Chop Wood, Carry Water 4/13

FISA vote WEDNESDAY! Remove Trump / expel Swalwell and Gonzales / free Drs. Bolivar and Veliz from ICE detention / learn about the budget fight! / Call into VA with me!

Alabama newspaper AL.com reports that a Birmingham-area grassroots group is hitting Trump hard over gas prices with this billboard. Bravo!

Hi, all, and happy Monday!

And it is, indeed, a happy one—or as happy as any day can be while Trump is still president.

Global democracy saw a massive win yesterday with Peter Magyar’s landslide victory over Viktor Orbán in Hungary. Magyar’s party won huge majorities, too, which means they’ll be able to undo a good part of the damage Orbán’s done and hopefully hold his administration accountable. The margins of this election were so enormous that even Orbán couldn’t deny them—something our side should bear in mind as we head towards November. Voter turnout was almost 80%. Hungarians agreed on a candidate—even if he wasn’t their ideal—and unified behind him. It worked.

We will learn more in time about how this historic win played out, but for now let’s just celebrate it, folks. The strongman Trump spent years praising and imitating just got crushed by voters who are sick of corruption and economic pain—despite huge amounts of election chicanery on Team Orban’s part! WE CAN DO THIS HERE, TOO!

In other news, Eric Swalwell announced he is suspending his campaign. Good. I am friendly with the content creator who first broke this story (Mrs. Frazzled on social) and I couldn’t be more proud of both the way she exposed Swalwell and the way our party has responded. We could wish that someone had spoken up sooner—rumors of Swalwell’s behavior have been circulating for years—but now that the secret is out Democratic leadership has rightly—and swiftly—demanded his departure from the race. Some have gone further and demanded he resign, and he should. But Rep. Tony Gonzales, who has had equally egregious allegations of sexual abuse made against him, should step down as well. We will send a Resistbot letter about all of this today.

Finally, JD Vance’s attempts at “instant” diplomacy with Iran failed this weekend, as it was inevitable they would. Obama’s Iran deal took twenty months to negotiate; nothing meaningful was ever going to be accomplished in 48 hours.

Soon after Vance’s talks failed Trump announced a Naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The thinking behind this seems to be that it will stop Iran from being able to transport its own oil through the Strait—the Trump administration had been allowing it to do so so that some oil was getting sold on the global market. Trump believes, apparently, that Iran will feel the financial pinch and give in. Few experts I’ve spoken to agree. The blockade may also be a pretense for bringing more naval vessels to the region. If it is, and if Trump is planning a ground invasion, we are in for blood and mayhem. I truly hope this is not the case.

Either way, Trump is in deep over his head. We need a War Powers resolution, and we need it now.

So, as always, there’s a lot to call about! Let’s get to work!

I am so happy for the people of Hungary, and so proud of you, who bring that same spirit to the fight for American democracy. Let’s do this!

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲 and Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

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

I know the vote to reauthorize FISA’s section 702 is coming up on Wednesday. I strongly oppose a clean reauthorization. I know lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are fearmongering so they can rush this so-called “clean” version through. They’re saying if it doesn’t pass Americans will be less safe because surveillance will “go dark.” That’s a lie. The surveillance program authorized by Section 702 has already been extended by a judge for another year. There is NO REASON not to pass reforms that will actually help keep Americans safe. I want the data broker loophole closed and an end to backdoor, warrantless surveillance. Any lawmaker who votes for a clean reauthorization will lose my support, because they’ve thrown my privacy under the bus. I will be watching this vote closely. Thanks.

Second, we need a War Powers resolution and we need it now. Trump is in over his head; his latest actions show it. Congress needs to re-exert their co-equal authority and get involved in resolving this conflict. No one in Trump’s circle is up to the job.

Finally, Donald Trump is failing mentally. He needs to be removed. His post depicting himself as Jesus and his attacks on the Pope are dealbreakers. Impeach him. Remove him. Call for the 25th amendment. I don’t care how it happens— I just want him out.

LIVE Today with Skye Perriman of Democracy Forward! 🎤

So exciting! I’ll be interviewing Skye Perryman on today’s Live. Skye is President & CEO of Democracy Forward. Democracy Forward, in case you don’t know, is the INCREDIBLE legal organization that has been taking the Trump administration to court over and over again—and winning!

We’re going to talk about the cases DF is bringing to 1) protect immigrants and push back on ICE, b) protect our elections, and c) find out what happened to our SS data. YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE SKYE! She is a badass. Please come hear her at 4PM PT/7PM ET today! You will leave feeling way more hopeful about everything, I promise.

