Important (not necessarily Good) News: What happens if Trump loses next week’s election, but refuses to concede? What happens if he deploys National Guard troops to stop the vote count? Given that Trump has refused to commit to accepting the election results, and has straight up threatened to interfere, these scenarios are very real possibilities. Casey Hogle, national development director of Indivisible, explains how to become part of Protect the Results, a mass mobilization of activists (that’s us!) who will take to the streets and demand a legitimate outcome to the election.
Good People:
Susan Labandibar
Swing Left Greater Boston
Swing Left Greater Boston is the largest grassroots all-volunteer organization in New England, with upwards of 5,000 volunteers based in Massachusetts and in Blue states across the country. It connects volunteers in Blue States with campaigns in Super States – where the most important battles are being waged for the White House, Senate, and to control the GOP’s attempts at gerrymandering. Now only a few weeks away from the election, volunteers are in overdrive, making sure Democrats win up and down the ballot. What exactly are they doing and why is Swing Left regional organizing coordinator Labandibar optimistic?
Read more Good People:
Susan Labandibar
Swing Left Greater Boston
Good People:
Marcus Bass
Advance Carolina
Marcus Bass is the executive director of Advance Carolina, a Black-Led organization that builds political and economic power in Black communities and institutions in North Carolina. This week when Kamala Harris was campaigning in Raleigh, Marcus asked her a question that gets to the heart of how many in the Black community are feeling about this election. The question was so good, the AP story on Harris’s visit led with it. For years, Marcus has worked day in and day out to “tell the story and win the battle.” Now, he’s deep in the battle for democracy and justice, and to help down ballot candidates win this election.
Good People:
Paula Martinos-Mantay
StateWide Indivisible Michigan
Paula Martinos-Mantay is a co-founder, along with Michelle Pallas, of SWIM – StateWide Indivisible Michigan. The women are nothing short of Democracy Warriors, with a single, laser-focused goal: Flipping Michigan’s GOP-dominated House of Representatives blue. To understand the importance of their work, one needs only to watch the video of armed protesters storming the Michigan State House last May, after Governor Gretchen Whitmer extended the stay-at-home order amidst a COVID surge. SWIM’s goals are within reach, with just 5 seats to flip. It’s not too late to roll up our sleeves and help these fearless Democracy Warriors.
Read more Good People:
Paula Martinos-Mantay
StateWide Indivisible Michigan
Good People:
Ronnie Cohen
Flip the West
Ronnie Cohen is executive director of Flip the West, a California-based organization working with laser focus to flip the Senate blue. Their model: Identify western states where there’s a chance of flipping a Senate seat, then mobilize volunteers from blue states to work on the campaign — texting, phone banking and sending postcards. They’re currently hosting over 30 campaign events per week to reach voters in six states: Colorado, Arizona, Montana, Iowa, Alaska, and Kansas.
Good People:
Steve Nardi
Democrats Abroad
Steve Nardi is Canada Country Chair for Democrats Abroad, a 100% volunteer, self-funded organization that encourages and helps American citizens vote in U.S. elections. To recognize the urgency of Steve’s work, consider this: The year Donald Trump won the presidency, only 5% of the 625,000+ American citizens living in Canada voted. Steve’s working 14-hour days to change that.
Good People:
Saumya
Greenhouse-in-a-Box
Saumya is a co-founder of Greenhouse-in-a-Box, an innovative farming system that helps small farmers earn a steady, reliable income, no matter what climate change throws at them – monsoons, drought, 120-degree temperatures, or insect infestation. With the Greenhouse system, farmers grow 7 times as much food using 90% less water than traditional farming. For many, this is the difference between remaining on their land or abandoning the family farm in search of poorly-paid work in cities.
12 Things You Can Do:
Tsunami 2020!
Good News from the Resistance: How’s the pandemic going for you? Here’s how it’s going for me: Each morning I spend hours reading Bad News, in search of a Good News gem. Which sets me up for afternoons of hand-wringing, outrage, and hours-long Zillow searches in Canada. Every night I plop into bed with an exaggerated sigh and ask my husband, what will become of us? (I’m never quite sure if he’s sleeping or pretend-sleeping, because he’s really tired of the question). Then, I spend a good part of the night deep in anxious thought, wondering, is the person who does my Insta-Cart shopping the same person who delivers it?; did the speeding, coughing, mask-less cyclist who passed me while I was walking the dog have COVID?; how long can RBG hang on?; can the people I’m Zooming with see the swath of grey in my hair?
I’ve worried, I’ve screamed, I’ve melted down, I’ve felt guilty each time I’ve deleted an email that asks me to make phone calls for a progressive candidate. What I have not done is act. Other than write Good News and donate to a couple campaigns, I have done little to ensure that on November 3 there will be a Tsunami of Democracy in this country. I admit it.
This all changed yesterday, when Biden announced Kamala Harris as his v.p. The news energized me, and I sprung to action. I hope you’ll join me. And if you’re way ahead of me on the action part, thank you. Keep going.
Next week I’ll be writing letters to unregistered Maine voters. The week after that I’ll be participating in a Text-a-Thon, largely because I don’t like phone banking. Can’t stand to text? No problem, you can write a letter. Have bad penmanship? No problem, you can host a virtual letter-writing party with your friends, and have them write for you. I’m struck by the many creative ways to contribute to the Tsunami. It’s time to turn anxiety into action.
The Ask: Sign up for at least one of the actions below. You can do all of them from home! Then forward this newsletter to a friend (or two or three) and ask them to join you. There’s something for everyone here. Together we can do this. Our Democracy depends on Us.
