Chop Wood, Carry Water 5/2

TGIF!!!

Some determined seniors who couldn’t get to the May Day rallies at Foley Square in NYC rallied at West End Ave and 74 St. Photo by Sonja Noring

Hi, all, and happy Friday!

We made it through another week. Congratulations!

Thanks to the many of you who responded to my request for stories about your May Day events in the comments of yesterday’s newsletter. Wow! It sounds like the day was a huge success everywhere! I’ve seen news coverage of it, now, too, and tons of great footage on social media. Good! We are creating a narrative of resistance, defiance, and determination, and that’s incredibly important.

It also moves the needle in concrete ways. We got news yesterday, for example, that House Republicans are delaying two key reconciliation markups they wanted to hold next week. These are the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. Energy and Commerce, of course, is the committee that oversees Medicaid funding. Republicans are trying to play these delays off as no big deal, but it seems clear that they’re struggling to find cuts everyone in their caucus can get behind. That’s because of YOU! They are feeling the heat, my friends!

In fact, remember how I told you that they were going to come after the ACA’s 90% FMAP, thereby devastating Medicaid expansion? Now they seem to be leaning towards a slightly moderated version of that. Don’t get me wrong—it’s still bad, and they may still be considering the larger cuts, too. But the takeaway is that they’re aware that their attack on Medicaid is very, very unpopular and they’re backtracking all over the place.

Our job? To keep pushing until they agree to leave Medicaid—and SNAP, and clean energy tax credits, and the ACA, and Pell grants—entirely intact.

Speaking of which, the DNC just announced that they will target four vulnerable Republicans to try to peel their votes off from the reconciliation bill.

From them:

The DNC will partner with the DCCC to target four of the most vulnerable House Republicans, challenging them to listen to their constituents and vote against Trump’s budget bill and their party’s dangerous cuts to Medicaid.

Democrats will empower battleground voters to send a clear message directly to Tom Barrett (MI-07), Don Bacon (NE-02), Mike Lawler (NY-17), and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01): A deeply unpopular vote against Medicaid cuts this month will cost you your seat come the midterms.

To accompany the pressure campaign launch, Democrats will host a new round of People’s Town Halls in some of these vulnerable Republicans’ districts during the month of May and activate supporters across the country to put pressure on these Republican members of Congress through:

—Digital Pressure: Voters engage with and share accountability content within the digital space where they already communicate.

—Local Pressure: Voters join – or lead their own – local visibility efforts, including People’s Town Halls.

—Direct Pressure: Voters will be activated to call and email their Republican representatives to make their outrage known.

Love this! I have loads of family in Lawler’s district. They’ve been working hard to pressure him, and it’s great to see the DNC putting resources behind the work local groups like theirs have already done.

Finally, speaking of local organizing, Indivisible, 50501, and other orgs have announced that our next big rally is on June 14. This, of course, is the day that Trump is planning his 90-million-dollar military parade. We want to distract from that, ruin his birthday, and show that we are coming together to reject strongman politics. The theme will be No Kings; they want to make it the biggest one yet. Please plan on being there if you can! (Thankfully it’s on a Saturday.)

OK, all. Lots to call about, so let’s get to work!

P.S. — For those of you who asked, here’s the YouTube link to my interview with Governor O’Malley. It’s easier to share than the Substack.

P.P.S — This week’s Practivist Pod was all about good news. Highly recommend taking a listen! Or a watch! It should make you very happy.

Special call script for constituents of the 16 Senate Democrats who voted for David Purdue

16 Democratic Senators voted THIS WEEK—yes, after everything that’s happened—to confirm Trump’s awful nominee to be Ambassador to China. Included amongst them? Cory Booker! Ugh! The full vote list is here, but here are the 16:

1. Cory Booker—New Jersey

2. Chris Coons—Delaware

3. Tammy Duckworth—Illinois

4. John Fetterman—Pennsylvania

5. Ruben Gallego—Arizona

6. Maggie Hassan—New Hampshire

7. Tim Kaine—Virginia

8. Andy Kim—New Jersey

9. Angus King—Maine (independent who caucuses with Democrats)

10. Amy Klobuchar—Minnesota

11. Gary Peters—Michigan

12. Jack Reed—Rhode Island

13. Jacky Rosen—Nevada

14. Jeanne Shaheen—New Hampshire

15. Elissa Slotkin—Michigan

16. Mark Warner—Virginia

If your Democratic Senator is one of the 16 please call and say this:

I hear that the Senator voted for David Purdue this week. I cannot begin to describe how angry and disappointed I am. What exactly, is the Senator not understanding about the moment we’re in? We have a President who is breaking the law and violating the Constitution daily. He wants to be a dictator. He’s flouting Supreme Court orders. Voting for his nominees normalizes him. It tacitly says “he’s not that bad.” Except he IS, and the Senator knows it. Your constituents want you to fight back. We are disgusted. Do better. Thanks.