Extra Credit ✅

ICE seems to be making a policy of detaining and deporting medical professionals who work in Latino communities. In the last week they snatched two physicians, Dr. Bolivar and Dr. Veliz, both of whom provide care in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Without them the already grave dearth of providers in the area has grown exponentially worse.

My friend who is also a physician has launched a Resistbot letter to get these doctors released. I know I’ve got a Resistbot letter below, but today we’re going to do two. The letter is here—you can sign it by texting Sign PLLKKK to 50409.

Get Smart! 📚

Join the Coalition For Human Needs on Apr 16 at 10AM PT / 1PM ET for a timely webinar breaking down what’s ahead in the budget fight.

This webinar will explain what’s coming: Republicans’ expected use of “reconciliation,” a strategy to fund or cut certain programs that can pass with only a simple majority in the Senate (unlike regular appropriations bills that need 60 votes, and so must attract some Democratic support). Will reconciliation be used just to fund long-stalled ICE, Border Patrol and other Department of Homeland Security programs? Will it add hundreds of billions of additional Pentagon spending? Will it try to pay for these large sums by still more cuts to basic needs programs like Medicaid, SNAP, or the Earned Income Tax Credit?

With new appropriations bills needed by the end of September, will Congress reject or accept the harsh cuts proposed in the new Trump budget?

You will hear clear explanations of how the reconciliation process works and how advocates can be heard. Learn about how the Trump budget proposals slash basic needs programs. And hear how advocates can fight back to prevent those cuts and protect children and families, workers, immigrants, people with disabilities, and many others from hardship, discrimination, and injustice.

Featured speakers include:

• Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League

• Ellen Nissenbaum, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

• Sunjeev Bery, Campaign Director, People Over Pentagon

• Moderated by Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

Register to learn what’s coming—and how advocates can be heard at this critical moment.

Messaging! Messaging! Messaging! 📣

Here’s a social media / messaging toolkit designed to pressure Pam Bondi to comply with her subpoena and to urge Representative Comer to enforce it or hold her in contempt.

This toolkit includes key messaging, talking points, and sample posts for various platforms to assist with these efforts. I hope you find them useful!

Grab your Wallet! 💳

Citizens Bank is making ICE concentration camps possible, providing more than half a billion dollars in financing each to CoreCivic and The GEO Group. This is a choice to be complicit, and Citizens can make a different one.

The De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition is building pressure on corporate leaders, with standouts ongoing, a digital week of action starting Wednesday, and a protest scheduled at the bank’s upcoming shareholder meeting in Providence on April 23rd.

On THURSDAY at 7PM ET, they’ll be holding a national mobilization call to talk about how we can get more involved in these efforts. Let’s sign up here.

(We can also find more info and a toolkit about taking part in the digital actions here.)

[H/T Rogan's List ]

Win Races! 🗳

There are three ways you can help us win the VA redistricting election today!

1. TEXTING: Join Virginians for Fair Elections at a textbank training TONIGHT (or tomorrow, or Wednesday, or Friday) Monday, April 13 from 6 – 7pm EDT Register here.

2. CALLING: Join me and Network NOVA TODAY at 2:30PM PT / 5:30 PM ET to make calls into VA. This’ll be fun and really well organized. Register here.

3. SPREADING THE WORD! Grab DemCast’s Virginia toolkit and POST! Spreading the word via social media is KEY. Please help if you can!

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

[To: all 3 reps] [H/T Rogan’s List] [Text SIGN PJOBAB to 50409, or to @Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram]

(Note that for the most effective RESISTBOT it’s best to personalize this text. More about how to do this here. But if you’re short on time just send it as is using the above code.)

We are likely to see votes in the coming days on expelling Reps. Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales from Congress for sexually preying on women. We are counting on you to support removing both of these abusers from the House.

It is disgusting and infuriating that we’re only holding members of the club accountable for their crimes as part of partisan gamesmanship. The evidence that Rep. Gonzales pressured an aide for sex acts and retaliated against her when their “affair” was discovered has been public for weeks. Speaker Johnson and House leadership shamelessly stood by him. How long would this have gone on if they hadn’t found a Democrat to punish to even the score?

We are fed up with powerful people acting like they’re above the law and morality, hurting folks and getting away with it. We are furious with their fellow elites protecting them from justice until they can use it to serve their broader agendas. We are demanding that those who claim they are fit to lead show enough leadership to acknowledge that certain acts disqualify you from public office regardless of party identification.

It is clear that both Swalwell and Gonzales took advantage of their position to get away with exploiting and abusing women, and neither of them should be allowed to remain in the House of Representatives. It is also clear that they are facing the appropriate consequences for the wrong reasons. Please uphold this very basic standard in these upcoming votes, and please do so in the future without consideration of which side of the aisle they’re on.

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

Talk soon.

Jess