National purpose with local action
Next meeting: Monday June 30, 2025 @7pm
Christ Lutheran Church
1701 Arroyo Chamiso Road, Santa Fe
Heidi Li Feldman
Join the fight! ✊ Trump's sudden, unconstitutional attack on Iran is driven by weakness, not strength, and lacks public support - only 16% of Americans support military involvement - but the regime's desperation and authoritarian approach is a clear and present danger to democracy. The good news is that pushing back is showing signs of success. With public opinion on our side and a growing resistance, we have the power to limit the damage and stop some of Trump's worst actions.
The dictatorship is here. The constitutional crisis is here. But the Summer of Democracy is here. Show up! Make your voice heard! Don't let the regime's flood the zone strategy work!
Heidi Li Feldman
People trying to restrict our rights often get equity confused with equality, using reductive arguments against equality to attack the human kindness of equity. This article helps clarify the important distinctions.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
One way to make your voice heard is to participate in the Declaration of Independence Project
Donovan Kolbly
Remember, Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Guest post
Upcoming Events
The future of the DACA program is in jeopardy. On June 29, hear from dreamers and young adults impacted by the challenges:
Gary Kowalski
The Pace e Bene group is starting their Activate! training program for non-violence activism on July 3rd - it's free and will run the first four Thursdays in July from 2-3:30pm MT.
Also, Indivisible national's Solidarity in Action: Training for Systemic Change and Allyship series starts today (Tuesday) at 2PM MT. Register for the online kick-off here.
Donovan Kolbly
Donovan Kolbly
Bruce Berlin
In the News
... the point of these arrests is almost certainly not an attempt to see justice done. They continue the longstanding Republican policy of seeding the media with a false narrative of bad behavior by their opponents [...] in order to convince voters that their opponents are dangerous to America.
-- Heather Cox Richardson
Heather Cox Richardson
And, of course, Trump's continued fraying of the constitutional order is flooding the zone so much that it's hard to keep track of what the latest assault is. In this case, it's the launching of a war against Iran.
Norman Eisen
And something lighter...
Christopher Weyant
Happening Around New Mexico
Check out the web calendar of grass-roots events from around New Mexico. Filter by Santa Fe or your area of interest!
Anti-trans Bus Tour
The so-called "Independent Women's Forum" has been putting on a bus tour against trans women. They stopped in Santa Fe and got a taste of protest.
The IWF was going to be at the Farmers' Market, but that appearance was cancelled because IWF was not candid about the purpose of the bus tour. Instead, the Inn at Loretto hosted the tour; feel free to give them a call at (505) 212-9142 and let them know their choice has consequences. Remember, politics is local and this kind of subversive culture war is how they try to control the narrative.
Here's the sort of thing you might say:
Hello,
I live in Santa Fe. When I am asked for recommendations for places to stay, I will be sure to tell people that the Inn at Loretto sponsored an anti-trans bus tour.
The bus tour was collecting signatures:
we provided some:
Stay in touch with us
💰 Indivisible National 🇺🇸 was matching donations in June, adding at least $500 to our resources that we can use to keep up the fight for democracy from our base in Santa Fe!
Check out our resources page with lots of links to useful information!
We are still developing our social media accounts, reaching significant audiences through them. We're currently focused primarily Bluesky and Facebook. You can help out with this effort by following us and liking and re-posting our messages. Help us get the word out and expand our digital presence!
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Indivisible National
(published June 23, 2025)
This week, Ezra explains why Trump’s war in Iran is far more preventable than the Bush wars in Iraq ever were. We also have two powerful ways to oppose the war, an update on the GOP megabill, and important mass calls coming up! |
We do not have to accept a repeat of the 2002-2003 drumbeat for the war with Iraq.
As a high school student in Texas, that was my political awakening; I argued with classmates against the war and remember school walkouts across the country. I also remember this sense of dread and inevitability -- the war made no sense and also nothing was going to stop it.
