Indivisible updates + actions: The fighters we need & how to NOT watch the SOTU

[usonian]

https://indivisible.actionkit.com/mailings/view/124358

Rushing this out. Please go to the URL above for action links.
If any links are broken, I'll edit the post.
P.S. I remove all the tracking bugs.
Indivisible is endorsing some primary candidates.
No flames, please. Just get to know them.

PEOPLE'S STATE OF THE UNION
TUESDAY 8PM E.T.
https://www.mobilize.us/moveon/event/903012/

I’ve got two quick things to cover this week. I’m going to start with a celebration because it’s fun and inspiring (to me at least). Then I’ve got an update on the live fight against the regime’s secret police force.

Hey, good job team! We’re building a fighting Democratic Party. In my last newsletter, I wrote about Indivisible’s first three Democratic primary endorsements. Those candidates are Peggy Flanagan (Minnesota Senate), Brad Lander (NY-10), and Jasmine Clark (GA-13). Clark stopped by What’s the Plan last week too -- you can check out the interview here. These candidates are all fighters, backed by their local Indivisible groups, and up against status quo Democrats. And one way you know they're fighters is by who funds their campaigns. They’re all refusing money from AIPAC, crypto, and corporations of any kind, relying instead on grassroots donations to take on the system.

For every one of us who's complained that Democrats aren't doing enough, it’s up to us to demand a better party. The way to demand that party in primary season is to support fighters, and one way to do that is by chipping in a few bucks. So last week I sent out our first-ever fundraiser for one of these candidates -- Dr. Jasmine Clark.

Drumroll please.

Indivisible members have already contributed nearly $170,000 to her campaign! That is huge. To put that in perspective, her do-nothing incumbent opponent raised less than half that from individuals in the entire 4th quarter of last year. Just incredible. I am so damn proud of the Indivisible movement!

We’re not just complaining about failed leaders, we’re doing the work to change those leaders. We’re putting our money where our mouth is. Race by race, we’re building a unified opposition party in this country. Doesn’t that just make you feel good?

Reading this judicial order might help you feel sane. I’m not a lawyer and I don’t read a lot of judicial orders. But I’m going to quote at length from one that came out of West Virginia last week because it's just so damn refreshing to read something with such simple clarity on the grotesque use of secret police. Federal District Court Judge Joseph Goodwin wrote this opening paragraph:

Antiseptic judicial rhetoric cannot do justice to what is happening. Across the interior of the United States, agents of the federal government -- masked, anonymous, armed with military weapons, operating from unmarked vehicles, acting without warrants of any kind -- are seizing persons for civil immigration violations and imprisoning them without any semblance of due process. The systematic character of this practice and its deliberate elimination of every structural feature that distinguishes constitutional authority from raw force place it beyond the reach of ordinary legal description. It is an assault on the constitutional order. It is what the Fourth Amendment was written to prevent. It is what the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment forbids.

You can read the whole thing here. (PDF) I’d especially point your attention to Page 11, where he notes, “The deepest objection to anonymous government force…runs to the very nature of legitimate government itself.”

We are winning the political fight against DHS -- we need to keep up the pressure. It’s this anonymous government force, using tactics reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan as Judge Goodwin notes (p.16), that Republicans are refusing to reform.

Democrats have demanded a set of reasonable if not earth-shattering reforms to DHS in order to allow a vote on its annual budget. Republicans and Trump have refused to negotiate because they want ICE, Border Patrol, and the other DHS goons to operate indiscriminately and with impunity. As a result, TSA, FEMA, and other DHS employees are going to get a partial paycheck this week. In early March, if the “shutdown” continues, they’ll miss a full paycheck.

This is the kind of thing that causes one side of the negotiation to buckle -- and it better not be us.

DHS’s secret police force is illegal, unconstitutional, and -- importantly in a democratic republic -- deeply unpopular. Currently, Senate Democrats are holding strong -- neither watering down their demands nor signaling that they will cave. We’ve seen this movie before though, so I’d say my mood is cautiously optimistic with an emphasis on caution.

Our message to Dem leadership now is clear: As long as you’re holding strong, we’ve got your back. But if you surrender yet again to this regime’s demands, well, No Kings III next month is going to be the largest protest in American history. And it’s smack dab in the middle of primary season. More to come on that front, but read on to this week’s action items!

