Dear MoveOn member,
MoveOn is now seeing a terrifying preview, in real time, of what it would look like if Donald Trump returns to the White House and, as promised, takes vengeance against his political opponents—including weaponizing the government itself against critics like us.1
Recently, Trump henchman and former Attorney General Bill Barr published a propaganda piece in the right-wing opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal, calling on the Justice Department to investigate "serious allegations" against MoveOn—allegations of an unlawful, Russian-style criminal conspiracy against American democracy!2
Barr is attacking MoveOn for organizing to expose No Labels, a billionaire-backed dark-money political slush fund, and their reckless plans that would reinstall Trump in the White House.
Meanwhile, MoveOn made the headlines of The New York Times on Friday with the launch of our 2024 election plan, which the Times called "ambitious."3 The stakes could not be higher, as our country teeters between democracy and fascism, between Biden and Donald Trump. Trump ... the same man who has been found in separate court rulings to have committed rape, defamation, business fraud, and insurrection—and who is now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.4,5,6,7
The bottom line is that our 2024 budget did not account for a potential legal fight with a billionaire-backed organization while—at the same time—we run an ambitious $32-million 2024 election effort to stop Trump and defeat MAGA. But that two-front fight is the fight we are now facing.
Will you help MoveOn prepare to fight the baseless, politically motivated allegations against us—while we also move full-speed ahead to defeat Trump and his unhinged plans to dismantle American democracy by starting a monthly donation today?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
It's frankly been a very tough time for fundraising, with Trump's former attorney general calling on the Justice Department to investigate MoveOn right as we launch our 2024 election plan.
Look at the escalating attacks against MoveOn: Former AG Bill Barr will make any argument—no matter how absurd—to distract from the fact that No Labels is a dark-money group, partly funded in part by Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch; Harlan Crow, a Nazi memorabilia collector and benefactor of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's lavish lifestyle; billionaire investor Nelson Peltz, a major Trump backer; and other donors whose identities remain secret.8,9,10
And then take the electoral fight ahead. As we enter a critical election year, we cannot afford to pull a cent away from our campaign to defeat Trump's MAGA GOP and stop his radical and extremist plans. Not when our program is as much as FIVE TIMES MORE EFFECTIVE, per dollar raised, than traditional methods. FIVE TIMES! Take a look at this chart:
Impact of Voter Contact Efforts on Voter Turnout
TV ads |==
Traditional phone-banking |====
MOVEON'S VOTE TRIPLING METHOD |====================
We must do everything we can to stop No Labels and its baseless attacks against MoveOn. But, at the same time, we must fully fund our voter turnout program to keep Trump out of the White House.
This is not a drill, and our democracy is not a spectator sport. We need YOUR help, John. Will you start a monthly donation to help power and sustain this multi-front fight?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
No Labels is no good for our democracy. Not only is their effort doomed to fail ... and not only would it throw the election to Trump ... but there are numerous complaints of No Labels misleading voters. For example, they are accused of misleading voters into changing their party registration in Maine.11 And, in Rhode Island, No Labels' petition papers were referred to the local police department because their organizers may have forged the signatures of dead people.12 Dead people!
Bill Barr is silent on all of that. Barr, the same man who misled the nation about the Mueller report, dropped federal charges against Trump ally Michael Flynn, and personally ordered police and federal agents to clear out innocent protesters outside the White House, now accuses MoveOn and our allies of pushing America to be more like Russia.13,14,15 In doing so, he's pressing the Justice Department to investigate us and our allies, even though such an investigation is totally unwarranted and meritless.
The constant drumbeat of attacks against MoveOn is part of a billionaire-backed effort to exhaust, intimidate, and harass us into silence, to drain our financial resources, and to distract us from beating Trump and the GOP in 2024.
We cannot afford to pull a cent away from our campaign to defeat Trump and stop his fascist plans. But we also have to do everything we can to stop No Labels and its baseless attacks against MoveOn while we fend off potential third-party spoiler campaigns. This is a lot to do, all at once, but with your help, we will prevail.
