Ezra Levin
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Morning Wire
Tariffs Trigger Turmoil & Anti-Trump Protests Erupt | 4.7.25
One of the beautiful things about this is it's meeting people where they are. We are all coming to this for a different reason. We can say hands off the Department of Education, hands off our Social Security, hands off our Medicaid, hands off trans kids, hands off our communities, hands off our civil rights, hands off our democracy.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Dieser Kerl ist kein normaler republikanischer Präsident. Diese Administration leitet nicht wie ein normaler konservativer Regierung. Es ist nicht nur etwas, mit dem wir ideologisch auf Bildung und Wirtschaftspolizei unterscheiden. Es gibt einen Angriff auf die grundlegenden Normen der liberalen Demokratie. Ich würde gerne sagen können, dass es nicht ernsthaft ist. Man muss sich nicht kümmern.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Aber die ganze Idee des autoritären Spielbuches ist es, das Angriff auf die Entschlossenheit zu beheben, es zu marginalisieren, es zu machen, dass die Menschen Angst haben, dass, wenn sie sprechen, es Konsequenzen gibt.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
And there is no full proof plan to address that on our side other than strengthen numbers, other than getting as many people out to accept some level of risk personally and to stand up for democracy. I think this is not to get too schmaltzy about it, but it's one of the inspiring things that we experience every day. Untertitelung des ZDF für funk, 2017
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
And they see what's going on and they're deciding to take on risk in order to stand up for their values. And because they're doing it, other people see them do it and get the courage to do it too. The kind of the bumper sticker, courage is contagious, is a bumper sticker. But it's also true and it applies not just to individuals, it applies to institutions as Leo was talking about.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Universities are looking left and right, law firms are looking left and right, politicians are looking left and right and trying to think, well, how safe is it for me to show up? Is my neighbor showing up? Are my constituents showing up? Are my students showing up? Oh, okay, I guess I should show up. It's a classic collective action problem.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
You need a lot of people to act and it's in everybody's individual interest to hide under the covers. Unsere Aufgabe ist es zu versuchen, es so einfach und so sicher wie möglich zu machen, dass mehr Leute kommen. Denn wenn sie es tun, dann ist es sicher. Dann sind wir in der Mehrheit. Dann sind sie marginalisiert.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Dann ist es fremd und unverzichtbar für sie, sich auf friedliche Proteste zu kratzen. Aber die Angst ist wahr, aber das ist der Plan. Das ist ihr Ziel, diese Angst zu verbreiten.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Ich denke, es ist nur unheilig, wenn die Leute die einzige Erfahrung mit Politik haben, als Konsument politischer Medien. I think it's important to consume political media to become informed about the world. You want to know what's going on, but what we advise people to do is not just be a consumer.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Politics should not be something that you just treat as a TV show that you watch, that you are not some sort of victim of world events. You are an active participant in it. And so by all means, listen to the Bulwark, listen to Tim. You'll get informed. You'll learn about the world. That is great. But don't shut it off and then go to your next task. Think about what do you do with that information?
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
And so for us, our unit of activism is not the individual. Our unit of activism is the local group. We've got a couple thousand local indivisible groups spread across every congressional district in the country. And that's important information. Because those groups foster action. They don't exist just to talk about political media. They exist to focus on where do we have leverage?
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Maybe our Republican Senator doesn't give a shit about us. Okay, we're not going to push them now. But maybe we've got a city council person or a state legislature or a US rep or a governor. We can push there. Let's talk about how we collectively use our power. What's the next thing we're doing? Is there a march that we're showing up? Is there an op-ed that we can write?
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Is there a town hall we can go to? But taking that step from being informed to action, those two things go together. I don't want people taking action if they're not informed. And I also don't want people to just be informed for the sake of being depressed about the state of the world.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Can I just make a meta-comment? We don't do a ton of interviews together and it's kind of funny because Lee and I play very different roles in the organization. She's like the brilliant strategy and thinker and I'm like the enthusiast and I think it's on full display in this interview.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Ich weiß nicht. Schau, es gibt so viel Macht im Nein. There is such power in no. And when you look across the world at creeping authoritarianism and the movements that push back successfully against them, they did not agree on what the ruling party should do after the authoritarian was taken down. Sie haben es nicht getan. Und das ist wirklich wichtig.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Wir müssen eine hart politische Wahrheit erkennen. Wir haben das White House verloren. Wir haben das Haus verloren. Wir haben das Senate verloren. Der rote Junge mit kleinen Händen setzt die Agenda jede Woche. Was auch immer er auf Truth Social postet, plötzlich ist das, worüber wir sprechen. Das sind die Auswirkungen, die in 2024 auf nationalem Niveau ausgewertet werden.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Also haben wir die Möglichkeit, zu reagieren. Das ist das, was wir haben die Möglichkeit zu tun. Wir können auf die Agenda reagieren, die vorgelegt wird. Und deine Antwort kann sein, naja, schauen wir mal, wie wir einige Ziele abschließen können. Vielleicht können wir mit ihnen arbeiten. Oder es kann sein, fuck no, wir gehen nicht mit diesem Kerl zusammen.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Wir erlauben ihm nicht, mehr Kraft in der White House zu konzentrieren. We are in the fuck no category and we are trying to build a unified opposition party that says no. And that unified opposition party should include you, Tim. It should include the socialists in TSA. It should include Matt Iglesias. It should include liberals. It should include progressives.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
We can all agree right now that the political question of the day, which is do we want more authoritarianism or don't we, we can all have the same answer to that. And then we can fight it out in 2029 when we have a unified democratic control of the government. That's great. Let's fight then. But right now to build a mass movement, being able to say, do you want a king?
