Dear Supporter,
Yesterday, armed white supremacists, incited by Donald Trump at a rally, stormed the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the counting of the electoral votes and overthrow the election.
To those who live in our Nation's Capital: We hope that you and your loved ones are safe and have taken all necessary precautions to stay safe.
This was, in plain light of day, an attempted coup. Yet these extremists were not met with the same deployed forces as our Black friends and neighbors have who have put their bodies on the line for justice. This is the horrifying reality of our status quo: militarized police are encouraged to use violent tactics against people of color, but when white supremacists threaten our democracy, their violence goes unchecked.
The fact is that armed white supremacists were able to violently invade both floors of the House of Representatives and the Senate. They looted and vandalized the United States Capitol. Police deployed tear gas. Guns were drawn. Shots were fired. People died. All due to Donald Trump's ruthless, selfish attempt to steal power away from American people.
White supremacists who created this violence did so in service of a failed president who decisively lost the election. They sought to undo the will of the people, aided and encouraged by the President of the United States and Congressional Republicans.
Our representatives have the responsibility to remove Trump from office immediately -- the fate of our democracy and freedoms depends on it. Call your members of Congress and Senators today: Dial 1-855-980-2275 to be connected to the in-state office of your representative, and 1-855-982-2515 to be connected to your senators and demand action to remove or impeach him swiftly.
Demanding Trump's removal is only the first step to recover from yesterday. This insurrection is the culmination of Trumpism and his instigators' lies, racism, and hatred, and grew from the same denial of reality and greed at all costs which has kept him in power.
Accountability means immediately removing Trump from power by any government process available, expelling Republican officials who stoked the anger and suspicion that led to the attempted coup, and demanding a full investigation into the security response on January 6th that failed to keep our Nation's Capitol safe.
Today we begin making it clear for all of those who follow Trump in office that encouraging radicalized violence will result in the immediate loss of the presidency. Call your members of Congress and senators today to demand the immediate removal of Donald Trump: Dial 1-855-980-2275 to be connected to the in-state office of your representative, and 1-855-982-2515 to be connected to your senators.
I know the images from Washington are frightening, and there is much work ahead of us. We can also still hold joy in celebrating the spectacular, years-long effort of organizers in Georgia who took back the Senate. The power of the people pulled off electing Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock to be new leaders for our country -- winning their races by larger margins than Joe Biden just did in November. There is deep gratitude and grace for the historic voter turnout (again and again) in Georgia that rejected fear and hate and voted for bold, transformational change.
It's up to all of us, together, to keep pushing for a democracy that works for all, for more voices to be heard, where each and every one of us is included. Our democratic norms are only as strong as our will to defend and exercise them.
The long road ahead for repairing our country and structural democracy reform begins right now. This path starts with our elected representatives removing Trump from office immediately.
Please be safe, and thank you for all that you do. We're in this together.
Michael Brune
Executive Director
Sierra Club
P.S. To read more about how we can and must defend our democracy, please read this new article by Sierra Club's Leslie Fields who directs our Policy, Advocacy, and Legal work.
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