This week, we're holding Republicans accountable for the Trump Shutdown,
standing against crypto corruption, and building No Kings Day even bigger. But
first, Ezra addresses the Portland/Chicago invasions and some welcome signs of
growing Dem defiance.

Hey folks,

There are three major stories that I want to disentangle before we get to
some action items this week:

 1. The regime’s escalation against blue cities and political opponents.
 2. The government shutdown, with Dems finally demonstrating some fight.
 3. The fast-approaching No Kings Day on October 18, which is on track to
be the largest peaceful protest in modern American history.

I think this is all one story -- the story of an expanding and maturing
defiance to an authoritarian regime. And in such a dark time, I find this
to be an encouraging story.

Trump is escalating his assault on American cities. His attempt to deploy
National Guard troops to Portland and Chicago -- and reports of
alleged [ [link removed] ]midnight kidnappings by helicopter, [ [link removed] ]ICE terrorizing US
citizens, and a [ [link removed] ]judge’s house burned down -- are unbelievably
frightening.

But they’re also a sign that Trump knows he’s rapidly losing time and
popular support. He has to rush his consolidation of power before he’s
debilitatingly unpopular. That’s what authoritarians do.

What we do is organize massive, peaceful resistance that unifies the
opposition, retakes power, and ushers in an era of accountability and
reform. And the way we do that is not just by reading political analyses
of the day, but by taking action.

We’re building a unified opposition party. Eleven months after the
election, we’re backing up real, unified opposition to the regime!

I’ve seen Dem leaders grow in three stages -- from trying to “find common
ground” with a fascist, to performative half-hearted resistance to bolster
fundraising appeals, to (finally) the organized opposition we’re seeing
with the shutdown today. It’s not everything, but damn if that’s not
progress.

Some Dems, like JB Pritzker, were strong and defiant from the start.
Others, like Gavin Newsom, have gradually evolved from the feckless
“common ground” approach to Big Defiance. I enthusiastically welcome
anybody to the Big Defiance tent with us. And enough of the Dem coalition
has made that leap that we now find ourselves actually contesting for
power at the national level, so we have to do our part to support it.

The strategic value of No Kings on October 18. In all my conversations
with congressional Dems about the Trump Shutdown, I make two things clear:

 1. We are backing them up. There is a time for debating strategy, and
there is a time for executing the strategy. We are in execution mode. 
 2. The cavalry is coming on October 18. We now have more than 2,200
events on the calendar -- even more than we had for the first No Kings
Day in June.

No Kings is both a carrot and a stick. We can credibly promise that there
will be millions of people in the streets celebrating Dems for defiantly
taking on the regime. We can also credibly promise that if Democrats
surrender again, millions of people will be out in the streets calling for
new Dem leadership. 

I’ll tell you based on all of my private conversations: it’s working. The
difference between [ [link removed] ]Dems surrendering in March and fighting back now is
us.

I want to give you one more framework for our organizing work from the
anti-authoritarian experts that I’ve found both helpful and reassuring.
It’s this:

A defining feature of an emerging authoritarian regime is that it makes
the opposition feel like shit on a daily basis. Every day, there is some
new atrocity committed; some new institution attacked; some new democratic
norm demolished. Some of it -- much of it -- we have little ability to
stop in the moment. 

But that’s not how to measure the health of an anti-authoritarian
movement. Instead, we should measure it this way:

* Are we more unified than we were before?
* Are we bigger than we were before?
* Are our tactics proliferating? 
* Is the regime’s popularity falling?

Every single month since the election last November, I’ve answered yes to
each of those measures of movement health. Let’s keep it up with this
week’s action items.

