Chop Wood, Carry Water 4/11

Learning from the Stoics.

You can find this and a lot of other good tax cut content here.

Hi, all, and happy Friday.

We made it through another week. Amazing. And what a week it was.

I’m going to keep this opening short because, frankly, I’m cooked.

Below you’ll find calls about the SAVE Act, which we can and must stop in the Senate, and the Trump tax cut plan, which remains terrible. There are many other bad pieces of legislation moving; you can find scripts for them at 5 calls. I’m trying to stay focussed here on the biggest and most disastrous bills, and right now that’s the two I just mentioned. The anti-judiciary legislation the GOP is backing is awful, too, but I’m cautiously confident that Democrats will remain unified in their opposition to it. They should, thus, be able to block it.

I know we’re all exhausted—it’s an unfortunate feature of the status quo right now. But remember—we need only do what we can do on any given day. Just the actions below, when taken by tens of thousands of you, are a huge contribution in and of themselves. None of us has to save the world alone! So while I know this is overwhelming, please remember what I’ve told you so many times: We are all like drops of water; on our own we are insignificant. But when we take all of those drops and put them in one place—that’s when we start carving stone.

So just bring your drop, my friends! No need to carry the wave. The rest is a matter of time and physics.

I’ll leave you with these words from the Stoic Epictetus:

What would have become of Hercules, do you think, if there had been no lion, hydra, stag or boar – and no savage criminals to rid the world of? What would he have done in the absence of such challenges? Obviously he would have just rolled over in bed and gone back to sleep. So by snoring his life away in luxury and comfort he never would have developed into the mighty Hercules.

We have no lion, hydra, stag or boar, but we have Trump, Musk, and many “savage criminals” to contend with. Let’s view them less as obstacles and more as the whetting stones upon which we can sharpen our skills. Because of them we will grow stronger and more courageous than we might otherwise have been. In defeating them we will become something fierce—and someone we are proud to be.

Would we rather be “snoring our lives away?” Perhaps. But that isn’t our fate. Our fate is to help save democracy. That’s nothing to sneeze at. Let’s be grateful that we’re on the right side of history, celebrate that we’re part of the solution, and get to work one more time.

P.S. — There’s a great interview with pollster Cornell Belcher on our podcast this week. You can watch here or listen here.

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.

First, I understand that the House just passed the SAVE Act. I am deeply opposed to this bill. It will disenfranchise tens of millions of American citizens—not to mention 69 million married women who took their husband’s last names. All to address a problem that doesn’t exist! I demand that the Senator vote no on this bill.

Also, I absolutely oppose Republicans’ plans to make cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, educational assistance, the ACA, and housing assistance, all in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and corporations. It’s sickening that they’re even considering it. I expect the Senator to vote no on the reconciliation bill

[If Republican add:] And please don’t tell me that the words “Medicaid” or “SNAP” aren’t written anywhere in the bill. I understand the way budget resolutions work and I also understand that Republicans can’t find 1.5 trillion dollars in cuts without gutting those programs. Your voters aren’t stupid and we see exactly what Republicans are doing. Don’t gaslight us. Thanks.

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.

I absolutely oppose Republicans’ plans to make cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, educational assistance, the ACA, and housing assistance, all in order to pay for trilions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and corporations. It’s sickening that they’re even considering it. I expect the Congressmember to vote no.

[If Republican add:] And please don’t tell me that the words “Medicaid” or “SNAP” aren’t written anywhere in the bill. I understand the way budget resolutions work and I also understand that Republicans can’t find 1.5 trillion dollars in cuts without gutting those programs. Your voters aren’t stupid and we see exactly what Republicans are doing. Don’t gaslight us. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

The wonderful Americans of Conscience newsletter has launched their first-ever special edition!

AoC's Reproductive Justice Checklist has high-impact actions, solidarity with grassroots orgs---including a matching fundraiser covering legal fees for people arrested for accessing care, and the Just for Fun(damental Rights) Quiz to test your knowledge (the average score is 65/100!).

Check it out and speak up for reproductive rights!

