5/22/25 Indivisible "What's the Plan" Weekly Zoom

Today was the Indivisible "What's The Plan" meeting where the founders Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg answer questions about big fears, ideas and the calls to action surrounding them.

So, of course, I have your summary. I hope you get something out of it and share it with anyone else you think might as well!

That said, I don't know how much longer I'll do these for. They use a democratic system so the top liked questions get answered, but a lot of those are ideas, not questions. In fact, most comments today were just asking Ezra and Leah what they thought of various ideas, and if they would amplify them. Their answer every single time is that these cool ideas are great. Try them and see if it works, and if they do, let the national movement know, but it has to start locally.

So let's get those out of the way first. Cause they did a bit of answer the question you wished was asked.

1. Creative Protest Ideas

   1. Can we have new chants? This person is bored with "This is what democracy looks like"

      Noted, but, as you'll hear throughout this post, go to your local community, create some, try them at your next protest, see what works and report back.

   2. Let's bring 🇺🇸 to the No Kings Protest!

      YES! That's literally the whole point, it's Flag Day, If you can stomach being patriotic, that's the day to do so. If you can't that's totally fine too, but it is, in part, about taking back patriotism from the right. It's not just the logical thing to do that Day, it's also strategic.

   3. Can we coordinate on social media to post about everyone but DT on No Kings Day?

      I mean, you can, but our goal is to have the focus be on the protests themselves. The most successful outcome will be every article about DT's bday bs also including our protests

   4. What about sustained protests at the Heritage Foundation, vet town halls, visits to Republican offices weekly, and going after DT's cronies?

      Yes, these were all one question. First off, most of that is already happening. Usually, you don't have to reinvent the wheel, just seek out those doing it. And if it's not being done, try it locally, see what works, and report back (sensing a theme?) Though one specific note, vets are very directly involved in No Kings Day.

   5. Hands Across America?

      The biggest issue is that a straight line skips a lot of states. Maybe something zig zaggy is possible but it would take a lot of planning. That said, Chicago did Hands Across Chicagoland (Chicago and the surrounding suburbs) just last week and got a ton of press coverage for it. So, say it with me...try it locally, see if it works and report back. And it did work in Chicago, so you're not going in without dos and don'ts and can make it even better.

   6. And before we leave protests, two other points

      1. There are already 1k events planned for No Kings Day, that is 1k more than were planned at this point before Hands Off because Hands Off hadn't even been announced yet. So this is going to be HUGE

      2. There are groups keeping data on incidents of aggression at protests, ACLU being a big one, but Indivisible is not equipped for that. That said, tell your local group if something happens and they will get it to the right people.

2. Other Creative Ideas

   1. How can we reveal the danger of Steven Miller?

      Here's the deal, in some cases that might be the right thing to do, like with EM and Tesla, but we don't want to waste time explaining who Miller is to people who don't know, it's more important to focus on the harm mitigation. The question has to be, "will focusing on the personality help make the point better?" if not, there's better ways to use our time and resources.

   2. We've had so much success with the Target boycott, Tesla Takedowns and Avel(N)o! We need to do more economic pressure campaigns.

      Yes, absolutely! Leah is working with groups that focus on that, that said, Indivisible is focused on congressional pressure campaigns and is looking to more knowledgeable people on what comes next economically. That said Leah's first job was with human trafficking and doing these kinds of campaigns around that, so she is using her expertise in that way.

   3. Sure he hates us protesting but he hates celebrities speaking out even more.

      If you know big celebs personally, that's great, call them, but if not that's fine too. They are constantly making decisions trying to figure out what benefits them most, so our best way to get them to stand up is being loud and making sure they know speaking out would benefit them. We want them to think "it's good for my brand to this" and/or "I want to do this and now I feel safe doing so."

