Dear NRDC Activist,

President Trump incited a violent insurrection against the U.S. government last Wednesday in an attempt to remain in office by overturning the will of the people.

Dispatched by Trump himself, thousands of his faithful supporters stormed the Capitol, assaulted security personnel, and ran roughshod through the halls of Congress. The House and Senate were forced into emergency recess as members and staff scrambled to barricade doors with furniture and seek sanctuary at a nearby army base. Four rioters and a member of the U.S. Capitol Police died and dozens of others were injured.

This was more than the last flailing gasp of a defeated president. It was how tyranny is born, and no functioning democracy can tolerate it.

But Trump did not act alone. He was aided by a substantial wing of the Republican Party.

If democracy means anything, it means holding our leaders to account for what they do, or fail to do, on our behalf. We have not only the right, but the responsibility, to hold Trump — and his allies in Congress who supported him — accountable for their actions.

There are two ways to contact your members of Congress RIGHT NOW:

1. Sign our online petition urging your senators and representative to impeach Trump and begin the process of removing him from office, and hold accountable those members of Congress who enabled his attempts to subvert our democracy, defy our Constitution, and overturn the will of the people.
2. Make phone calls: Call (202) 224-3121 to be connected to your senators' and representative's offices. Not sure what to say? Use our sample script below:
   
   My name is [your name] and I'm a constituent from [your city]. I'm extremely concerned about the threats to our democracy caused by last week's violent insurrection against the government incited by President Trump and some of his supporters in Congress. This attempt to overturn the election and keep Trump in office was an attack on democracy itself. I'm calling to urge you to impeach and remove President Trump from office and hold accountable those members of Congress who enabled his attempts to subvert our democracy, defy our Constitution, and overturn the will of the people.

This despicable assault on democracy unfolded the same day, and in direct contrast to, an extraordinary victory in the state of Georgia, where progressive champions Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff were declared winners of Georgia's runoff elections for the state's two seats in the U.S. Senate — the first Black and Jewish people in Georgia's history to be elected to those positions.

This historic Georgia election outcome means that President-elect Biden will have the progressive majorities he needs in both houses of Congress to make real progress on so many of the urgent challenges we face, including the climate crisis.

We are on the precipice of a new day in Washington and for the country — but to move forward, we must repair the foundation of our democracy that Trump and his unscrupulous allies in Congress have damaged so deeply, and hold them accountable for instigating and perpetrating this insurgency.

A stable democracy that has the trust of its people is critical to effectively pursuing NRDC's agenda of action on climate change and clean energy, environmental justice and healthy communities, and protection of wildlife and the natural world.

Democracy is ever a work in progress. It is strengthened or weakened every day, not solely, or even mostly, by our leaders, but by the leadership we the people demand. Trump's actions disqualify him from further service. He's in breach of his oath to defend the Constitution. He's a danger to the republic. He's unfit to serve another minute. One way or the other, he must go, and go now.

And removing this patently unfit man from office is necessary to send a message to future presidents that there are lines that simply can't be crossed.

So it's critical that we hold Congress's feet to the fire right now and compel them to do right by the Constitution and their constituents by impeaching President Trump. Please call or email your senators and representative today.

Sincerely,

Mitch Bernard
President, NRDC