Indivisibles,

Welcome to 2025 (for better or worse). Hey, at least we’re here together!
Things are about to get chaotic with the new GOP congress just sworn in
and the inauguration just around the corner. So I want to start the year
with this reminder: While MAGA controls the federal government, their
coalition is fragile, their leaders are malevolent muppets, and their
agenda is deeply unpopular -- and we still live in a representative
democracy that depends on the consent of the governed. Democracy is
undeniably diminished, but MAGA is not all powerful. We can save lives,
prevent damage, slow their assault, and ultimately fracture their
coalition while building our own. 

That doesn’t mean we’ll all be ok. But it does mean we have something to
hope for and work toward. I’d like to talk about those hopes and that work
in this movement of ours.

The Summary:

The News: What’s clear is that a healthy segment of elite society is
greeting Trump 2.0 with open arms. From media institutions, to
corporations, to wayward elected Democrats with their tails tucked between
their legs -- the capitulation caucus has been growing. But on the ground,
I see a wave of courageous opposition building -- and we need this to win.

The Brag: Let’s shine some love on the hundreds of new Indivisible groups
that have formed in the past few weeks! Welcome newcomers to the movement!
And also, I want to be sure y’all catch Leah on Chris Hayes’ podcast this
coming Tuesday -- [ [link removed] ]listen here when it drops. 

The Discussion: This month is going to be chaotic with the new MAGA
congress and inauguration, so every remaining Thursday in January, Leah
and I will be hosting a live discussion. For this week, we’ll focus on
this nascent, maliciously incompetent congress that will attempt to
legislate for the next two years. [ [link removed] ]Register and send us a question here.

The News: Combating the capitulation caucus

A lot of people have been [ [link removed] ]taking a break from the news these past
couple months. And for good reason: A lot of the news is depressing, with
a sense of impending doom. If you’ve been watching, you’ve probably seen
elite actors from the business world, nonprofit institutions, mainstream
media, and politicians rush to protect themselves from a coming, vengeful
Trump administration. Rather than steel themselves in preparation for a
fight, these elite figures are joining what I’ve been calling the
“Capitulation Caucus.” Across several realms, elites in positions of power
are signaling that while they may have had raised alarms before, now that
Trump 2.0 is inevitable, they’re happy to go along to get along. A few
examples:

* In February of 2017, shortly after Trump’s first inauguration, the
Washington Post adopted a bold new slogan: “Democracy Dies in
Darkness.” In 2024, their billionaire owner [ [link removed] ]vetoed the paper’s
endorsement of Harris, and [ [link removed] ]then donated $1 million to the Trump
inauguration. 
* Biden ran a forceful -- and truthful -- campaign against Trump
accurately describing him as a dire [ [link removed] ]threat to our democracy and
said he should be “locked up.” And then days after the election Biden
held a limp photo op at the White House and promised Trump to do
“[ [link removed] ]everything we can to make sure you're accommodated.”
* Democratic electeds like Tom Suozzi are loudly calling “[ [link removed] ]to find
compromise on parts of the president-elect’s agenda.” Similarly, the
embattled and corrupt Democratic Mayor Eric Adams is [ [link removed] ]bending over
backwards to get a pardon from Trump. Even some progressives like Ro
Khanna are lending credibility to Trump and Musk’s shadow attempt to
eviscerate federal programs and give handouts to tech billionaires --
arguing there’s an opportunity for “[ [link removed] ]huge bipartisan cooperation.”

Our fellow democratic compatriot Marc Elias wrote more extensively on
capitulation [ [link removed] ]here, which I’d recommend reading in whole. But here’s
the killer quote: “There is no segment of civil society that has been
untouched by this capitulation. Some in positions of great power are
preemptively acting powerless. Too many with the loudest microphones are
turning them down. Most disturbing, those with the greatest wealth are
acting like they are the poorest and most vulnerable.” 

An alternative to capitulation: courage. 

I want to be clear: showing up for immigrants and trans kids, fighting
back against cuts to Social Security, and calling out kleptocratic
giveaways to corrupt billionaires are all the morally right things to do.
You’ll get to tell your grandkids about how you fought in this moment. But
you don’t have to be a bleeding heart liberal to adopt this strategy. You
can be the most heartlessly cynical Democratic operative and see that the
Democrats’ path to retaking federal power depends on them banding together
to make a unified case against the Project 2025 agenda.  

After all, it was our unified posture between 2017-2018 that saved
countless lives by protecting the Affordable Care Act, defeated some of
the worst attacks on immigrants and refugees, and won us back the House
with the largest midterm margins in the history of our republic. 

The good news is courage is contagious. And there’s a serious case of
courage spreading fast across the country.