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

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

I'm calling to ask urgently that the Senator/Congressmember oppose any cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including Trump's demand to cut funding for NPR and PBS. Money for NPR and PBS is well-spent on valuable news, information, and educational programming for the American public, especially in rural and underserved areas. I love these programs and I’ll be furious if they’re defunded.

Also, when is Kilmar Abrego Garcia coming home? What is the Senator doing to ensure that he and others receive the due process to which they’re entitled under the Constitution?

[If GOP add:]

Finally, I expect the Senator/Congressmember to oppose ANY cuts at all to Medicaid in this reconciliation bill. No cuts to Medicaid Expansion funding, no work requirements, no per capita caps on funding for the expansion population. Leave Medicaid entirely untouched or face voters’ wrath next year. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

Let’s write to the Florida Bar to request Pam Bondi be disbarred:

Address: The Florida Bar Association, 651 E Jefferson St., Tallahassee, FL 32399

A link to a sample letter is here. Please feel free to copy and paste into your own document, then edit as you like, print, sign, and send. Let’s drown them in letters!

[H/T subscriber Laurie V.]

Give Thanks! 🙏🏼

Greyhound is making sure ICE knows that they will be denied access to their buses without a warrant. Let’s say thanks!

You can also write them on social media—Facebook DMs are always a good way to get through.

Get Smart! 📚

Indivisible is holding a teach-in about dictatorships and how to fight them this weekend.

From them:

Let's gather to learn about Mussolini, Putin, and Hitler, and what tactics they used to consolidate power. From manipulating language to limiting information, these dictators successfully oppressed millions. There are many parallels between Trump and these figures!

We will also answer these questions: What do we do when Trump continues to [ignore] the Supreme Court? What is our plan of action if he invokes the Insurrection Act? At the end of the webinar, we will gather in breakout rooms to discuss.

Sunday, May 4 from 6-7:30 PM ET.

Register here.

Messaging! Messaging! Messaging! 📣

I was on a messaging call this morning; one of the presentations we heard was from a group called Stand Up America. They’d done new polling on the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case and found that Americans oppose Trump’s actions around it by 70%. They also found certain messaging to be super effective in getting people more engaged on the issue.

The two most effective messages are here:

1. The Trump Administration admitted it mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia and sent him to a foreign prison, yet continues to defy a unanimous Supreme Court ruling ordering his return. In America, the President is not a king. Our system of government is built on checks and balances—including the courts. The president must obey court rulings even if he disagrees with them. Kilmar must be returned immediately.

2. In America, the government doesn’t get to grab people off the streets, skip the courtroom, and send them straight to a foreign prison. That’s not who we are. But that’s what’s happened to Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Despite admitting it mistakenly deported Kilmar, the Trump Administration is defying multiple court rulings, including a unanimous Supreme Court ruling ordering his return. Americans believe in the rule of law—and the law says Kilmar must be brought home.

Please use this language when you talk about this case. It even helps move Trump supporters!

Give 💰!

Come to our first North Carolina Fundraiser of 2025-26: Telling Our Stories: Defeating MAGA Through Local Voices!

Keynote Speaker: Ben Wikler, Chair, WI Democratic Party

Thursday, May 8, 7:30 - 8:30 pm ET

One key to winning elections is to scale-up communications efforts now so that by 2026 disaffected, moderate, and many Republican voters will have heard hundreds of stories from their neighbors about how extreme Republican policies have harmed them and their communities.

Donations will go to Progress NC Action, which will hire staff to lead a statewide collaborative effort to expand the number of people who can tell their stories compellingly, on social and other media and in their communities. The project will create a video story bank, train organizations in more effective communications, and build a new coalition of groups to compete with the Right Wing propaganda machine locally and statewide, targeting in particular 500,000 voters in key swing suburban and rural counties.

Give/RSVP here.

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

[To: all 3 reps] [H/T Coleman R.] [Text SIGN PMSSPN to 50409, or to @Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram]

Trump's proposal to eliminate funding for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline's LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services is an unconscionable attack on vulnerable young people. This vital program has provided over 1.2 million LGBTQ+ youth with life-saving crisis services since its launch in 2022. Stripping away these resources will undoubtedly lead to more tragedies in a community where LGBTQ+ young people are over four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers, with an estimated 1.8 million seriously considering suicide each year.

The cold, hard facts are that suicide remains the second leading cause of death for ages 10-14 and third for ages 15-24. Eliminating specialized LGBTQ+ services from the 988 lifeline, which has received over 14.5 million calls, texts and chats since July 2022, will cost lives. Countless LGBTQ+ youth have been saved by having access to culturally competent counselors equipped to respond to their specific needs and experiences.

While the administration cites budgetary reasons, what cost can we put on young lives lost to suicide and crisis? Prioritizing austerity over the wellbeing of our most vulnerable citizens is morally bankrupt. I implore you to act swiftly to maintain full funding for these essential LGBTQ+ youth services and prevent a potential public health crisis. The lives of young people across America depend on your moral leadership on this issue.

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

Talk soon.

Jess