People eager to do something to thwart the Trump authoritarian takeover of the government may join Indivisible and other groups. At rallies, at meetings, and in one-on-one conversations, people are asking what they can do now. Indivisible National sends out weekly to-dos, and these are helpful. But often people want more ideas.

In an effort to provide those ideas, Indivisible Santa Fe (ISF) meeting attendees were asked to list some of the things that they think people can do today to push back against the Trump administration. Here are some of the suggestions attendees had, with some additional commentary. They are listed roughly in order of how much effort is required, from less to more.

Donate money to ACLU, Somos un Pueblo Unido, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, Planned Parenthood, or other progressive organizations of your choosing. This is a great thing for people to do if they have the resources. There are many worthy community organizations as well as many organizations at the state and national level to choose from. They all can use our help.

Call Governor Lujan Grisham (505) 476-2200 to encourage her to a) close detention centers in New Mexico and provide alternative job resources and employment, and b) join the Blue State Coalition. These are just two issues of importance to our Indivisible Santa Fe members. There are others that may be important to you personally. Your calls make a difference. In fact, you can call many times, you can get your friends to call, and you can organize a phone bank among ISF members to address a certain issue. The Governor needs to hear from us about what is important.

Call your members of Congress, House and Senate, and speak your mind on one of the following issues. It was suggested that the ISF newsletter could have a script for one issue each week to call about, in addition to what National suggests.

Demand the removal or impeachment of Secretary Kennedy

Tell members of Congress not to vote for Trump’s budget. Don’t help Republicans destroy the country. If Republicans cannot get enough votes to pass a budget, then they will be responsible for shutting down the government. (You may also have noticed that in the past when Republicans shut down the government, they paid little to no political price for doing so.)

Call Hakeem Jeffries’ (202) 225-5936 and Chuck Schumer’s (202) 224-6542 offices to tell them to develop a concrete plan of what to ask for when the government is shut down. There is a lot you can ask them to do, like speak out loudly every day in defense of our democracy, of Medicaid and Medicare, of medical research, of the turbocharging of ICE and its unlawful actions, of the use of the military on US soil, and so on.

Call Senator Bill Cassidy, MD (202) 224-5824 and ask him what he plans to do about Secretary Kennedy and his anti-science stance, particularly on vaccines. Cassidy was instrumental in getting Kennedy confirmed. Now he needs to help protect the country from what Kennedy is doing to it and to us.

Write letters to the editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican or other papers (e.g., Albuquerque Journal). You can voice your opinion on anything that is important to you. If you follow discussions on Signal or Element, there are lots of ideas there. Some of our members have even volunteered to write letters and have other people submit them.

If you’re not already on one, join one of the ISF committees. ISF has committees on collaboration and outreach, election integrity, immigration, economic action, New Mexico politics, the unhoused, and healthcare. To join a committee, send an email to committees@indivisiblesantafe.org

Check out your investments and move money from businesses that support ICE, environmental destruction, Epstein complicity, or have caved to Trump’s demands in some way. When you talk to your investment advisor, tell them why you are moving your money.

Sign up with the Santa Fe County Democratic Party (505) 316-4585 to become a Voter Registration Agent and go out to register voters. You can canvass neighborhoods or you can set up a table at some event. You can also help with Get Out the Vote drives during the election.

Organize a protest line in some part of the city. This means getting together a few people with signs, spread out along the sidewalk so passing cars can read them. As an example, it was suggested to have signs with messages such as the following (perhaps accompanied by a message such as United for democracy & against Trump):

This is what fascism looks like

Voter suppression

Accusing others of Crimes You Commit

Appointing Incompetent Loyalists

Illegal Detention Without Due Process

Rewriting History

Fear Mongering to Gain Power

Pardoning Loyalists

Racially Profiling Immigrants

Using the Military Against Citizens

Threatening Political Opponents

Learn more about the corporate pillars that help prop up the Trump administration. Come to a meeting or ask around to see who is already doing research on this; for instance, the ISF economic committee is compiling a lot of information on corporate pillars, and someone is gathering significant information about CSI Aviation, which is a contractor that runs deportation flights. Who are the executives? Where does the business operate? Where are its headquarters? What subsidiaries does it have? Is anyone else organizing against it? The more we know, the more we can do. Once you learn something about these companies, find out what local, state, and federal politicians receive donations from them. Then call those politicians and tell them you are opposed to this funding. Tell them to return the donations.

Volunteer at local organization, especially to help vulnerable groups: LGBTQ (Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance), Immigrants (Somos, Innovation Law Lab , New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, Volunteers for Immigrants in Detention – Albuquerque [VIDA]), mentally ill (NAMI) and others.

These are just a few suggestions. Come to our meetings or join an ISF committee on an issue of importance to you. You will find lots of things to do, and allies who will help you. Together we can successfully resist this regime.