Dear MoveOn member,

If there's a unifying theme of the past several weeks for me, it's that
the world can be a heartbreaking and painful place.

And we need to be cleareyed that our country and world will become more
dangerous—much more so—if Donald Trump wins a second term. Please know the
stakes:

Trump's team is planning to be ready—on his first day in office—to deploy
the military against protesters.^1 His team has identified this "as an
immediate priority" in their preparations.^2

His team also is "plotting revenge" against people who have "turned on
him" and preparing executive orders that overturn core democratic
principles to allow them to investigate and prosecute political opponents,
including officials at the Department of Justice.^3

John, it used to be Democrats vs. Republicans, liberals vs.
conservatives, left vs. right. That is over. It's now democracy vs.
authoritarianism.

That's why I'm writing to you today.

The next U.S. presidential election is almost exactly one year from now.
All of us have a moral duty to do everything we can—nonviolently—to ensure
that our democracy endures.

And yet donations to organizations across the progressive movement have
plummeted, causing organizations to scale back voter contact plans and lay
off staff at a time when many of these same organizations typically grow
their staffs ahead of a big election year.

I know from my friends at MoveOn that their fundraising has taken a big
hit this year—and last year, too. And so today I have a request:



Will you join me in making a monthly gift of $5 to support
and sustain MoveOn's work to energize and turn out voters to defeat
Trump? 

[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.



Already, voter contacts are way down across progressive organizations that
do the critical work of connecting with voters, motivating them to vote,
and then getting them out to vote—with organizations making just 4% to
35%, depending on the organization, of the voter contacts this year
compared to two years ago.

In 2020, MoveOn collected 1 million pledges to vote, focused on the
handful of battleground states that decided the election. In 2022, MoveOn
increased voter turnout by 0.66 to 0.69 percentage points, resulting in
48,000 to 50,000 additional people turning out to vote in key states—at a
time when the margin of victory in our closely divided nation is typically
just a fraction of 1% of the votes cast. In other words, in many states,
MoveOn's targeted efforts very well could have made the difference in the
outcome of the election.

The MoveOn staff have shared their plans with me. And the plans are
impressive and incredibly strategic. MoveOn has experimented with and
honed data-driven tactics to turn voters out over two decades—and it shows
in their results.

MoveOn's plans are to build off of their success in 2020 and 2022
identifying and turning out voters likely to make the most impact in
battleground states. These "surge voters" are Democratic-leaning young
voters, new voters, and voters who have not always shown up to the polls
but who became energized to vote after the rise of Trump.

MoveOn's data shows that there are millions of surge voters in
battleground districts and states across the country. And rigorous data
analysis by elections experts shows that when surge voters show up to the
polls in large numbers, Democrats win.^4

That was what worked in 2020 and 2022, and it will work once again in
2024—if MoveOn has the resources and volunteers, starting now.

Winning is doable, but it won't be easy or cheap. And the polls show that
losing is a strong possibility; in fact, Trump is now favored to win.^5
That's exactly what happened in 2016, when donors and volunteers didn't
show up in high enough numbers, early enough in the cycle, to tip the
scales.

John, the danger Trump poses to our country, freedom, and the
broader world cannot be overstated. He is a strongman who rejects
democracy, as does the MAGA movement more broadly. We must come together,
starting now, to save our democracy.



Please join me by donating $5 a month to help MoveOn have
the resources to energize and turn out voters to defeat Trump and the MAGA
movement. 

[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.



Thanks for all you do.

–Robert Reich

Sources:

1. "Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second
term," The Washington Post, November 6, 2023
[link removed]

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. "The Emerging Anti-MAGA Majority," Weekend Reading, June 8, 2023
[link removed]

5. "Trump Leads in 5 Critical States as Voters Blast Biden, Times/Siena
Poll Finds," The New York Times, November 5, 2023
[link removed]



Want to support MoveOn's work? Book bans have skyrocketed thanks to
right-wing state laws which have forced teachers to remove books from
their classrooms. In response, MoveOn is launching a "Banned Bookmobile,"
filling it with books that the far right has banned, and driving it around
to hand out those books, for free, in highly trafficked areas that will
attract media attention. To keep the Banned Bookmobile up and running into
2024, we need your help.

Will you start a monthly gift to power MoveOn's critical work?



[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.





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