Dear MoveOn member,
"The closer President Nixon comes to impeachment, the louder his supporters proclaim his innocence," wrote The New York Times in July 1974.1
But, in the end, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Richard Nixon—sealing his fate. Nixon resigned three days later.2
Today, Republican members of Congress are parroting debunked, Russian-fueled conspiracy theories about Ukraine to try to defend Donald Trump.3
But, Thursday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked her committee chairs to proceed with drafting articles of impeachment, so Republican members of Congress will soon have to vote. And you can be sure that they will do what's needed to save their political skins. If Trump's approval rating falls even further or if masses of people take to the streets in a big way to show Republicans that they will pay a price for covering up Trump's abuses of power, the Republican dam will finally break—just as it did in 1974.
That's why, Mar, we're organizing a massive wave of protests all across the country, in collaboration with dozens of partner organizations, to take place the night before the House vote on impeachment. These protests need to be very big and very loud and get attention everywhere—on TV, on social media, and in the local press around the country that members of Congress pay closest attention to.
Already, more than 350 events are being planned in 48 states.
But we still need to raise $200,000 by Monday to make the events impactful and successful. (We have to print and ship jumbo "IMPEACH" lettering to the highest visibility events, pay for lighting, stages, sound equipment, livestreaming, and security at the larger protests, help get the word out about the events, so even more people can be involved, and more.) Will you help out by chipping in $3 now?
Trump's actions are worse than Nixon's Watergate scandal and are an attack on free and fair elections—including the integrity of the presidential election next year—and our very democracy.
"President Trump welcomed foreign interference in the 2016 election. He demanded it for the 2020 election," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler yesterday, as he began the next stage of the impeachment inquiry.4
Trump's actions "are worse than the misconduct of any prior president," testified constitutional scholar Michael Gerhardt at the Judiciary Committee hearing.5
He continued, "If what we are talking about is not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable."6
"If we cannot impeach a president who abused his office for personal advantage, we no longer live in a democracy," testified constitutional scholar Noah Feldman of Harvard University.7
Trump MUST be impeached, convicted, and removed from office. Our democracy depends on it.
And that's why we're taking the impeachment fight to the streets. We urgently need to increase the visibility of the public's demand for impeachment—exponentially so in the remaining days before the House vote. And more than 350 protests in 48 states is a good start. But we need an influx of resources to make these events big and loud and seen by millions. We need to rent stages and audio equipment for the biggest protests, print and ship signs and other materials to the highest visibility events, pay for targeted ads to make sure that local communities show up in droves, get the media's attention to put these events on the front page, coordinate with dozens of organizations, and more.
Our country is at a crossroads, and what we do now will determine the very future of our democracy. Will we let Trump get away with his abuses of power and rig the 2020 election—or will democracy and the will of the voters prevail?
It's up to us, Mar. History will judge us for what we do in this moment.
Thanks for all you do.
–Kate, Scott, Seth, Jayne, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Republicans Defending Trump on Impeachment Should Fear the Judgment of History," The New Yorker, December 2, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/113912?t=5&akid=252250%2E10220574%2EJza3mU
2. Ibid.
3. "GOP embraces a debunked Ukraine conspiracy to defend Trump from impeachment," The Washington Post, December 3, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/113913?t=7&akid=252250%2E10220574%2EJza3mU
4. "Scholars Call Trump's Actions on Ukraine an Impeachable Abuse of Power," The New York Times, December 4, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/113914?t=9&akid=252250%2E10220574%2EJza3mU
5. "Dems signal Mueller-related impeachment charges as witnesses assail Trump," Politico, December 4, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/113915?t=11&akid=252250%2E10220574%2EJza3mU
6. "Impeachment Briefing: Highlights From Legal Experts' Testimony," The New York Times, December 4, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/113916?t=13&akid=252250%2E10220574%2EJza3mU
Want to support our 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 towards 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 us?
Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.
Contributions to MoveOn Civic Action are not tax-deductible for income tax purposes. This email was sent to Mar Alfaro on December 8, 2019. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. If you'd like to receive less frequent emails from MoveOn, you can click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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