Dear John,

Donald Trump has launched an all-out attack on democracy taken directly from the authoritarian playbook used by dictators like Viktor Orbán, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping.

First, you take over military and intelligence operations by purging career officers and substituting lackeys who are personally loyal to you. Next, subdue the courts by ignoring rulings you disagree with and intimidate legislators with threats of physical violence and billionaire-funded primary challengers.

Then you attack independent news sources by filing costly lawsuits, threatening broadcast licenses, and blocking access to news conferences and interviews. Finally, go after the universities by stripping funding from schools that refuse to suppress dissent and use federal law enforcement to go after protest leaders on campus.

Trump is doing all of this with breathtaking speed and ruthlessness — and we must do everything we can to sound the alarm before it’s too late.

The good news is that a powerful backlash is growing. Trump’s disapproval ratings have jumped nearly 10 points since he was sworn in, people are flooding town hall meetings and rallies, and Inequality Media Civic Action’s engagement is skyrocketing across all our social media channels.

Now we need to ramp it up, so I’m asking you today: Will you make a donation to help educate the public, get the truth out, and stop Trump’s assault on our democracy?

As a lifelong educator, the threat to universities is especially personal to me.

Over my 42 years in education, I’ve taught more than 40,000 students. Never did I think my students might be in danger from the U.S. government just for expressing their political views.

But just over the last week, we’ve seen immigration agents arrest and detain a lawful permanent resident at Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, for the crime of speaking out for Palestinian rights, and then return to campus to search students’ dorm rooms.

This comes after Trump threatened to punish any university that permits “illegal” protests and then began slashing funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health that research universities rely on.

Make no mistake: This has nothing to do with “government efficiency,” “law and order,” ending “DEI,” or anything like that. This about Donald Trump making himself an all-powerful dictator one step at a time.

The American people don’t want this, but if they aren’t adequately warned about the wildly illegal and unconstitutional coup d’etat that we’re facing, then Trump may actually succeed in his goal of dismantling American democracy.

That’s where Inequality Media Civic Action comes in. We’re sounding the alarm to our millions of followers across social media, and it’s working.

Our shares, views, and engagement have surged since the election, allowing us to reach millions of people beyond our core audience and break through to the broad American public to share what’s really happening to our economy and democracy. On YouTube alone, the “watch time” for our videos is up a remarkable 10x from one year ago. Now we need to ramp it up, because the truth is that we might not have much time left to stop them.

That’s why I’m asking you today: Will you make a donation to help educate the public, connect the dots for people, and help stop Trump’s assault on our democracy?

Thank you,

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action