Dear John,

Over the years I’ve written to you warning about threats to democracy, workers’ rights, and economic fairness, among other vital issues facing the country.

This email is different. Today I’m writing to you about a potential existential threat to Inequality Media, the organization I co-founded ten years ago.

Under legislation just passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, the incoming Trump administration would have the power to strip the tax-exempt nonprofit status of any organization that criticizes him with the stroke of a pen by labeling the group “terrorist supporting.”

The bill requires no evidence of wrongdoing. It provides for no due process or appeal. And once a nonprofit organization loses its tax-exempt status, it can no longer accept donations or get banking services. It’s effectively a death penalty for targeted organizations, and any organization that dares to oppose Trump’s agenda will be at risk.

We’re rallying opposition to this bill, but we also need to be prepared for major potential legal expenses if this bill becomes law and we are forced to defend ourselves, all while continuing to make videos and posts to engage people around economic inequality and threats to democracy.

That’s why I’m asking you today: Will you make an urgent donation to help alert the public and stop the “nonprofit killer” bill?

Donald Trump ran for office pledging to take retribution on his political enemies, and if you doubt him, just look at the people he’s choosing to fill his administration.

Just this weekend, Trump announced that he plans to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray and replace him with Kash Patel, a loyalist hack who has pledged to prosecute political opponents of the president-elect and “come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig the presidential election.”

Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, has pledged to prosecute Justice Department officials involved in the criminal cases against Trump, telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity in 2023 that if Trump returns to power, “the prosecutors will be prosecuted.”

This is what authoritarianism looks like: people with no respect for the rule of law, who see their only job as serving Trump personally.

To trust these people with the unilateral authority to crush any nonprofit organization with the stroke of a pen is unimaginable.

That’s why we need to ramp up our efforts to stop this awful bill, and our work is making a difference. When the House voted on this same bill last week under fast-track rules requiring a two-thirds majority to pass, 52 House Democrats voted for it. This time, we lost only 15.

But we need to keep pushing, because if this bill becomes law, every nonprofit organization in the country will be in danger of Trump’s wrath.

Will you make an urgent donation to help alert the public and stop the MAGA majority’s “nonprofit killer” bill?

Thank you,

Robert Reich
Inequality Media