Happy New Year Indivisibles, 

The Newsletter is back after a short holiday hiatus. We wonder if we missed anything…

That is Rep. Mike Rogers being restrained as he lunges at Rep. Matt Gaetz following Gaetz’s refusal to vote for Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House late Friday night. 

If that looks unhinged to you, we’d have to agree. 

In the longest Speaker election since 1856, House Republicans took three days and 15 rounds of voting to finally confirm McCarthy to the post, a sign of the dysfunctional train wreck we can expect from this new GOP majority over the next two years. In order to wrangle the votes he needed, McCarthy granted concessions to the extreme MAGA ranks of the House Freedom Caucus, giving the worst people in Congress outsized power over the chamber. 

Here’s what we know about the MAGA majority: 

• They’re planning to hold the U.S. government and global economy hostage in efforts to slash programs like Medicare and Social Security.
• They want to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics to make it easier for their members to break the rules. 
• They are committed to finding more ways to restrict abortion rights. 
• They’ll continue attacking trans youth simply for existing.

There’s definitely some schadenfreude in watching House Republicans crumble under the weight of the extremism they cultivated. In a perfect example of their responsibility for this chaos, the Speaker vote occurred on the two year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection. The same lawmakers who fostered the insurrection are now staging power plays on the House floor subverting their own leadership and gaining more control as a result. Republicans deserve every bit of this dysfunction; and as we’ve always known, they have no vision to lead the American people. But the impact of this instability will fall on the American people nonetheless.

We may not know the full extent of McCarthy’s concessions, we may not know the totality of House Republicans’ plans for this session of Congress, but we have a good idea about what’s coming. And we know that we need to be prepared to fight back. 

Now is the time to get ready. 

With that, here are your weekly to-dos:

 Your 4 weekly to-dos 

1. Read the new 2023 Indivisible Guide. If you want to prepare for how to respond to our extremist House, this is the place to start. Catch up on where we stand in the new year, explore our game plan for the current Congress, and find out how to get involved. Our wins over the last six years have been because we were coordinated, energized, and informed; let’s make sure we go into 2023 with that same foundation in place to fuel more wins. 
2. Register for the Deep Dive on the New Guide: Our 2023 Indivisible Guide Launch Call this Thursday, January 12 at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Join Indivisibles from across the country as our team breaks down the main focuses of the Guide, walks us through activation strategies that can be applied locally in 2023, and creates a community space to reconvene and launch into a new year.
3. Sign up for the Indivisible Truth Brigade. Propaganda, false characterizations, intentionally misleading messages, and outright lies threaten our democracy and even our lives. People believe sources they trust! Sign up to learn how to fight disinformation in a way that drives change and protects our communities from the threat of extremism.
4. Do you live in a rural area? Click here to join our National Rural Program. We have resources and calls specifically for our rural Indivisibles where you can learn more about strategies and issues specific to Indivisibles living in rural areas. If you want an idea of what that looks like, check out our agenda and notes from previous meetings. 

P.S. We rely on your support to keep call pages up and running, fund ads to get the word out, and continue all the work we’re doing this year. If you’re able, click here to donate to help fund our work.

 New Year, New Commitments 

With the election of a new Congress and the arrival of 2023, we hope you’re finding yourselves rested and rejuvenated (we know we needed the vacation). 

To kick off the new year, we want to ensure we are sustaining this movement by spreading its reach and activating more of your friends and neighbors to join in the fight. Indivisible’s strength, reflected in our name, is in people choosing to come together for the betterment of their community. Through those numbers, we are able to achieve a groundswell of support for actions and take the time to individually rest and recover because there are always more Indivisibles ready to take up the fight. 

In the spirit of new beginnings and growth, here’s what we are asking:

• Take the Indivisible New Years Pledge to join, reconnect with, or invite others to get involved with your local Indivisible group. Indivisible groups are at the heart of this movement. Their phone calls, rallies, canvasses, bird-dogging, letters to the editor, and more made the victories of 2022 possible. This work will continue to be crucial as we confront the challenges of a split Congress, and we want you to be a part of it.
• Invite a friend to join Indivisible. This movement is shaped by the people, for the people. Without your voices, without your energy, we are just a couple of political wonks with opinions. You make this happen. Help us bring more people into the conversation. 
• Share this link to invite a friend sign up for these emails.
• Encourage them to find their local Indivisible group here.
• Show them the Introduction to Indivisible video (you can also play this at your group meetings).

There is no better feeling than getting the chance to take an action to help change the world with a friend at your side. Invite them today. Try it out. We bet you’ll agree.

 IndivisiWin of the Week 

Indivisible TX-24 and Indivisible Grapevine Area hosted an #OurFreedomsOurVote forum with a focus on saving the soul of democracy via public education. Bonus: Watch the live stream here!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram 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.

A new Guide means new tactics for a new session. One thing that never changes is our commitment to this movement! Thank you for all that you bring! We’re so happy to fight alongside you.

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team