Indivisibles,

It feels like a decade of political time has passed since my last
newsletter a couple weeks ago. Let me start with a reminder: We’re all
here to defeat Trump, build a Dem trifecta, codify reproductive rights,
and pass democracy reform. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. And in
this moment, I believe we’re at a hinge point in American history. People
will write about what happened in June, July, and August of 2024 for years
to come. So let’s get to that first draft of history here: 

Summary:

The News: The Republican convention drove home two points for me: The GOP
unified its embrace of anti-democratic MAGA extremism. And Donald Trump is
an eminently beatable candidate.

The Brag: Project 2025 is finally getting public attention. That’s a good
thing because it is extremely politically damaging for Trump and the
Republicans who are attached to it. I’m proud we called this shot early
and named our entire electoral program "Project 2024." 

The Discussion: We know folks are anxious about all the talk about Biden
staying or going. Things are moving fast here, so this Monday at 4pm
ET/1pm PT Leah and I want to host another live discussion. To keep these
cozy, we don’t record these chats -- if you want to join the conversation,
join the conversation. [ [link removed] ]Register here and share any thoughts on your
mind.

The News: The National MAGA Convention

The chasm between buildup and reality. There’s been a lot of buildup to
this RNC among the chattering class. Here’s what we were told: This was
going to be a new Trump. The Republicans were moderating. They were
distancing themselves from Project 2025. They were softening their stance
on abortion rights. And, after an unhinged registered Republican gun nut
-- using a weapon Democrats have tried for years to ban -- attempted (and,
thankfully, failed) to kill Trump, we were told Republicans would be
striking a message of unity.

Well, that didn’t happen.

The four days of the RNC presented the MAGA vision for the future. Unity?
When Republicans talk about “unity,” they aren’t talking about coming
together as a country. They’re talking about the rest of us shutting up
and falling in line with their Project 2025 MAGA agenda. As Vice President
Harris said, [ [link removed] ]unity is more than a word. 

On the very first day of this “unity” convention, Senator Ron Johnson
declared Democrats to be a “[ [link removed] ]clear and present danger to America.” Then
Marjorie Taylor Greene, an open white nationalist, got her own plum
speaking spot. She was followed by North Carolina GOP gubernatorial
candidate Mark Robinson, most infamous for recently observing of his
political opponents: “[ [link removed] ]Some folks need killin’.” The next day we saw
right-wing wackadoodle and failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari
Lake kick off her speech by attacking the free press. The following day we
got Tucker Carlson, a Christian Nationalist so extreme that even Fox News
dropped him, praising Trump and JD Vance in a primetime spot. Needless to
say, if what you’re going for is unity, you don’t put Tucker Carlson on in
the lead-up to your main speaker.

But let’s talk about JD Vance -- arguably the most MAGA senator in
Congress. He recently has said, “[ [link removed] ]I certainly would like abortion to be
illegal nationally.” That’s the full quote. He urged the Justice
Department to unilaterally -- without Congress -- [ [link removed] ]ban the shipment of
abortion medication nationwide. And immediately after the shooting at
Trump’s rally Saturday, it was [ [link removed] ]JD Vance who offered the most alarmist,
partisan, and (we would soon learn) factually inaccurate take, directly
blaming Biden for instigating the attack. A functional party would have
punished this irresponsible behavior at such a tenuous moment for the
country. Instead, the Republican Party declared Vance the future.

And then there was Trump. The only thing I’ll say about Trump's speech is
this: It was the longest, most incomprehensible, and I would argue worst
nomination acceptance speech in American history. Frankly, I was thankful
for how bad it was. It was the only part of the MAGA fest that gave me
hope.

In short, the Republican Convention showed us a modern Republican Party
that is united in its extremism and its fealty to Donald Trump. And Donald
Trump showed us a candidate we can beat.

The Brag: Project 2024

When I first saw Project 2025, I was horrified. I’ve written about it in
these newsletters and elsewhere for months. In the 900-page plan for a
second Trump term, they describe in detail how they will hollow out the
administrative state, concentrate power in the White House, and bulldoze
forward with a radical right-wing agenda. Scary stuff!

