Hi Indivisibles, it’s Ezra (just for this intro section).

All last year I sent a biweekly-ish newsletter, but I don’t think biweekly-ish will cut it in this era. Every damn week we have to deal with some fresh hell. And every week we need to remind ourselves and each other: We are not merely victims of national events. We have agency. We have power. We can fight back. There are practical things each of us can do in the real world to limit harm, fracture MAGA’s coalition, and build ours. So I’m making a change. From now on, I'm going to try out writing the intros to our regular weekly newsletter -- the one we send every Monday with our weekly to-dos. Let's see how it goes:

A plausibly denied descent into authoritarianism. I’m not saying Trump and Musk are systematically creating a paramilitary force to use violence and intimidation to undermine democracy while they sell off the country for parts. But if that was their goal, they sure are taking the right steps.

On the jackboot heels of his back-to-back Hitler salutes, and on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, our co-president Elon Musk spoke this weekend at a far-right political rally in Germany, encouraging Germans to “move beyond” Nazi guilt, embrace nationalism, and reject “multiculturalism that dilutes everything.” This followed Trump’s Friday night massacre -- the blatantly illegal firing of 17 independent watchdogs charged with oversight within the federal government. That same night the Senate GOP confirmed Pete Hegseth, a theocrat with a drinking problem, to lead the Department of Defense, which now lacks an inspector general. And all of that capped a week that started with unconstitutional executive orders, threats of violence toward individual opponents, and promises of an aggressive, adversarial approach towards blue states. 

What Trump and Musk didn’t do was explicitly announce their rejection of democracy and embrace of authoritarianism. They didn’t need to be so explicit. The wink and nod works -- America’s violent extremists got the message loud and clear. 

So where is the opposition? I can’t tell you how many journalists Leah and I have spoken with in the last month about the state of organizing in defiance to Trump 2.0. I tell them all something that looks like this: Indivisible folks are pissed off. They want to see Dems fight back. They don’t have time for BS symbolic gestures or actions that don’t have impact. And they are seeing a surge of energy. We’ve had about 250 new Indivisible groups form and register with us since the election. Local Indivisible leaders are reporting a surge of new membership. Just this weekend, the Indivisible meeting I joined in Chicago and the one Leah joined in North Carolina were packed to the gills with people looking to identify what we can do where we are with what we’ve got to accomplish what we can together. 

This is what all of us organizing with Indivisible do. We are not counting on the mainstream media to be a watchdog. We’re not counting on viral moments on authoritarian-friendly social media platforms to deliver the outrage to congressional doorsteps. We’re informing our neighbors. We’re organizing our communities. And we’re demanding that our elected officials fight with the same energy we are or get the hell out of the way. 

All that starts with understanding what’s happening, which is why I started with the news. But it doesn’t end there. It ends with concrete, real actions we take together. And that brings us to your weekly to-dos:

Your weekly to-dos

1. Tell your senators to vote NO on Trump’s most dangerous nominees. Senate Republicans disgracefully confirmed Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary on Friday by a historically small margin. If we can flip just one additional Republican to vote ‘no’ on Russell Vought, Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, or RFK Jr., we can block their nominations. And there’s reason to believe there’s growing opposition to some of these nominees. Let’s keep the pressure on. 
2. Fight back against Trump’s unconstitutional executive order on birthright citizenship. Last week, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional order seeking to end birthright citizenship -- likely the first of many roadblocks to Trump’s lawless week-one actions. But this is a temporary order. So we’ve got to continue fighting back to mitigate the harm of this order and maximize political backlash. Our resource page has a number of actions you can take right now. 
3. Join Indivisible’s co-founders this Thursday at 3pm ET/12pm PT to process the news and dig into strategies for fighting back. With so much coming at us right now, it’s important to carve out time to come together in community and dig into what matters and what we can do about it. Indivisible’s Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin will lead the discussion and spend most of the hour answering audience questions. 

P.S. -- With social media companies bending the knee to Trump, Project 2025 purging the government of dissenters, and corporate media companies caving in the face of speech-chilling lawsuits, it’s never been more important to invest in organizations you believe in that are willing to speak out and fight back against autocracy. Fundraising has been off to a slow start this year, so please consider chipping in to support Indivisible’s work today >>

Indivisible endorses Ben Wikler for DNC Chair

On February 1, the Democratic National Committee will elect a new chair (explainer on the job and the election here). We polled Indivisible group leaders last week and a whopping 93% agreed the best candidate for the job is Ben Wikler -- the indefatigable former leader of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. 

Wikler shares our belief that grassroots organizing has no off years and that grassroots activists aren’t some auxiliary force to be deployed in the final months of a campaign -- they are the backbone of the Democratic Party. 

In this political moment, we need a DNC chair who recognizes the historic demands on the party to resist fascism and mobilize diverse coalitions to save our democracy. We need a chair who understands that lasting power can’t be built top-down -- it needs to be organized from the bottom up. Ben is the real deal, and we’re proud to endorse him for DNC Chair. 

You can find our full endorsement on Medium.

Advocacy Update: MAGA’s Dreamer Deportation Bill

Last Wednesday, the House passed one of the most cruel anti-immigrant bills in recent history. The Laken Riley Act (H.R. 29 / S.5) will now go to Trump’s desk, giving him an early legislative victory. 

We won’t rehash the details of the bill here -- we’ve emailed you about it quite bit, and because of that, we wanted to report back that unfortunately, when all was said and done, 46 House Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the bill. 

What happens now? There’s nothing we can do, at this point, to stop the bill from becoming law -- though given that portions of it appear verrrrry unconstitutional, it’s likely to face legal challenges pretty quickly. 

What we can do is work to stiffen the spines of Dems who folded so easily on this horrendous bill so they’ll do the right thing next time. We know they don’t think this bill is good policy -- it’s clearly not. But apparently, they DO think it’s smart politics to roll over and do MAGA’s bidding. How do we convince them otherwise? By making a lot of noise.

If your representative was one of the 46 Dems who voted yes, make sure they hear from you. You can use our call tool and tag them in posts on social media. 

Help Combat Disinformation With the Truth Brigade

With social media companies dispensing with fact-checking and some platform owners intentionally amplifying disinformation, we all have to step up to identify and combat propaganda and divisive lies. 

Join us on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT as we kick off a new year of critical work for the Truth Brigade, Indivisible Civics’ grassroots-powered network of activists dedicated to disrupting disinformation. Whether you’re new to the work or a disinfo-fighting expert looking to channel your passion, all are welcome. 

IndivisiWin of the Week 

Perhaps you’ve seen the articles proclaiming “the resistance is dead” or lamenting that activists are too exhausted to mount a real opposition to Trump’s second term. Well, no one told the Indivisible Chicago Alliance. Nearly 600 people showed up to their first major gathering of the year -- so many activists eager to defy autocracy that they needed an overflow room to accommodate everyone. Want some inspiration? Watch this short video they put together over on Threads.

Follow us on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads to keep up on the latest information, and text “INDIVISIBLE” to 59798 to opt-in to our text messaging program, where we send rapid response actions a few times a month.

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team