Will you start a $5 monthly donation to ensure MoveOn has the financial resources to keep up the fight against these right-wing legal attacks and to defeat the MAGA extremists this November?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Billionaires already buy our elections—in secret and with few limits since the Citizens United ruling.
The Wall Street Journal piece is just another example of how Trump and his henchmen want to have it both ways: They want to illegally funnel unlimited sums from secret fat-cat donors into our electoral system but then cry out for "democracy," "fairness," and rights for "rival political parties" when it suits their interests.
Expect far more hypocrisy and, yes, investigations of MoveOn and others on the left if Trump gets a second term. It's terrifying but true. We will never back down, but the best defense is a good offense.
MoveOn's 2024 budget did not account for the potential legal costs that may come. These costs could be astronomical, and the legal proceedings could take years, but we cannot allow this billionaire-backed effort, which is just a small preview of what a second Trump term would look like, to distract us in an election year where MoveOn must go all-in to defeat Trump and stop his fascist plans in their tracks.
Will you help MoveOn prepare to fight the baseless, politically motivated allegations against us so we can defend ourselves and ensure that we still have the funds to continue our work to defeat Trump and his fascist plans for America this November? Start a monthly donation today.
Click here to make a $5 monthly donation.
It's clear MoveOn's work to sound the alarm on No Labels' dangerous plan is working. Now, it's time to expand the fight. With your help, we will defend ourselves against No Labels' baseless attacks and call out how a third-party campaign would spoil the election, all while focusing on reaching every last voter in 2024.
Thanks for all you do.
–Mohammad, Emily, Gabi, Cheryl, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Trump signals he's out for revenge in second term," The Hill, November 16, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/186163?t=9&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
2. "A Conspiracy Against No Labels," The Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/186158?t=11&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
3. "MoveOn Will Spend $32 Million to Back Biden and Other Democrats," The New York Times, January 26, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/186159?t=13&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
4. "Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carroll," The Washington Post, July 19, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/179561?t=15&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
5. "Jury finds Trump must pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll," CNN, January 26, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/186172?t=17&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
6. "Judge rules Donald Trump defrauded banks and insurers while building real estate empire," AP News, September 26, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/186173?t=19&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
7. "Colorado Supreme Court declares Donald Trump is ineligible for the White House," AP News, December 19, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/185571?t=21&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
8. "Who Else Has Harlan Crow Given Money To?" Slate, April 23, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/173224?t=23&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
9. "Who's Funding 'No Labels'? Pro-GOP Billionaires Opposed to Democracy," Common Dreams, May 23, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/173225?t=25&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
10. "Justice Clarence Thomas discloses trips paid for by billionaire Harlan Crow," NBC News, August 31, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/186136?t=27&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
11. "Maine election officials say No Labels may be misleading voters in its third-party push," NBC News, June 6, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/186094?t=29&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
12. "No Labels, but many questions; alleged signature fraud spotted in Jamestown, Cranston," Rhode Island Current, January 19, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/186164?t=31&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
13. "Barr reignites charge he is conducting Mueller cleanup for Trump," Politico, May 8, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/186165?t=33&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
14. "Justice Dept. moves to drop case against Michael Flynn," The Washington Post, May 7, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/186166?t=35&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
15. "Barr personally ordered removal of protesters near White House, leading to use of force against largely peaceful crowd," The Washington Post, June 2, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/186168?t=37&akid=374460%2E40999114%2Ed3i8sJ
Want to support MoveOn's work? The MAGA movement's book bans have forced teachers and librarians across the country to remove books from their shelves and censor what young people can learn. MoveOn is fighting back, including by filling a "Banned Bookmobile" with books that the far right has banned and driving it to key cities and towns to raise the visibility of book bans, hand out banned books for free, and bring people together to stop censorship. To keep up the fight against book bans and the MAGA politicians who support them, we need your help.
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