Choosing Democracy: Boycott; Feb.28, 2025.

Choosing Democracy: Boycott; Feb.28, 2025.: Boycotts can be a powerful tool to make companies stop doing bad things. Boycotts are people power. Let us know if you’re part of that power...

House Republicans Take Food, Health Care and More Away from Children and the Elderly

 

.org Last night, every House Republican -- with only one exception -- voted for a budget framework that would gut Medicaid and other life-or-death programs in order to fund tax cuts for the rich. The sole no vote wasn’t some profile in courage, if you were wondering. It was a guy who thought the bill should have taken more money from hungry kids and struggling families.  But this fight is far from over. Last night’s vote was a nonbinding “concept of a plan.” It was written to be as vague as possible, so Republicans could cast their vote and then look constituents in the eye and say “no, I didn’t vote to take away your health insurance! I’d never do that!”  The hard part for Republicans comes next -- because now they have to write a bill that fulfills last night’s promise to cut $2 trillion from the budget. And spoiler: That can only be done by taking away their constituents’ healthcare and a lot of other stuff they depend on. It’s going to be very unpopular. It’s going to make constituents very angry. And it’s going to cost people their lives.  Let’s talk about what comes next, how we fight this bill, and how we make Republicans pay a steep political price for putting billionaires ahead of their constituents.  What’s next? In a word: Chaos.  Just because House Republicans agreed on a budget framework yesterday does not mean they are aligned on the next steps forward. Senate Republicans have their own, VERY different plan that would separate government spending and tax cuts into two different bills. The House wants to do everything -- massive cuts to Medicaid, education, food assistance to kids, and ungodly tax cuts for billionaires -- all in one bill. You might be thinking, “they’ll just do whatever Trump says, right?” Well, Trump endorsed the House approach… and then said he needs to read both. We know Trump doesn’t actually read bills, so his decision could hinge on a tweet from Elon Musk or something he hears tomorrow on Fox and Friends.  One bill or two, the real challenge here is getting House and Senate Republicans to agree on how to go about cutting trillions from the budget. Oh, they love the idea in theory. Spending cuts are even popular with voters… in theory. But things change when it actually comes time to name the programs that are going to be gutted.  To come anywhere close to the kind of cuts Republicans are talking about, Medicaid would have to be slashed by about $800 billion over the next decade. Quick facts: 72 million Americans rely on Medicaid.  41% of births in the US are paid for by the program.  Medicaid is the primary payer for nursing home care (something felt not just by those requiring the care, but their adult children as well)  One estimate suggests 36 million people could lose their healthcare coverage as a result of the bill.  That’s just the cuts to Medicaid. A lot of other popular programs would need to be hollowed out or completely terminated to reach the $2 trillion mark. Here’s a chart showing how cuts to SNAP (food assistance) would impact potential voters in districts where Republicans will face tight reelections next year: Source: Vote Save America Negotiations are going to drag on for months. Republicans from swing districts are going to get cold feet on the Medicaid cuts (some have already been spooked into public statements). Meanwhile, the most hardline conservatives are going to threaten to pull support if the budget isn’t slashed enough to offset the billionaire tax cuts Trump cares about above all else. It’s going to be a mess.  And that means we’ve got months to turn up the heat on Republicans and make them spend each and every day talking about why they are gutting programs for poor and working people to fund tax cuts for the rich. Delicious bonus? A congressional recess is coming. Every representative and senator is going to be back in their state or district coming face to face with pissed off voters (you).  What you can do  If we do our job right, the next few months are going to resemble the fight to save the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2017. Back then, Republicans had a much bigger margin in the House. They had a slightly smaller majority in the Senate. And they were trying to take away people’s healthcare using a similar legislative process -- reconciliation -- that would allow them to bypass the filibuster and pass their repeal bill with only 50 votes (an explainer on reconciliation can be found here).  We had Republicans’ phones ringing off the hooks. Constituents were so angry that the GOP simply stopped having town halls so they could avoid being yelled at -- but people found ways to confront them in their offices, at airports, and outside fundraisers. We also put together tons of events to make Members of Congress look really bad for being afraid to face their constituents. In the end, we won.  If anything, this bill is going to be even more unpopular than the effort to repeal the ACA. If passed, it’d hurt more people. And it’s being paired with incredibly unpopular tax cuts for billionaires. The politics are AWFUL. People are going to be fearful and angry. It’s up to us to harness that energy and convince a handful of Republican representatives (the math will depend on upcoming special elections) and/or four Republican senators to vote no -- or to make the politics SO toxic that Republicans are forced to rework the budget framework completely. If you are represented by Republicans in the House and/or Senate We’ve set up tools to help you easily contact your elected officials in opposition to this budget proposal.  Call your Republican Senator >>  Email your Republican Senator >> Call your Republican Representative >> Email your Republican Representative >>  But calls are just the start. Defeating this bill is going to take in-person action -- office visits, protests, and more. In the next two days, we’ll be reaching out with plans for how we’re going to use the next Congressional recess (March 15-23) to plan events in all 50 states, and with your help, every congressional district. If you are represented by Democrats in the House and/or Senate We’ve been saying for weeks that Democrats aren’t showing up to fight in the way this moment requires. But credit where credit is due: Last night Dems showed up. Literally. Rep. Brittany Pettersen (CO-7) cut short her maternity leave and flew across the country -- with her newborn baby -- to cast a no vote. Rep. Kevin Mullin (CA-15) went straight from the hospital where he was being treated for surgery complications to the airport so he could vote no. If a few shameless Republicans hadn’t flipped at the last minute, their heroic efforts would have blocked the resolution.  