Since Trump’s attack on Iran, I’ve heard a lot of comparisons to that time period, but I don’t think the analogy holds. War today isn’t inevitable, and Trump isn’t operating from a place of political strength -- but from a place of weakness, stupidity, and desperation.
Let’s get the historical analogy straight.
2025 is not 2003. GW Bush wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box, but he had enormous political capital following September 11th -- and his team did the work to sell their war.
For months, Bush appointees made up lies about weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). He tapped respected military leaders to sell the war to the public and on the international stage. He brought along a pliable press that propagandized for the war. And he pushed for and won congressional authorization of military force with significant Democratic support months before the war.
The warmongering public relations campaign paid off. Mainstream news outlets amplified GWB’s lies about WMDs. By the time he launched his invasion, Gallup found 72% of the public supported the war. School walkouts be damned.
Drumbeat? What drumbeat? That cynically and effectively executed build-up to the war with Iraq bears almost no resemblance to the events that led to Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional war against Iran this weekend.
The facts are damning. Trump launched an illegal, unconstitutional attack on a country that was not an imminent threat to Americans. It’s a reckless, criminal move that puts lives in danger, including Americans abroad and innocent people in Iran.
Trump did not seek to build support for any of this. He campaigned promising no war with Iran. He spent months pushing back against US involvement with Iran. His own Director of National Intelligence testified to Congress that Iran was nowhere near getting a nuclear weapon. There was no congressionally authorized use of military force. There was no campaign to bring onboard the media, international community, or the American public.
There was no drumbeat or crescendo -- just a sudden, loud, publicly out-of-touch boom.
And public opinion reflects that. As of this month, just 16% of Americans support the US military getting involved in Iran. And the American people are right -- this war only serves to make Iranians, Israelis, and all of us less safe.
True to form, that doesn’t stop Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu -- would-be authoritarians who seek to use war to cement their own hold on power. In peacetime, Trump nationalized the state guard in California and called out Marines on peaceful protestors in LA. Neoconservative Robert Kagan wrote in the Atlantic what anybody paying attention to Trump’s vicious anti-democratic escalations already knows: Trump will "use a state of war to strengthen his dictatorial control at home."
Trump is a weak leader, and we can push back a weak leader. Trump’s popularity is falling, public backlash is rising, and just last week his birthday parade was overshadowed by the historically enormous No Kings Day protests.
Trump may think starting a war makes him look strong -- but he’s wrong. It's the behavior of a wannabe monarch, not a president of a constitutional democracy. But two things are true: Yes Trump is a wannabe monarch, but he’s also an unpopular, lame duck president who feels threatened by organized people power. So he’s lashing out.
Trump is an incompetent leader with a crumbling powerbase. He’s trying to drag us into war while he slashes Medicaid, supercharges ICE deportation forces across the country, and cuts taxes for billionaires.
He doesn’t have public support for any of this. As terrifying as his actions are, he does not hold all the power here. The people can organize effectively against his illegal, unconstitutional, and unpopular actions. We can stop some of it, and limit the damage of what we can’t stop. And given the stakes right now, it’s never been more important to do so.
So please read on to this week’s action items for how you can play your role in doing that this week.
In solidarity,Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director
Indivisible
Your weekly to-dos
- Email all your Members of Congress to demand that they oppose war in Iran and support a War Powers Resolution. Donald Trump unilaterally and unlawfully launched a military strike that could ignite a full-scale regional war, jeopardizing American lives and freedom. Congress must assert its authority to stop another forever war.
- Join the Healthcare Not Warfare rapid response call tomorrow, June 24, at 8pm ET / 5pm PT to join the campaign to stop war with Iran. We’re joining a coalition of grassroots organizations and activists to plan a massive, unified push to stop the war in Iran. Tomorrow’s mass call will outline the situation, the stakes, and how to take action alongside us.
- Blue State Indivisibles: Call on your AG to fight hard against ICE overreach in your state. Donald Trump keeps doubling down on calls for ICE to aggressively target blue states and big cities. State Attorneys General have real power to fight back, and we need to keep pressure on them to use every tool at their disposal to hold ICE in check.