Get Smart! 📚

On Sunday, April 13 from 10 – 11:30am PDT Rep Pramil Jayapal is hosting a second Resistance Lab training. While I haven’t yet attended one, a subscriber wrote that she did and that it was excellent.

From the description:

The Resistance Lab is a series of trainings that are developed specifically for this moment. In this first lab, we look at how non-violent movements around the world have responded to leaders who seize power in authoritarian ways and the most effective tools and tactics to utilize in these moments. We offer frameworks to understand this moment at home, and incorporate interactive conversation with others to help create community and build our resistance movement…

Our goals are to help people understand how democracies fall and the most effective resistance movements that have challenged authoritarians and dictators; to turn anger, fear and frustration into action in the short-term while also preparing for a coordinated resistance movement for the longer term; and to build community across the country that can help grow our movement. At the end of the day, we want to get people strike-ready and street-ready and make sure we protect our people, our freedoms and our democracy.

Sign up here.

Messaging! Messaging! Messaging! 📣

I think this bit from Politico’s Playbook this morning is important:

It’s clear now that the bond market freakout that inspired Trump’s 90-day pause in the tariffs isn’t over.

Also clear: All of this presents an enormous political opening for Democrats, who, in an act of jiu-jitsu, may be able to use economic performance — arguably Trump’s greatest political strength and inarguably the key to his 2024 victory — into his most potent liability.

Third Way polled the top performing message to use: “Trump promised he would lower prices and cut taxes for ordinary Americans, but his policies are leading to rising prices and plummeting retirement accounts, and they risk pushing the U.S. into a recession.”

Let’s make sure we spread that message! (Read the whole polling piece—it’s fascinating.)

Get in the Streets! 🪧

There will be Tesla Takedowns in cities across the country this weekend. Find yours here! We MUST stay in the streets!

Read This! 📕

The below post is a fantastic resource for talking to your DOGE-supporting friends. The TLDR: government spending is UP from last year, not down. Worse, the money the IRS is losing due to DOGE’s staffing cuts exceeds the money Musk claims to have saved, the total of which is, furthermore, grossly overstated.

Chart of the week: DOGE is not cutting the deficit

Win Races! 🗳

Join Postcards to Swing States on Wednesday, April 16 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT to hear about their exciting new postcard programs for 2025 and 2026. They need your help to rally Democrats to vote in important elections across the country!

Here’s what they’ll cover:

• 2025 Postcard Campaigns: Sign-ups open May 1 for postcards targeting key elections this November in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

• “News Boosting” in Virginia: They’ll be testing a new strategy—postcards highlighting real news headlines—to measure its impact on persuasion and turnout.

• Looking Ahead to 2026 & 2028: Get the latest data-driven insights on how postcards fit into the bigger picture of winning back Democratic power.

RSVP here.

Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻

[To: your Senators] [H/T] [Text SIGN PJQYGB to 50409, or to @Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram]

As your constituent, I strongly urge you to oppose the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The SAVE Act would place the burden on every single American citizen to prove their citizenship when registering to vote or updating their voter registration, chiefly by presenting either a passport or a birth certificate in person. This bill represents a dangerous dereliction of your duty as a member of Congress to safeguard free and fair elections and ensure accessible voting for all U.S. citizens—including your own constituents.

Under 18 U.S.C. § 1015, it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and those that break the law can face up to five years in prison. Americans already attest to their citizenship status when registering to vote, and election officials verify their eligibility using federal and state data, including citizenship data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Americans also must already provide their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number when registering to vote. Instead of the government doing its job, the SAVE Act would put the burden on every single American citizen to prove that they can exercise their constitutional right to vote.

More than 140 million U.S. citizens do not possess a passport, and 69 million women who took their spouse’s last name upon marriage would not be able to use their birth certificate to prove their identity. Rural and working class Americans are less likely to have a passport.

The SAVE Act endangers the constitutional rights of all Americans. We deserve better than irresponsibly thought out legislation, and we expect more from Congress. I urge you to vote no on the SAVE Act.

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OK, you did it again! You’re helping to save democracy! You’re amazing.

Talk soon.

Jess