Dems are speaking with one voice:  Now, we need to ensure they speak loudly. We anticipate that Republicans are going to hide from voters during the next Congressional recess, so Dems have a chance to fill the void by hosting townhalls in their districts AND nearby GOP districts to raise the alarm about this bill. We’ll be talking a lot more about this in the coming days, but for now you can use our email tool to urge your Democratic Member(s) of Congress to schedule town halls during the recess >> If you’re in DC We don’t have a call to action for you yet. But we can guarantee some big protests on this around the Capitol as we get close to a vote. We’ll be creating social media toolkits you can share outlining the harm the bill causes. And there’s a good chance we’ll be setting up phonebanks so you can reach out to voters in Republican districts and urge them to make calls/attend events to put pressure on target reps and senators.  One more thing: Government funding runs out in 16 days We waited until the end for this, because it gets a little confusing. Everything we discussed above relates to funding beginning in fiscal year 2026, which starts on October 1 of this year. But Congress hasn’t actually funded the government for the rest of fiscal year 2025 yet -- meaning you’ll hear increasing chatter about a potential shutdown in the coming weeks, and the two fights could easily become conflated. We’ll try to simplify:  March 14 deadline: If you hear discussion about a possible shutdown or ‘funding the government’ over the next few weeks, people are likely talking about fiscal year 2025 funding. This funding bill will need to be passed by regular procedure, which means if Republicans try to slip in anti-immigrant provisions or massive cuts, Senate Democrats can use the filibuster and stop it. Because the bill will require Democratic votes, Dems have a TON of leverage in these negotiations, which they can use to force restrictions on Elon Musks’s lawless raiding of the government. We have email and call tools urging Dems to use this leverage here.  Republican Budget: Anything you hear about the Republican budget negotiations, reconciliation bill, Trump Tax scam, Medicaid cuts, funding for Trump’s agenda, etc. is referring to the BIG fight we covered in this email. Those spending/tax provisions would go into effect for fiscal year 2026 or later.  We’re sure this will give rise to some confusion, so don’t hesitate to reach out with questions. Great place for Qs? Our weekly Zoom chats. We’ve got one tomorrow, Thursday at 3pm, and you can sign up here.  Watch this space  Last night, President Elon Musk allowed Trump to make a joint address to Congress and the nation, and reinforced what we already knew: Trump is a corrupt megalomaniac who is running our country to the ground. He celebrated mass firings in the federal workforce and pledged to destroy agencies that keep our country safe. He spread outrageous lies about Social Security and the war in Ukraine. He continued his hateful tirades targeting immigrants and trans people. And without any trace of irony, he declared that "The days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over," while Musk looked on from the galley.  And Republicans in Congress cheered him on at every opportunity. They have abandoned their responsibility to uphold our constitution and serve their constituents because they’re all in on the Trump-Musk agenda: looting the government for the ultra-rich and making working families pay the price.  The only moments of hope throughout Trump’s speech were from Democrats who fearlessly disrupted business as usual. From Rep. Melanie Stansbury to Rep. Al Green to all those who joined mass walkouts during the speech, these leaders refused to let his authoritarian agenda go unchallenged.   Their courage must inspire us now. Congress is heading home for recess next week, from March 15 through March 23, and Republicans are already announcing they’ll be hiding from constituents. Our goals: Make every Republican own their complicity and demand accountability, and support every Democrat committed to fighting against the Trump-Musk coup. Our Musk or Us March Recess toolkit provides everything you need to call on every Democrat and Republican to host an in-person town hall while they’re home for recess -- or organize an empty chair town hall if they’re too cowardly to face their own constituents.  How to plan your March recess event: 📞 Find out if your Member of Congress (MoC) is holding a town hall. Check their website, sign up for their newsletter, follow their social media, and check our Mobilize map -- see if they have advertised a town hall anywhere. If you find one, let us know here. If not, call their office and demand they host one.  Call Senate Republicans -- If they’re gutting Medicaid and Social Security, they should say it to your face. Call House Republicans -- They’re looting the government for billionaires. Make them explain why. Call Senate Democrats -- They must hold the line against extreme MAGA cuts and demand real guardrails to protect against the Trump-Musk coup. Call House Democrats -- They need to hear from us. No deals. No blank checks. No business as usual. 🪑 If they refuse, hold an empty chair town hall. If we don’t hear from our Republican MoCs, we’ll make sure they hear from us. Empty chair town halls are opportunities to publicize how craven they are at a time when they are attempting to gut Medicaid to line the pockets of their billionaire friends. You can even invite a Democratic MoC from a nearby district to participate. Need inspiration? Indivisibles in Minnesota just held a packed empty chair town hall for their missing Republican Rep. Emmer, with hundreds in attendance.    📜 Check out our recess demands. Familiarize yourself with what we hope to get out of a town hall right now, sample questions to ask, and what’s most important to emphasize based on whether you are represented by a Republican or a Democrat. 💻 Register your town hall or empty chair town hall on Mobilize so that people in your community can find it and join. Strategize about who will speak, who will record, and how you will share those videos afterwards. No kings. No billionaires running our government. No sitting back while Trump and Musk try to seize total control. Let’s show up, get loud, and make them answer for it. Get the Recess Toolkit >> In solidarity, Indivisible Team    Moments like these are what Indivisible was made for. This GOP framework is more incendiary than a cybertruck and will soon be even more reviled. The backlash to Trump’s presidency has already begun, but this unimaginably cruel budget is how we’re going to kick it into overdrive.  Let’s show up. Let’s organize. Let’s win.  In solidarity, Indivisible Team  Indivisible.org Indivisible Project is a locally-led, people-powered movement of thousands of local groups in red, blue, and purple states, and in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Our mission is to power and lift up a grassroots movement of local groups to defeat the Trump agenda, elect progressive leaders, and realize bold progressive policies. Grassroots donations, not foundations or large gifts, are our single largest source of funding. That means we’re accountable to, and fueled by, Indivisibles on the ground.  Chip in $7 to keep fueling our movement.  Chip in >> To give by mail, send a check to Indivisible Project, PO Box 43884, Washington, DC 20010. Indivisible Project is a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. Donations are not tax-deductible. Click here to view this email in your browser or here to forward this email to a friend.

