We wanted to make sure you saw our note — copied below in case you missed it —
with some FAQs about how Public Citizen is gearing up for a second Trump term.

And, since today is Giving Tuesday, thanks again for being part of this shared
project called Public Citizen!

Onward,

Lisa & Robert

******

Since the election, thousands of people have donated to Public Citizen in
response to our emails highlighting some of the ways we intend to confront a
second Trump presidency and some of the ways we are already working together in
fighting back.

First, our thanks to everyone who has contributed over these past few weeks.

Second, we want to address some questions and comments folks have shared.

What about the Supreme Court?

Our plans are heavy on challenging the Trump administration in court. And the
current Supreme Court is tricky.

But only a tiny fraction of court cases go to the Supreme Court. The vast
majority of cases never get that far. Public Citizen’s elite team of lawyers
will be strategic about which cases we take and how we demonstrate where the law
is on the side of everyday Americans.

We may not prevail in every case. But we won’t lose every case, either. Far from
it. We have experience and expertise using the legal system to defend ordinary
people and progressive values even when the playing field is not perfectly
level.

How much can we really do when Republicans will control the White House, the
Senate, and the House of Representatives?

We have no delusions that we can stop every terrible thing Trump and his MAGA
acolytes try to do legislatively.

But there have been many times throughout our nation’s history when the same
party controlled the presidency and both chambers of Congress — a so-called
“unified government” — and still wasn’t able to do everything it wanted to do.

Republicans controlled both the House and Senate for Donald Trump’s first two
years in office. And yes, they passed a disastrous tax cut that benefitted
billionaires and Big Business at the expense of the American people. But, quite
famously, they failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) —
even though it was practically the only thing some of them talked about (nearly
to the point of foaming at the mouth) for years .

Even more recently, Democrats had a majority in both the House and Senate for
President Biden’s first two years in office. Did every bill they introduced get
passed? (The answer, of course, is no.)

Furthermore, it’s not like Republicans never disagree with other Republicans.
They can’t even put aside their intra-party differences long enough to choose a
Speaker of the House without devolving into farcical chaos and literal shoving
matches.

On top of all that, the Republican majorities in both the House and Senate will
be thin. With any particular bill in Congress, just a few Republicans in either
chamber breaking from the MAGA party line — because what’s best for their
constituents will sometimes (more like most times) not align with what’s best
for Donald Trump, and they know it — can stop bad legislation in its tracks.

Can we rely on ineptitude and in-fighting alone to prevent Republicans in
Congress from doing all kinds of damage? Unfortunately not. But those tendencies
will slow them down and make at least some of them susceptible to public
pressure.

And that’s where Public Citizen comes in. Putting pressure on members of
Congress is our thing — it has been since our founding over half a century ago.
We will sniff out fractures and we will do everything we can to crack them open.

We’re up against powerful people with so much money.

True.

For example, Elon Musk alone spent at least $133 million bankrolling Trump’s
campaign. (And that’s just the money Musk spent that has been disclosed.)

Throughout human history, those fighting for justice and progress always have
less money and power than the forces they are up against — pretty much by
definition.

But by standing up, by working together, by insisting that the status quo is
simply not good enough, we advance justice and make progress nonetheless.

It may happen slowly, perhaps achingly so. We may go through periods where it
feels like “one step forward, two steps back.”

Yet somehow, things are better — far from perfect, but better — than they were a
thousand years ago, five hundred years ago, a hundred years ago.

Why should this be the moment to abandon all of that history? Why should those
of us here now be the ones to throw up our hands and say “we can’t do it”?

Like millions before us the world over — with a debt to them, in fact — we must
choose to continue the fight against the rich and powerful, even if it feels
like we’re losing ground.

All hope is lost. I’m giving up on politics. I’m leaving the country.

No!

Well, we can’t say whether or not leaving the country is best for any particular
person. But a resounding “No!” to losing hope or giving up.

Look, it’s grim. There’s no denying it.

Donald Trump and the racist, misogynistic, sociopathic forces that he has
exploited and emboldened (they were here all along — let’s be clear about that)
are a very real threat to millions upon millions of Americans, to our democracy,
to our planet, and to everyone on it.

That is scary.

Infuriating.

Sickening.

Sad.

It can also be tedious, draining, and debilitating.

We can and should feel those things.

But ...

Also ...

At the same time ...

The math is actually very simple:

If we lose hope, if we give up, if we allow ourselves to become resigned to it,
the MAGA vision for America definitely wins out.

If we fight — with everything, every damn thing, we’ve got — we *will* prevent
at least some damage, and there is every reason to think we can stop the MAGA
nightmare from becoming a permanent reality.

This is the fight of our lives. [[link removed]]

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If you can, please donate to Public Citizen right now.
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Anything you can chip in — $5 or $25, $50 or $100, $500 or even more — will help
us confront what’s coming from a second Trump term.
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Or join our popular Monthly Giving program (if you haven’t already) to help make
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Thank you for reading this, and thank you for everything you do as part of
Public Citizen.

For progress,

- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen


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