The work to defeat Donald Trump and his MAGA enablers
begins right now. If you can, please donate now to make sure we have all
the resources we need to organize and win.
Over the next several weeks, we’re going to talk to you a lot more about
our work for the remainder of 2023 and 2024. We’re going to talk to you
about ramping up our work and making deep investments to hold the 18
Unrepresentatives accountable for every vote they take with Marjorie
Taylor Greene, build capacity locally, and defeat them next November.
We’ll tell you about our plan to support Democratic frontliners across the
country and send them back to Congress in 2025 and support local
Indivisible groups fighting against MAGA in their communities. We’ll talk
to you about doubling down on our work and investment in the battleground
state of Arizona to defeat Kyrsten Sinema.
And yes, we’re going to talk a lot more about the infrastructure we’re
putting in place to beat Donald Trump (again).
But for now, I’m asking you to think about what you wished you would have
done differently back in 2015 -- and I’m asking you to make a plan about
the things you’re going to commit to doing over the next 500 days and
change to make sure that on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, we can say
confidently that we’ve left it all on the field.
[ [link removed] ]And for us to leave it all out on the field and do everything we can
as a movement to win, we need your help.
If you've saved your information with ActBlue Express Lane, your donation
to Indivisible Action will go through immediately:
[ [link removed] ]Donate $7 >>
[ [link removed] ]Donate $25 >>
[ [link removed] ]Donate $50 >>
[ [link removed] ]Donate $75 >>
[ [link removed] ]Contribute Monthly >>
As always, thanks for everything you do.
In solidarity,
Sarah Dohl
Chief Campaigns Officer, Co-Founder, Indivisible
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