Medicade, Medicare, and More. This Friday.

  

 

📚  THIS FRIDAY! 📚 February 28th at NOON STATEWIDE LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES FORUM Join CARA and our coalition partners to learn about key state bills and how national policy changes could impact critical state programs. Register and Request Accommodations Here: bit.ly/StatewidePriorities

Click to Register

 

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Ten Reasons for Modest Optimism in the Battle Against Trump/Facism

If you are experiencing rage and despair about what is happening in America and the world right now because of the Trump-Vance-Musk regime, you are hardly alone. A groundswell of opposition is growing — not as loud and boisterous as the resistance to Tump 1.0, but just as, if not more, committed to ending the scourge. 

https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/ten-reasons-for-optimism?

Here’s a partial summary — 10 reasons for modest optimism. 

1. Boycotts are taking hold. 

Americans are changing shopping habits in a backlash against corporations that have shifted their public policies to align with Trump.

Millions are pledging to halt discretionary spending for 24 hours on February 28 in protest against major retailers — chiefly Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy — for scaling back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in response to Trump. 

Four out of 10 Americans have already shifted their spending over the last few months to be more consistent with their moral views, according to the Harris poll. (Far more Democrats — 50 percent — are changing their spending habits compared with Republicans — 41 percent.)

Calls to boycott Tesla apparently are having an effect. After a disappointing 2024, Tesla sales declined further in January. In California, a key market for Tesla, nearly 12 percent fewer Teslas were registered in January 2025 than in January 2024. An analysis by Electrek points to even more trouble for Tesla in Europe, where Tesla sales have dropped in every market.

X users are shifting over to Bluesky at a rapid rate, even as Musk adds more advertisers to his ongoing lawsuit against those that have justifiably boycotted X after he turned it into a cesspool of lies and hate (this week, he added Lego, Nestle, Tyson Foods, and Shell). 