In solidarity,
Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible

Your weekly to-dos

1 Join the week of action to halt ICE/Border Patrol terror. Members of Congress return to DC tomorrow; this will be a critical week in our fight against new ICE and Border Patrol funding without meaningful guardrails and a stop to the violence in our communities. Groups are encouraged to organize nonviolent rallies outside congressional offices, and everyone should use our call and email tools to keep up the pressure on their Members of Congress.

2 Sign up for the ICE Out for Good Funding Fight weekly phonebank. On Tuesday (1pm ET), we'll be calling voters in key states to encourage them to call their Members of Congress and urge them to hold the line and demand that ICE’s terror tactics be stopped for good.

3 Watch the People's State of the Union, Tuesday (8pm ET). Instead of watching Trump lie to the Joint Session of Congress, join us and partners MoveOn and MeidasTouch for a livestream of counterprogramming featuring progressive Members of Congress, organizers, and Americans impacted by regime policies.

4 Attend tonight's Black History Month launch of the 2026 Solidarity in Action speaker series - Systems and Power: Lessons from Those Who Came Before Us, Monday (7pm ET). Barbara R. Arnwine, president and founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition, will explore how best to apply Black organizers' historical lessons to movement-building practices today.

5 Join Fight Back with Friends to call on colleges and universities to keep ICE off campus, Tuesday (6:30pm ET). We'll review the basics of using ready-to-go messaging and relational organizing to both take action and empower friends and loved ones to get active, too.

P.S. With just about a month to go before No Kings Day, we’re hard at work to make this the largest single day of protest in US history. If you have a few bucks to spare to help us with the costs of planning, safety, tech, promotion, and event infrastructure, please chip in today.

Don't watch the SOTU - join our livestream instead!

​​The State of the Union (SOTU) is a Constitutionally-mandated presidential address traditionally attended by every Member of Congress and, since the advent of television, watched by millions. This year will be different!

Rather than lend credence to yet another anti-democratic Trump propaganda fest, a long list of Democratic lawmakers aren't going; many of them will instead join MoveOn, MeidasTouch, and a host of other partners (including Indivisible) for the People's State of the Union, livestreamed counterprogramming (Tuesday, 8–11pm ET).

We'll be joined by, among others, Senators Tina Smith and Chris Van Hollen, Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Delia Ramirez, fellow organizers, and Americans directly impacted by the regime's cruelty and chaos. We cannot give Trump and his lies the attention he craves. This SOTU isn't business as usual -- it's a call to action. We hope you'll join us!

IndivisiWIN of the week



Indivisibles of all ages lined Washington St. in Brainerd, MN on Presidents Day last week for a "Power of the People" rally that garnered great coverage by their local PBS station. In addition to handmade signs, American flags, and winter coats, the group brought a special focus to what's at the heart of the pro-democracy movement: community.

People standing on either side of a street, holding signs. The sign closest to us says Dissent with a drawing of RBG, those across the street read Honor Good and Love Melts ICE

"I think that people have been really looking for a place to belong, a place that feels loving," said Hallie Pond, the group's co-leader. "We believe that community is built over time and the fabric of our democracy is only as strong as the fabric of trust that cloaks it."

"I know everyone here and I have a deep sense of care for them," echoed participant Talia Walsh. "I can't live in a world where care isn't the main sense of everything."

At Indivisible, from the grassroots up to the national organization, we're fighting to stop a regime that's rooted in fomenting division and bent on isolating us from each other. Building and sustaining communities of care is how we win.

Upcoming events for you

These nationwide events, calls, and training sessions are coming up soon. For even more Indivisible happenings, check our national calendar and get in touch with Indivisible groups near you!
Happening This Week

Monday (tonight!): Systems and Power- Lessons from Those Who Came Before Us (6pm ET)
Solidarity in Action speaker series

Tuesday: ICE Out for Good Funding Fight Phonebank (1pm ET)
Call voters in key states and encourage them to call lawmakers to demand they rein in ICE’s terror tactics.

Tuesday: Fight Back with Friends monthly call (6:30pm ET)
Learn about keeping ICE off campuses and using relational organizing tools to help friends and loved ones take action.

Tuesday: People's State of the Union (8pm ET)
Livestreamed counterprogramming to Trump's propagandistic State of the Union address

Thursday: “What’s the Plan?” with Leah + Ezra (3pm ET)
Our weekly interactive Q&A with our co-founders and executive directors Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin

Follow us on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads to keep up on the latest information, and text “INDIVISIBLE” to 59798 to opt-in to our text messaging program, where we send rapid response actions a few times a month.