On Saturday, an estimated 7 million people poured into the streets to say it loud and clear: No Kings. (No Kings snarks this is 14x larger than both of Trump’s inaugurations combined.) From Anchorage to Atlanta, from tiny towns to huge city squares, the message echoed across the nation — a call back to the founders’ defiance of tyranny and forward to a people-powered democracy. With over 2,700 cities and towns, the movement continues to break further and further into Trump’s support. As Erica Chenoweth’s and colleagues’ data shows, the protests are the most geographically widespread in US history —… Read full email…

[View Email in Browser] ChooseDemocracy.us, Today I published an article in Waging Nonviolence chronicling “How the Disney boycott beat the FCC’s censorship push.” It’s an important story to tell — because it tells a key winning story. Few know that the boycott moved over 1.7 million unsubscribes (!) — we are not alone. Reminders that we’re part of a bigger “we” are important — another reason we hope to see you all at your local October 18th No Kings action. And for cities facing National Guard deployments, I wrote this guide “So the National Guard is (or might be) coming… Read full email…

Disney had a decision to make. Do we accede to Trump’s pressure? Apparently, it wasn’t an easy decision. But they made the wrong one. They bowed to government pressure and censored Kimmel. And then a slew of people pushed back. After the pushback, Disney assessed its options. They could have joined the ranks of other capitulating institutions. But they looked at the strength of the people — specifically the tens of thousands closing up wallets — and said: we’ll pick the stronger side. They’re bringing Kimmel back. Disney didn’t bring Kimmel back because they suddenly grew a backbone. You were… Read full email…

[View Email in Browser] ChooseDemocracy.us, Feeling powerless doesn’t mean you are powerless. Trump and the Project 2025 plan is to rapidly shock the system and invoke a state of paralysis so they can take permanent control of the country. Authoritarianism is a system of controlling a population — not by persuasion but by a little bit of raw power and a lot of fear. Fear with a dose of raw power can make people fold. It can cause capitulation as companies, universities, organizations, and individuals try to make deals with a bully. We’ve been seeing this dynamic since Trump took… Read full email…

In case you missed the news, Donald Trump has ordered the National Guard to head to our nation’s capital. Claiming emergency powers from the Home Rule charter due to crime, he’s taking control of the Capital’s police, too. DC’s Mayor Bowser struck a conciliatory and yielding position. “We have a responsibility to support the executive order and one of the roles I have is to ensure that we work very collaboratively with our federal partners.” Her only clear push back was Trump’s excuse, citing the city’s statistics showing violent crime generally is at a 30-year low (the FBI has slightly… Read full email…

ChooseDemocracy.us, We’re only doing this once: a single ask for donations. That’s it. No fundraising drive. No countdown clock. No guilt. (Please, no guilt!) Because we’d rather be doing the work than writing you fundraising emails. But if you do value what Choose Democracy is doing — and want to support it — now’s a great time to pitch in. We’re trying to raise $50,000 to to make sure we keep pace with the challenges before us. Donate to Choose Democracy   We’ve got more projects brewing. We’ll keep doing the work. Your support helps make it possible. In solidarity,… Read full email…

In these hard days of naked brutality, it’s easy to feel like we’re sprinting just to stay upright. The pace of authoritarianism isn’t just fast; it’s dizzying. It wants us to stumble. To lose our grounding. To get used to the smoke, the noise, the constant edge of dread. But here’s a quiet truth: it’s a sign of your humanity that it feels awful. It means the sickness hasn’t set in. That your body, your spirit, your gut knows this isn’t normal. That we’re still capable of discerning dignity from decay. That our hearts haven’t adapted to the chaos—and that’s worth holding onto.… Read full email…