Dear MoveOn member,
Last night, after Trump attacked Representative Ilhan Omar at a rally, his supporters responded by chanting: "Send her back. Send her back. Send her back." Again and again, throughout the arena.
His continued attacks on The Squad—a group of freshman progressive women of color in the House—are part of his strategy to intensify his "us vs. them" politics of division and fear.
Make no mistake: This rhetoric is intentional. In fact, it's fast becoming a centerpiece of Trump's re-election campaign.
But here's what's truly terrifying: As a method to consolidate support among his base, Trump's racist strategy is working. His overall approval is at the highest of his presidency, according to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll (which is considered a very trustworthy poll among political scientists).1
In fact, among self-identified Republicans, Trump is the most popular GOP president in the last century, with the exception of George W. Bush in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.2
And that polling came out BEFORE his disgusting attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of color—which, horrifically, have boosted his approval among Republicans even further.3
Eddie, Trump's racist attacks are HELPING him with his base. And if Trump's base shows up, while Democrats don't turn out in record numbers, then Trump WILL be re-elected. It's extremely painful to accept, but it's our very hard reality. And we must fight back harder than ever.
While Democratic candidates focus on winning the primary, MoveOn is laser-focused on beating Trump and taking back the Senate in 2020. But we can't do it without your help.
MoveOn is ready to help lead the way this election season—by showing Democrats how we can defeat Trump with bold, progressive ideas that work for all Americans, Black, brown, and white. Ideas that resonate with new Americans and those born in the states. Policies like universal health care, workers rights, a bold plan to tackle climate change while fueling our economy, a divestment from endless wars to reinvest in education and communities at home, and so much more.
And while pursuing that agenda, we must stand against the atrocities Trump is perpetrating at the border, the corruption rampant through his cabinet, and the racist rhetoric and policies his administration propagates on a daily basis.
It's a huge lift, but the stakes couldn't be higher. And MoveOn is uniquely positioned in this fight—to build a powerful election program that can take back the White House, to support leaders like the Squad, to push the Democratic candidates from the House to the White House to be braver and bolder and more progressive in a way that wins hearts and minds and votes, and—at the same time—to continue confronting the administration's corruption and abuses.
Rep. Omar—who Trump and his supporters want to "send back"—was our first endorsee of this cycle, followed by Representatives Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the other members of the Squad.
We need to keep supporting their bold agenda in Congress—while also ensuring candidates in 2020 embrace their ideas and emulate their honest, bold, fighting style.
As Rep. Ayanna Pressley, another member of the Squad targeted by Trump, said in Tuesday's press conference: "This is simply a disruption and a distraction from the callous chaos and corrupt culture of this administration, all the way down."
She's right: We have work to do to expose the corruption of this administration, shine a light on its failures, and promote an agenda that serves and supports all our communities.
Just look at what the Squad is pushing in Congress: Rep. Pressley is fighting for backpay for the nearly 1 million contract workers who suffered from Trump's shutdown. Rep. Tlaib has introduced legislation to rein in the abuses of auto insurers and help regular folks afford insurance. Rep. Omar is a champion of lifting the burden of student debt from suffocating generations of Americans and stifling economic growth. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal has energized Americans behind a vision to remake our economy while tackling the existential crisis of climate change.
These are popular, bold visions that tackle concentrated wealth and corporate power, lift up working Americans and vulnerable families, and make a better life for Black, brown, and white families alike. Ideas that we need to lift up during the election.
Trump is terrified of the Squad—and of Democrats who are running for president on similarly inspirational, popular, transformational ideas. And instead of responding to their ideas, he is resorting to explicit racism to rile up his base, sow fear and chaos, and seek to divide us all. We've seen his plan—but we can defeat it with ours, like in 2018, when:
- Thousands of MoveOn members pounded the pavement in critical swing districts. Teams of MoveOn members showed up at campaign offices of MoveOn-endorsed Democrats around the country, phone banking and knocking on doors to help them win.
- MoveOn's Text Team and MoveOn volunteers sent millions of texts to voters using MoveOn's texting program, Spoke. Volunteers helped folks register to vote, shared information about MoveOn-endorsed candidates, and signed up new volunteers to help get out the vote.
- And MoveOn's "Real Voter Voices" program reached millions of voters for a small fraction of the cost of other programs. Real Voter Voices was a groundbreaking new voter persuasion program propelled by personal videos recorded by MoveOn members. It was extremely effective. This innovative program was proven to be five times more cost-effective at getting out the vote than traditional programs such as TV ads and snail mail.
In addition to continuing effective tactics like these in 2020, we're also working to take on disinformation, which is critical as Russian trolls and white supremacist groups again work to spread false, misleading information that will confuse voters, suppress voter turnout, and keep Trump in the White House.
MoveOn has a 20-year track record of building the kind of campaigns progressives need to win while we promote progressive values that we can stand behind. In 2018, MoveOn ran its biggest midterm elections program ever—and we took back the House.
Now, MoveOn needs to run its biggest general elections program EVER. Will you chip in $3?
Thanks for all you do.
–Emily, Erica, Nick, Robert, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Aided by a strong economy, Trump approval rises, but a majority also see him as 'unpresidential,'" The Washington Post, July 7, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/68127?t=5&akid=239380%2E10220574%2EUGVJyT
2. "Why is Trump so much more popular with Republicans than past presidents?" The Washington Post, July 24, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/68128?t=7&akid=239380%2E10220574%2EUGVJyT
3. "Trump's approval with Republicans rose by 5 points in a poll taken after his racist tweets ," Business Insider, July 18, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/68129?t=9&akid=239380%2E10220574%2EUGVJyT
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 MoveOn needs 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 July 19th, 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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