Have fun, wear a mask, and get some sleep. See you at the Text-a-Thon?
12 Things You Can Do To Ensure a 2020 Blue Tsunami
- Learn what Super States are, and why it’s important to focus our actions there
- Check out the calendar of Swing Left actions in your community (there are lots!)
- Sign up for a Virtual Activism Workshop (Aug. 16th, 25th)
- Register for Resistance Boot Camp on August 18 to help protect the right to vote
- Join the Text-a-Thon on Aug. 22 to help reach 1 million voters in battleground states
- Sign Color of Change petitions to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act & more …
- Say good-bye to Susan Collins by helping register Maine voters
- Register with Vote Forward to help send 10 million voter turnout letters in October
- Call Wisconsin voters on any Sunday afternoon
- Get in touch with your friends and family in Michigan and help them vote
- Host a Flip Pennsylvania virtual letter-writing party
- Gather your kids to make beautiful signs that will go where they’re needed
And last, but not least, join an Indivisible group, donate to close Senate races, and of course, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.
Good People:
Ariel Brown, PhD
The Emotional PPE Project
Ariel Brown is the Board President and Founder of The Emotional PPE Project, an organization that connects health care workers in need with licensed mental health professionals who can help. Ariel is also an Associate Director, Medical Science at Sage Therapeutics. She is a neuroscientist who has done research on the brain in ADHD and bipolar disorder and helped develop the first drug approved for postpartum depression. She started The Emotional PPE Project merely by asking a friend “how can I help?” and by tapping into the goodwill of her personal and professional network.
Read more Good People:
Ariel Brown, PhD
The Emotional PPE Project
Escalator to Hell
Good News from the Resistance: It’s starting to feel a lot like the months leading up to the 2018 midterms. Think back: We were still suffering from 2016 Election PTSD, and not quite sure what tricks the GOP had in their playbook to steal House seats. With nothing less than our Democracy at stake, we educated ourselves, organized, and Got Out The Vote. No down-ballot race was trivial enough for us to ignore.
The outcome? Record-setting voter turnout. Democrats won 10 million more votes than Republicans, the largest margin in a midterm election ever. Voting rose most dramatically within groups favoring Democrats – youth, Black, Asian, and Hispanic voters. Our Blue Wave was a Tsunami. Two years later, we are angrier, more motivated, and better organized. Mark my words – we’re going to boot the Occupant of the White House out with such force he’ll leave an Orange Smudge on the Oval Office carpet. Which Biden’s people happily will clean up with stockpiled Clorox Wipes. (Note to Biden: Save some Wipes for McConnell and Collins).
Trump is losing. As in, landslide. He’s been racking up losses as quickly as he bankrupted businesses.
Here’s a run-down of what he’s recently lost:
- The ability to fill an arena with pro-COVID fans.
- The skill to walk down a ramp without looking like a Blow Up Clown Punching Bag about to tip over.
- Power Republicans, who are organizing pro-Biden PACs, like 43 Alumni for Biden, Republican Voters Against Trump, The Lincoln Project, and Right Side PAC.
- Supreme Court decisions, that, despite the Grifter-in-Chief’s best efforts, expanded LGBTQ Americans’ workplace rights, allowed DACA recipients to remain in the U.S., maintained safeguards in the Clean Water Act, and upheld California’s Sanctuary Law.
- Legal decisions, that give former felons in Florida the right to vote, and green-lighted both the pyramid scheme charges against the Orange Grifter and his family, and the emoluments case, which accuses him of accepting foreign government money via his D.C. hotel.
- His campaign against Colin Kaepernick’s knee.
- The ability to ensure the candidates he endorses win.
- His battle to keep Bolton’s book off the shelves.
Most important? His disapproval ratings are over 50%, and he’s losing in every poll.
Yet, we will have to get through a few very difficult months. When you feel yourself slipping into a Trump-loathing abyss, or lacking confidence in the stellar poll numbers, try this visualization exercise. I think it will help.
Close your eyes and imagine a bloated yam topped by a mop of combed-over, pineapple-yellow hair riding an escalator in Trump Tower. Like the day It kicked off Its presidential campaign, the bloated yam is riding that escalator Down. But now, the look on Its face is pure terror, as half-way down, the elevator speeds up so fast that Its hairspray has no chance of maintaining the integrity of the heavily-shellacked pineapple comb-over. The escalator comes within inches of crashing into the marble floor (recently buffed to perfection by a poorly paid, though uncaged, undocumented worker on Its payroll). The bloated yam of combed-over, pineapple-yellow hair alternately flails Its arms and frantically grabs onto the rails, but there is nothing It can do to stop it. Some of us cringe in horror, others applaud with glee, as we watch the escalator smash through the marble floor, the bloated yam screaming, blowzy pineapple-yellow hair askew, holding on for dear life. But it keeps going, pushing full speed ahead towards the bloated yam’s final destination: Hell.
Yes, there’s more Good News from the Resistance:
- Learn why the TikTok generation is filling on-line MAGA shopping carts
- Thank Pizza to the Polls for feeding hungry voters
- Wonder if the Trump campaign will steal this idea from the Barcelona opera
- Make a deposit in this hilarious guy’s Venmo account
- Chuckle when you learn that Trump lives on Black Lives Matter Street
- Send your extra yarmulkes to these kids
- See the formerly extinct bird that’s back
- Root for these awesome Girl Scouts
- Watch Sarah Cooper
- Take Action: Check out Together for 2020 to learn what you can do to help take back the White House, Senate, and flip down-ballot candidates in competitive races across the country.
Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.