In solidarity,
Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible

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Your weekly to-dos

 1. [ [link removed] ]Choose a No Kings protest to make October 18 a massive and historic
day of defiance. We now have even more events planned for October than
we did in June -- putting us on track for the biggest day of political
protest in modern American history! Make your plan to join today, and
then invite a few folks to join you.
 4. [ [link removed] ]Call your GOP senators to demand a bipartisan spending deal -- and
remind them they own this TRUMP SHUTDOWN! Republicans are still
refusing to support a common-sense deal that stops MAGA healthcare
cuts. Let’s get loud to show our resolve and remind the GOP it’s on
them to reopen the government.
 5. [ [link removed] ]Volunteer for a virtual phonebank to help Dems win big in Virginia
this fall. We’re making 1,000,000 calls to voters to help VA Democrats
build a vital defense against Trump’s authoritarian overreach -- a
Democratic trifecta in his own backyard! All you need is your phone
and a computer. [ [link removed] ]Join a live phonebank training here.
 6. [ [link removed] ]Take on crypto corruption at a virtual rally with Chris Murphy and
Tina Smith this Tuesday, 6:30pm ET / 3:30pm PT. The Senate may soon
take up a bill that’d enshrine crypto corruption and cement a massive
giveaway to crypto billionaires. Join senators and partners leading
this fight to expose what's happening and put a stop to it.
 7. [ [link removed] ]Join a special Friday edition of “What’s the Plan?” for the latest
on the shutdown, No Kings, and more. This week’s What’s the Plan? call
was moved from Thursday to Friday, but Leah and Ezra will still jump
online to answer your questions and host a candid conversation about
this week’s big fights.

P.S. October 18 could be the largest day of peaceful protest in modern US
history, and we’re doing the work to ensure it’s safe, successful,
powerful, and fun! That takes a pool of resources as big as the day itself
-- resources that come from folks like you. [ [link removed] ]If you can spare a
donation of any amount, please chip in to make No Kings Day historic!

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Trump Shutdown update: House Republicans are AWOL

The Trump Shutdown is stretching into its second week, and House
Republicans are missing in action. Speaker Johnson is so desperate to
shield members from questions about huge healthcare cuts and [ [link removed] ]health
insurance premium hikes that he [ [link removed] ]canceled House business so Republicans
can hide.

House Republicans are still home for recess, so we need to put them on the
spot about protecting healthcare and ending the Trump Shutdown! Many
Republicans quietly agree that something needs to be done about the
[ [link removed] ]Trump-led healthcare cost crisis, and we need to get them on record to
pressure GOP leadership into negotiating an end to the shutdown.

[ [link removed] ]Call your Republican representative to demand that they get back to
work and end the Trump Shutdown! Tell them to stop hiding and speak out
for a bipartisan funding deal.

[ [link removed] ]Call House GOP >>

Don’t have a Republican representative? You can still take action to end this
Trump Shutdown by calling your senators and speaking out in defense of
healthcare.

[ [link removed] ]Call your Republican senators to demand they stop the partisan BS and work
on a sensible funding deal, or [ [link removed] ]call your Democratic senators and encourage
them to hold the line!

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Spread contagious courage with One Million Rising

Indivisible launched [ [link removed] ]the One Million Rising initiative this summer to
train a million people in the practice of peaceful non-cooperation. That
program concludes this Wednesday, October 8, with the fourth and final
installment* of our training series -- leading directly into a NEW stage
of our fight!

For previous One Million Rising participants, this call offers key updates
on the work we’re doing together through Signs of Solidarity and the
Ground Avelo campaign before diving into new ways to plug in. And for
first-time attendees, it's an opportunity to join our efforts at an
exciting turning point!

[ [link removed] ]Digital flier for the One Million Rising call on Wednesday, October 8 --
Click to register for this event

[ [link removed] ]Register now to join One Million Rising on Wednesday, October 8, for
exciting updates and new opportunities to defy the Trump takeover in your
community.

[ [link removed] ]Join the call >>

*This call welcomes everyone, regardless of past involvement in One Million
Rising or other campaigns. If you couldn’t make our previous calls (or just want
a refresher), you can [ [link removed] ]click here to watch previous One Million Rising
training sessions.

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Expose anti-migrant lies with the Truth Brigade

Indivisible’s Truth Brigade is the nation's largest grassroots
disinformation-countering campaign, and this October, we’re combatting the
lies being used to consolidate power through fear by lying about crime and
villainizing migrants.

On [ [link removed] ]Truth Brigade’s monthly call this Wednesday, October 8, Vanessa
Cardenas of America’s Voice will join us to tackle the disinformation
being used to justify military invasions of our cities by targeting the
migrant community. We’ll lay out the truth and discuss our plans to expose
these lies for what they are.

[ [link removed] ]Digital flier for the Turth Brigade call entitled Safety, Not Scapegoats on
Wednesday, October 8 -- Click to register for this event

[ [link removed] ]Join the Truth Brigade call on Wednesday, 6:30pm ET / 3:30pm PT, to
fight the lies behind federal invasions of our cities!

[ [link removed] ]Fight the lies >>

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