It is so bad that it is a real, actual political liability. It’s hard to
stress how unusual this is! I have no idea when in past history a think
tank paper actually made the jump to becoming an election issue. But our
judgment immediately upon seeing it was that Project 2025 is just that
horrifying.

That’s why when Indivisible launched its program for winning the election
this year, we titled it “[ [link removed] ]Project 2024.” Because the best way to stop
Project 2025 is with a massive grassroots-fueled voter contact program
that brings home the stakes of this election. That’s Indivisible’s Project
2024.

I’m very happy that Project 2025 is catching fire now. Earlier this month,
Google search results for “Project 2025” [ [link removed] ]surpassed “Taylor Swift” and
the NFL. We’re making headway in turning this extremist plan into the
political liability for Trump and his MAGA allies that it should be.

[ [link removed] ]If you want to help us do more work spreading the word about Project
2025 and the stakes of this election, help us do that by throwing in some
support here.

The Discussion: Things are in flux, so let’s talk.

The media landscape has been overwhelmed by one story over the past three
weeks: will Joe Biden stay in the race?

I know many of us are frustrated that this is the story. When Donald Trump
was convicted of 34 felonies, it was a flash-in-the-pan story. We got
almost nothing on his unhinged and incomprehensible performance on the
debate stage with Biden. The Supreme Court issued decisions that gutted
the administrative branch and declared the President above the law -- and
those got headlines for maybe a day. 

There are other big stories, but we can’t pretend this isn’t a real,
major, live discussion. As of this writing Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer,
Hakeem Jeffries, Adam Schiff, and dozens of House and Senate Democrats
have publicly or privately said that Biden should pass the baton. This is
not idle chatter -- it’s a coordinated campaign that may or may not result
in a new nominee. Still, it’s not guaranteed to be a successful campaign.
Bernie Sanders, AOC, Elizabeth Warren, and many others have vocally
expressed support for Biden staying in. In short, it’s a real mess.

Look, I have my own opinions, but I am not the Indivisible movement --
Indivisible is made up of thousands of local groups in every state in the
country. So after the debate, our response was to reach out to Indivisible
leaders and take the pulse of the movement. 

We’ve spent the last few weeks talking to group leaders and members, and
the picture we got back was mixed. As of last week, folks were
enthusiastic about Vice President Harris, but unsure about what should
happen next. Some folks think Harris would be more likely to win. Some
folks think Biden is more likely to win. Some folks just didn’t know. And
just about everybody seemed to have a high level of anxiety that Democrats
were fighting among themselves instead of focusing on defeating Trump.

That was a week ago -- which is to say, a lifetime politically. Since
then, we’ve had the shooting at Trump’s rally, an RNC, and a ton of public
and private developments from senior senators and representatives. So I’d
like to check back in.

On Monday we’re holding another coffee chat with Indivisible members at
4pm ET. These are informal spaces for you to ask questions and for us to
offer our perspective based on what we’re seeing. [ [link removed] ]Please register
here, and I’d encourage you to share any thoughts you may have on the
issue, and any questions you have. Leah and I will read through it all
ahead of the chat Monday.

Looking forward to Monday. Until then, remember: Trump lost the popular
vote in 2016. MAGA lost the House in 2018. Trump lost the popular vote and
Electoral College in 2020. The Red Wave evaporated in 2022. And Donald
Trump just gave the worst convention party speech in American history.
Onward.

In solidarity,
Ezra

Ezra Levin

[12]Indivisble Co-Executive Director

Pronouns: He/him

PS: What’s new in Zeke and Lila land? Lila, at 16 months, squeals with
mischievous delight when she lunges for our coffee cups (she was
successful once and it has been her mission to repeat the victory ever
since). Zeke, at 3.75 years, has honed his skill at extending his bedtime
routine as long as possible. Last night after his three nightly Spider-Man
stories, he said, “Hey daddy do you know there’s a snake called an
ANACONDA??” And then he proceeded to tell me all about anacondas, and ask
a dozen questions: where do they live? Will they come to our house? How
big do their mouths get? What do they eat? Will they eat people? Why won’t
they eat people? Next time you go on a trip, will you bring me one?

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