The week after the election, our release of [ [link removed] ]Indivisible: A Practical
Guide to Democracy on the Brink drew over 40,000 people. That’s the single
largest call Indivisible has ever hosted on our own -- even including the
halcyon days of 2017 when protest was “the new brunch.”

In the weeks since the new Indivisible guide release, I’ve kicked off
three separate meetings with about 1,500 new Indivisible leaders who
joined to learn how to start a new local Indivisible group. And since the
election, 200 new local Indivisible groups have officially formed and
registered so far -- literally the biggest jump in group numbers we’ve
seen since 2017.

And when Leah or I have joined local or statewide Indivisible calls in the
last two months -- from Indivisible Colorado to Michigan, from Florida to
New Jersey -- the thing we hear over and over again from group leaders is
that they are seeing tons of growth and new energy. The people who were
organizing already are still in it, the people who stepped back in recent
years are re-joining, the people who got activated in the Harris campaign
wave are now organizing locally…you get the idea.

In this moment, I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes about how
politics in a representative democracy works. Leah and I liked it so much
we included it both in the original Indivisible guide and the new one.
It’s from an 18th century French politician: “There go the people. I must
follow them, for I am their leader.”

Here’s my prediction: In the weeks to come, a lot of electeds and other
elites are going to see rising backlash and opposition to the chaos,
cruelty, and corruption that’s coming. And they’re going to shift course.
They’re going to follow us, because they are our leaders.

The Discussion: How to make friends and influence democracy

I’m down to keep writing these newsletters, but a new year is a good
excuse to do a check-in on what’s working, what’s not, and what you’d like
to see more or less of. Maybe long-winded newsletters like this one
(sorry) work for you. Or maybe we should do something else. I’m all ears.

So in the spirit of experimentation, learning, and growth, can I invite
you to a chat? Or several? I know this is going to be a chaotic month with
a ton of political developments, and I’d like to create a space where we
can reflect back, provide some analysis, and foster real discussion across
the movement on how we can best organize, message, and strategically
engage wherever we are. 

With that goal in mind, Leah and I will be holding a weekly discussion
every Thursday in January at 3pm ET / noon PT. That’s 1/9, 1/16, 1/23, and
1/30. We’ll open with some reflections on news of the day, but mostly
we’ll be taking in your questions -- which you can send ahead of time or
ask live. We can’t get to everything in these chats, but we can cover a
lot of ground. 

So please join us for the first one this Thursday. We’ll cover news of the
week, the early signs of chaos from the newly convened GOP congress, and
how we’re bracing for impact ahead of inauguration. Hope to see you there!
[ [link removed] ]You can register and submit questions here for the next one.

The Brag: Movement growth + Leah on Chris Hayes’ podcast this week!

I’ve already bragged a lot about the surge in Indivisible movement growth
these past two months. 200 new groups all over the country! In a world of
AI-generated nonsense and inflated marketing statistics, it can be tough
to really see through BS and get a sense for what’s real. Well, this is
real. Let me give you a sense of what we’re seeing:

* Colorado Native Indivisible (Colorado)
* Indivisible Cincinnati (Ohio)
* Jefferson Area Indivisible (Missouri)
* Indivisible Missoula (Montana)
* Indivisible Hilo One (Hawaii)
* Indivisible Pinoy Blues (California)
* Indivisible Dallas (Texas)
* Indivisible Lincoln County (Maine)
* Indivisible Honeoye Falls -- Mendon (New York)
* Big Horn County Indivisible (Wyoming)
* Silver Spring Progressive Action (Maryland)

If you’ve just started a group -- welcome! If you’re in an existing group
and seeing a surge of membership, awesome! If you’d like Leah or I to join
an upcoming meeting, let your local Indivisible organizer know -- we’re
talking to a lot of Indivisible groups these days and love doing it. But
don’t wait for us. Get to organizing. 

If you’re looking for an immediate next action item, we’re working with
locals nationwide to spend MLK Day (aka inauguration day) as a local day
of community service. What better way to begin our defiance of an
overreacting MAGA assault on our communities than digging in deep with our
communities? If you’re interested in coordinating on that, [ [link removed] ]see our
resources here.

But one of the other things I get to do as co-ED is brag on my fellow
co-ED and spouse, Leah. I took the kids out to burgers last week while
Leah sat down with Chris Hayes to talk about the new Indivisible guide and
where we go from here. You can catch their conversation on his podcast
here when it comes out on Tuesday -- [ [link removed] ]please listen and share!

Thank you for looking at 2025 square in the face and deciding to do
something about it. We’re with you, and so are thousands of new
Indivisible leaders around the country. 

In solidarity,
Ezra

Ezra Levin

[16]Indivisible Co-Executive Director

Pronouns: He/him

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