- Red and Purple State Indivisibles: Call your GOP senators to demand they vote no on the bill to cut SNAP and Medicaid. The Senate’s vote on the billionaire-enriching GOP reconciliation bill could come this week, and we only need three Republicans to oppose its massively unpopular SNAP and Medicaid cuts to stop it. Now is the time to ensure your senators hear you!
- Join our “What’s the Plan?” call this Thursday to hear Leah and Ezra answer your questions about Iran, ICE, and our next steps. Every Thursday at 3pm ET (12pm PT), our co-founders jump online to break down the news of the week, highlight our work, and answer your questions directly! Come be part of a free-flowing, interactive chat about what’s next in our fight for democracy.
P.S. It’s a key week in our fight to stop the Republican Tax Scam, and we’ve rolled out billboards, phonebanks, door knocking, digital programs, and more! Grassroots giving has helped us add dozens of additional billboards and expand our efforts in huge ways, so if you can spare it, please rush in a donation today to fund billboards and nationwide organizing to stop the Medicaid-killing MAGA agenda.
This week's update on the Republican Tax Scam
The Senate could vote on its overhauled reconciliation bill by the end of this week, sending a significantly changed version back to the House for additional votes. Our goal remains disrupting that vote as long as we can -- because the longer we delay it, the more we can toxify it and the harder it becomes to pass.
Here’s what you need to know heading into this week:
- Every change the Senate makes needs to be approved by the House, and that’ll be the hardest part for Republicans. Senate changes to Medicaid funding, state/local taxes, and SNAP cuts are already imperiling the megabill in the House, and more big changes are bound to happen if the Senate vote is long and messy (our goal).
- The Senate parliamentarian cut key MAGA policies -- including the sneak-attack on our courts and a crucial SNAP plan. Last week’s “Byrd droppings” derailed an attempt to shield Trump from court oversight and, just as importantly, a ploy to cut federal food assistance that's key to passing the House. But there’s no guarantee the GOP won’t try to overrule the parliamentarian, so we need to keep pressure on key senators to ensure they follow their own rules.
- In many ways, the Senate made a really bad bill even worse. It includes a plot to sell off 250 million acres of public land, retains a ban on efforts to regulate AI, and makes changes to Medicaid funding that have hospitals nationwide warning of cuts and closures. When people hear pretty much anything about this bill, they despise it.
We’re dialing up (pun intended) pressure on key Senate Republicans all week by helping thousands upon thousands of their constituents place calls to their offices in opposition to SNAP and Medicaid cuts. You can help us supercharge that effort.
If you’re interested in other opportunities to phonebank, you can also join our phonebanks this Wednesday and Thursday at 11am ET / 8am PT, or you can sign up for our monthly phonebank training to get ready to make calls with us in July!
NEW Speaker Series: Solidarity in Action
As authoritarianism rises in America and across the globe, marginalized communities are being targeted at an alarming rate and pushed onto the front lines of the fight. This moment calls for solidarity.
That’s why Indivisible is launching a NEW speaker series to build sustainable, effective strategies for community support and advocacy. If you want to be a more effective ally to the communities authoritarianism harms most, our upcoming Solidarity in Action speaker series for you!
It all starts this Tuesday, June 24, when NYT bestselling author Heather McGhee and Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg team up for the series kick-off session: Training for Systemic Change and Allyship.
IndivisiWIN of the week
Republican Representative Andrew Garbarino (NY-02) didn’t vote for the House reconciliation bill, but it wasn’t because he opposed cutting Medicaid or handing billionaires even more tax breaks. Andrew Garbarino didn’t vote because he supposedly fell asleep.
Last week, Long Island Indivisibles delivered him a much needed wakeup call, when their “pajama party” gathered roughly forty PJ-wearing constituents outside his office! Attendees pinned notes about the bill’s harmful policies to their pillows, handed out coffee, and staged a sleep-in to draw attention from passersby.
The eye-opening mobilization made local news broadcasts – and created a lively spectacle that even Andrew Garbarino couldn’t snooze through!
Follow Indivisible national on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads 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.
