Dear MoveOn member,
It is now Day 20 of Donald Trump's temper tantrum-induced government shutdown. I've never seen anything like this before.
Let's be very clear: Building a wall on our southern border is a dumb idea that is racist and xenophobic, and Trump's willingness to hold 800,000 federal workers and additional contractors hostage, or even declare a state of emergency in order to get it built, is downright delusional, and bordering on dictatorial.
Trump's increasingly outrageous comments over the past few days make it clear that he does not understand the implications of the shutdown or care about its devastating impact on the federal workers and government contractors who have spent three weeks without a paycheck—or the impact it has on their families, communities, and local economies.
Earlier this week, Trump told lawmakers that they should refer to the shutdown as a "strike" instead, as if this were the same as a group of workers rising up for better pay, rather than the deranged whim of a single man that is keeping nearly one million workers from being paid.1 And he has continued to threaten to take the extraordinary and terrifying step of declaring a national emergency in order to force the military to build the wall for him without the approval of Congress.
Enough is enough. We must rise up together and demand that Congress act to reopen the government without a dime for Trump's pointless, racist wall.
Here is what MoveOn has planned to win this fight:
- Commission polling to show vulnerable Republican senators who are up for re-election in 2020 that their constituents don't want a shutdown, don't want a wall, but do want their senators to stand up to Trump and reopen the government.
- Flooding the Senate with calls demanding senators vote to reopen the government. Only hours before Trump decided to shut down the government, the Senate voted unanimously to fund the government without building the wall, but now Mitch McConnell refuses to stand up to Trump and put the same bill up for a vote. MoveOn members have already made thousands of calls to their senators, and MoveOn will continue to drive even more calls to make sure that these elected officials know that there will be consequences unless they take action.
- Supporting Senate Democrats who are blocking all bills until the government is open. Even with Democrats in the minority, they have major power in the Senate to stop McConnell from operating as business as usual by blocking any bill that comes to the floor that is not about reopening the government. It is critical that Democrats remain strong and committed to this strategy, even as Trump continues to shift the blame.
- Producing videos and digital ads detailing the real impacts of the shutdown. Over 800,000 workers are not getting paychecks, TSA agents forced to work without pay are calling in sick, and thousands of low-income workers will never receive back pay for the work they have done during the shutdown.2 Highlighting these stories of the real impact of Trump's shutdown will help to focus the conversation and remind people across the country who is truly to blame for this mess.
- Preparing to launch MoveOn's Crisis Response Network if Trump declares a state of emergency. If Trump takes this extraordinary step, it may also allow him to enact other brazen anti-democratic policies, which is why hundreds of thousands of MoveOn members are ready to mobilize in protest if Trump seizes extraordinary powers in declaring a state of emergency to build his wall.
If the shutdown lasts through Saturday, it will become the longest government shutdown in American history. It is time to pull out all the stops and do everything we can to end it. Which is why I'm asking:
Will you chip in $3 right now to power MoveOn's campaign to end the Trump shutdown?
Trump's willingness to keep the government shut down for, as he said, "months or even years" shows just how far he is willing to go to get what he wants—and how little regard he has for the American people and the fundamentals of democracy.3
This move is another slap in the face of immigrant communities already under attack by Trump's inhumane, racist policies; the federal workers he shamelessly forced to work without pay for three weeks; and for the will of the American public who last November voted resoundingly against his immigration policies.
The reality is simple: Donald Trump is a liar. There is no national security emergency at the United States-Mexico border, and building a wall will do absolutely nothing except serve as a symbol of Trump's dangerous nationalism. In the meantime, there is a humanitarian crisis that Trump and the Republicans are creating: separating families, denying asylum-seekers the legal right to pursue asylum, and even tear-gassing families that are simply looking for a better life. We can and must show respect and dignity to immigrants—and follow existing laws that respect asylum-seekers.
The ongoing government shutdown is an undemocratic power grab from an unhinged man unhappy with the results of the 2018 election.
We know how far Trump is willing to go to get what he wants, and we must do everything in our power to stop him.
Thanks for all you do.
–Robert Reich
Sources:
1. "Trump told lawmakers he prefers word 'strike' to government shutdown, sources say," CNN, January 5, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/61919?t=5&akid=224306%2E10220574%2EAtyEd5
2. "Amid shutdown, more TSA agents are calling in sick. Here's what you need to know," CNBC, January 5, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/61920?t=7&akid=224306%2E10220574%2EAtyEd5
3. "Trump Says Shutdown Could Last 'Months or Even Years,'" The Daily Beast, January 4, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/61921?t=9&akid=224306%2E10220574%2EAtyEd5
Want to support MoveOn's work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with MoveOn?
Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.
PAID FOR BY MOVEON
This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on January 11th, 2019. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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