2. International resistance is rising. 

Canada has helped lead the way: A grassroots boycott of American products and tourism is underway there. Prime Minister Trudeau has in effect become a “wartime prime minister” as he stands up to Trump’s bullying. 

Jean Chrétien, who served as prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003, is urging Canada to join with leaders in Denmark, Panama, and Mexico, as well as with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, to fight back against Trump’s threats. 

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum is standing up to Trump. She has defended not just Mexico but also the sovereignty of Latin American countries Trump has threatened and insulted. 

In the wake of JD Vance’s offensive speech at the Munich security conference last week, European democracies are standing together — condemning his speech and making it clear they will support Ukraine and never capitulate to Putin, as Trump has done. 

3. Independent and alternative media are growing.

Trump and Musk’s “shock and awe” strategy was premised on their control of all major information outlets — not just Fox News and its right-wing imitators but the mainstream corporate media as well. 

It hasn’t worked. The New York Times has done sharp and accurate reporting on what’s happening. Even the non-editorial side of The Wall Street Journal has shown some gumption. 

The biggest news, though, is the increasing role now being played by independent and alternative media. Subscriptions have surged at Democracy Now, The American Prospect, Americans for Tax Fairness, Economic Policy Institute, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Guardian, ProPublica, Labor Notes, The Lever, Popular Information, Heather Cox Richardson, and, of course, this and other Substacks. 

As a result, although Trump and Musk continue to flood the zone with lies, Americans aren’t as readily falling for their scams. 

4. Musk’s popularity is plunging.

Elon Musk is underwater in public opinion, according to polls published Wednesday.

Surveys by Quinnipiac University and Pew Research Center — coming just after Trump and Musk were interviewed together by Fox News’ Sean Hannity, with Trump calling Musk a “great guy” who “really cares for the country” — show a growing majority of Americans holding an unfavorable view of Musk. 

In Pew’s findings, 54 percent report disliking Musk compared to 42 percent with a positive view; 36 percent report a very unfavorable view of Musk. Quinnipiac’s results show 55 percent believe Musk has too big a role in the government.

5. Musk’s Doge is losing credibility.

On Monday, DOGE listed government contracts it has canceled, claiming that they amount to some $16 billion in savings — itemized on a new “wall of receipts” on its website.

Almost half were attributed to a single $8 billion contract for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency — but that contract was for $8 million, not $8 billion. A larger total savings number published on the site, $55 billion, lacked specific documentation.

In addition, Musk and Trump say tens of millions of “dead people” may be receiving fraudulent Social Security payments from the government. The table Musk shared on social media over the weekend showed about 20 million people in the Social Security Administration’s database over the age of 100 and with no known death.

But as the agency’s inspector general found in 2023, “almost none” of them were receiving payments; most had died before the advent of electronic records.

These kinds of rudimentary errors are destroying DOGE’s credibility and causing even more to question allowing Musk’s muskrats unfettered access to personal data on Americans. 

6. The federal courts are hitting back. 

So far, at least 74 lawsuits have been filed by state attorneys general, nonprofits, and unions against the Trump regime. And at least 17 judges — including several appointed by Republicans — already have issued orders blocking or temporarily halting actions by the Trump regime. 

The blocking orders include Trump initiatives to restrict birthright citizenship, suspend or cut off domestic and foreign U.S. spending, shrink the federal workforce, oust independent agency heads, and roll back legal protections and medical care for transgender adults and youths. 

In other cases, the Trump regime has agreed to a pause to give judges time to rule, another way that legal fights are forcing a slowdown.

7. Demonstrations are on the rise. 

We haven’t seen anything like the January 2017 Women’s March, the day after Trump 1.0 began, but over the past weeks, demonstrations have been increasing across the country. Last Monday, on Presidents Day, demonstrators descended upon state capitol buildings.

In Washington, D.C., thousands gathered at the Capitol Reflecting Pool, chanting “Where is Congress?” and urging members of Congress to “Do your job!” despite nearly 40-degree temperatures and 20-mile-per-hour wind gusts.

The nationwide protests are part of the 50501 Movement, which stands for “50 protests. 50 states. 1 movement.” One of its leaders, Potus Black, urged the crowd of protesters in Washington to stand united in order to “uphold the Constitution.”

“To oppose tyranny is to stand behind democracy and remind our elected officials that we, the people, are who they’re elected to serve, not themselves. The events over the past month have been built to exhaust us, to break our wills. But we are the American people. We will not break.”

I expect that in the coming weeks and months protests will grow larger and louder — and by summer perhaps a “Summer of Democracy” will sweep the nation.