      And we have to praise those that already have, cause in 2017 a lot of celebrities spoke up, now, the ones that do are risking their careers. And we must have no reservations about praising them. Springsteen and Neil Young of course, but also The View, Disney asks them to tone down the anti DT rhetoric and they flat out refused. That MUST be praised and shouted from the rooftops. The only reason we know about this is because they said no, who knows who said yes. But courage comes from the bottom up. We have to show courage if we want them to, and that goes for celebs and electeds alike

3. The Crypto Bill

   Tonight DT is having dinner with hundreds of people who are basically paying him through venmo (that's essentially what his bit coin boils town to). There are many groups, members of congress included, who are trying to figure out who these billionaires are, so keep your eyes out and when you see it, make sure to amplify.

   Also, the Dems who voted for it should have said "We’re not going anywhere on this issue till we know directly how this effects DT." (IMO It's possible they're doing that but, they haven't been forthcoming about it and they have to be if they want us to trust them)

4. The Big Ugly Bill

   1. Accountability

      This is not the end of the road. The bill heads to the Senate, goes through the exact same process and then goes back to the House. So these Republicans have not made their final vote and they can still learn how detrimental their vote will be to their political future before they irreversibly do the wrong thing. And it's "In District Work Period" aka Recess, so they're home for the next week, find out where they're going to be and make your voices heard. There is way more power doing it in the districts than at the national level.

   2. The Senate

      The Republicans in the Senate are not aligned. But don't be fooled, every possible iteration of this bill is awful. Best case scenario is we kill the bill like we did with the ACA, and like with the reps, best way to do this is to organize locally. A protest in DC won't effect what Lisa Murkowski chooses to do for Alaska etc. Also worth noting about the ACA, it passed very quickly in the House and then it stalled in the Senate for months. We can and will make that a reality again. We have targets so keep an eye out for those.

      Dems will also be actively challenging every part of the bill that does not pass muster for reconciliation rules, and we have to be ready to get very very loud if Republicans decide the rules don't matter. Our job is to bring as much daylight to what's in this bill as possible as quickly as possible. Phone banks are starting to districts with R electeds to get their constituents to call. My mom is doing that as we speak with Move On, but Invidivisible is doing their own as well all June.

      And if you live in the area or want to travel there will be door-to-door canvassing starting as well. Gives Get Out The Vote a totally different meaning.

   3. Messaging

      The bill itself doesn't say they're cutting Medicaid or Medicare, Social Security or SNAP, it's a product of how much they have to cut. And as soon as the budget is finalized, it will be, because that's just how a budget works. This is the messaging and Indivisible will have a language toolkit soon.

5. Intro

   We're going very out of order, here were some things said at the beginning

   1. "If we agreed on everything, there would be something fishy going on"

      I love this quote a lot and I will be using it every time someone complains about the lack of perfection

   2. The Survey

      3 issues that people from last week's Zoom who answered the survey say are breaking through to their nonpolitical friends

      1. Disappearing Americans

      2. The tariffs/ economic uncertainty

      3. the corruption (the plane and bitcoin)

   3. 5-10 Indivisibles are still being formed EVERY SINGLE DAY. If there isn't a group in your area, Indivisible or otherwise, MAKE ONE, it's not too late.

6. Can we be done with the doomerism?

   Someone asked if sharing info without doomerism gets us farther. Which, well, if you are reading this, you know where I stand on that. One of those moments that shouting me out would have been helpful, but no one in the comments did. They did have some good ideas though.

   1. If you want to make helpful posts, always have a call to action. Be really mindful of what you share and what could be the outcome of you sharing it.

   2. why show up? "it's cheaper than therapy" but actually, community is super valuable, we can't do it without this. And in some cases, it is group therapy.

   3. It's a lot easier to get people to want to get involved when you're focused on trying things and "doing cool shit" than talking about the world burning.

So that's what I have for you today. I hope you learned something, I hope it makes you think about things differently, and I really hope you're not afraid to try things and see what works.

If you made it to the end of this post comment with ☄️ (meteor) cause the world is not ending and we have to come from a place of hope not fear.

Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!