Acts of civil disobedience are also on the rise, as are resignations in protest against the regime. This week, former NFL punter Chris Kluwe was hauled out of a Huntington Beach City Council meeting after speaking out against Trump during public comments against plans to include a MAGA reference in the design of a library plaque.

As cheers erupted from the audience, Kluwe told the council, in words that should be repeated across the land:

“MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence. MAGA stands for resegregation and racism. MAGA stands for censorship and book bans. MAGA stands for firing air traffic controllers while planes are crashing. MAGA stands for firing the people overseeing our nuclear arsenal. MAGA stands for firing military veterans and those serving them at the VA, including canceling research on veteran suicide. MAGA stands for cutting funds to education, including for disabled children. MAGA is profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy and most importantly, MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement. You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that is what it is.”

When he was done speaking, Kluwe said he would “engage in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience.”

8. Stock and bond markets are trembling.

Trump has not lowered prices; in fact, inflation is rising under his control.

Trump’s wild talk of 25 percent tariffs is spooking the market. Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which measures the performance of 30 large-cap U.S. stocks, dropped by more than 1.40 percent. 

Treasury bonds also dropped after a report showed more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected — an indication the pace of layoffs could be worsening.

Transcripts of the last Fed meeting showed that officials discussed how Trump's proposed tariffs and mass deportations of migrants, as well as strong consumer spending, could push inflation higher this year.

Economic storm clouds like these should be troubling for everyone but especially for a regime that measures its success by stock and bond markets. 

9. Trump is overreaching — pretending to be “king” and abandoning Ukraine for Putin.

Trump’s threats of annexation, conquest, and “unleashing hell” have been exposed as farcical bluffs — and his displays this week of being “king” and siding with Putin have unleashed a new level of public ridicule. 

On Wednesday, following his attempt to kill a new congestion pricing program for Manhattan, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” The White House shared the quote accompanied by a computer-generated image of Trump grinning on a fake Time magazine cover while donning a golden crown.

Negative reaction was swift and overwhelming. Social media has exploded with derision. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said, “We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king.” Illinois’s Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, said, “My oath is to the Constitution of our state and our nation. We don’t have kings in America, and I won’t bend the knee to one.”

The reaction to Trump’s abandoning Ukraine and siding with Putin has been more devastating, putting congressional Republicans on the defensive. Prominent Republican senators Roger Wicker of Mississippi and John Kennedy of Louisiana criticized Putin. Bill Kristol, a former official in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, noted that “Nato and the US commitment to Europe has kept the European peace for 80 years. It’s foolish and reckless to put that at risk. And for what? To get along with Putin?”

10. The Trump-Vance-Musk “shock and awe” plan is faltering.

In all these ways and for all of these reasons, the regime’s efforts to overwhelm us are failing. 

Make no mistake: Trump, Vance, and Musk continue to be an indiscriminate wrecking ball that has already caused major destruction and will continue to weaken and isolate America. But their takeover has been slowed.

Their plan was based on doing so much, so fast that the rest of us would give in to negativity and despair. They want a dictatorship built on hopelessness and fear. 

That may have been the case initially, but we can take courage from the green shoots of rebellion now appearing across America and the world. 

As several of you have pointed out, successful resistance movements maintain hope and a positive vision of the future, no matter how dark the present.

More than 55 years ago, I participated in the resistance to the Vietnam War — a resistance that ultimately ended the war and caused a once powerful president to resign. That resistance gave us courage we didn’t even know we had. It changed American culture, inspiring songs such as “The Times They Are A Changing,” and “Blowin’ In The Wind.”

No one person led that anti-war movement. It was an amalgam of groups and leaders spanning more than six years of mobilization and organization, at all levels of society. 

The Civil Rights Movement that culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 required over 18 years of organizing, demonstrating, and mobilizing. 

The current coup is less than five weeks old, and resistance has only begun. The Trump-Vance-Musk regime will fail. Even so, the Democracy Movement now emerging will require at least a decade, if not a generation, to rebuild and strengthen what has been destroyed, and to fix the raging inequalities, injustices, and corruption that led so many to vote for Trump for a second time. 

Those of you who want the leaders of the Democratic Party to step up and be heard are right, of course. But political parties do not lead. The anti-war movement and the Civil Rights Movement didn’t depend on the Democratic Party for their successes. They depended on a mass mobilization of all of us who accepted the responsibilities of being American. 

We will prevail because we are relearning the basic truth — that we are the leaders we’ve been waiting for. 

Robert Reich, 

Choosing Democracy: Has Trump Started World War III ?

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