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Is a king something you want in America? Well, this guy is spending 50 million dollars taxpayer dollars on a military parade on his birthday on June 14th. I'm going to put tanks through the street of D.C. Is that something you want while he comes after your Social Security, your Medicaid, your Medicare? Well, a very big coalition can say no to that.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
And our plan is to have, I don't know, a thousand, two thousand protests around the world on that day everywhere but D.C. And it's going to be driven by normal people who say, no, I don't want kings. I might not agree on economic policy. I might not agree on education policy. But you know what I do agree with these DSA folks on? I don't want kings. You know what I agree with Tim on?
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
I don't want kings. That's great. And then we can fight it out after we actually have a liberal democracy that responds to the will of the people on what the future proactive policy agenda ought to be.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Trump ist die Realität. Und er definiert eine politische Ära. We gotta make it so that's not normal. We've got to get beyond this era. There has to be an era of accountability after this, where we make very clear that people who go along with the demolishing of our institutions face consequences and that that is not something that we as a society accept.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
God, that makes me so sad to think of young people.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Hier ist eine Realität-Bombe. Unsere Kinder sind zwei Jahre alt und vier Jahre alt. Zeke, der ältere, war bei der Protest, als wir Trump verletzt haben, was glorieus war. Und er kennt nur Trump als den Baden, der meine Toys nehmen will. Und der jüngere, der zwei Jahre alt ist, weiß nichts. Genau.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Und tatsächlich, eine steigende Anzahl von Amerikanern kennt ihn als den schlechten Mann, der deine Dosen nehmen will, was großartig ist. Es ist eine ziemlich akkurete Bewertung und mehr akkurete als... Das ist gut.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Wenn wir erfolgreich sind, wird die Geschichte dieser Periode das Zeitpunkt sein, wenn Amerika eine schreckliche autoritären Bedrohung befindet, aber im Endeffekt haben wir es übernommen und wir eine Demokratie wiederentwickelt haben. Und das ist der Zukunft, für den wir uns richten. Ich denke, es ist wirklich wichtig, dass wir nicht nur...
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
get the merit garlands of the world in power again in 2029 and decline to actually prosecute these assholes who are demolishing our institutions. And I think it's actually important not just to have a democratic trifecta in 2029, but to start talking about an accountability agenda now.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Because we want those institutions and those leaders who are considering going along with this guy to think, oh no, if the Democrats win and it looks like they're going to, I might face consequences. I might actually have to face a committee and talk about how I helped implement a deportation agenda that kidnapped Americans and sent them to a work camp in El Salvador.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
I want leaders making that choice. I want airplane pilots deciding whether or not to take off to be thinking about that when they choose whether or not to help this authoritarian. But on Gen Z, the thing I was going to say, I think we suck at reaching Gen Z where they are. Als Pro-Demokratie-Bewegung bei der Demokratischen Partei, glaube ich, dass wir nur unsere Klappe sauber machen.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
So we just hired on somebody from NextGen, one of the lead youth organizers, to lead up our new media operations, specifically with an eye for, look, we don't know what the hell we're doing in this. We're not doing it well right now. How can we do better? How can we actually reach out to different audiences? Because I love getting quoted in New York Times or Washington Post or in MSNBC.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
That's great. It's not enough to reach the populations we need to reach.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
This pisses me off so much because you can almost hear the democratic political consultants talking to elected officials and saying, look, we pulled this issue and immigration is lower, therefore don't talk about immigration. And then you see it in their actions and their speeches. Not everybody, obviously, there are a lot of good ones, but Joe Rogan is pissed off about this.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
I mean, the Google Doc was 23 pages of how do you organize... That is type A to start.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
There are plenty of Republicans and conservatives and und Non-Politiker, die das sehen und sagen, warte, sie kidnappen Leute. Verstehst du mich? Sie nehmen sie einfach aus der Straße, geben ihnen keine Durchführung und senden sie zu einem Arbeitscamp in El Salvador. Das ist unglaublich. Weißt du was?
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Wir müssen nicht auf den Weg der Citizenship, auf die Grenzsicherheit, auf die breitere, komprehensive Immigrationreform stimmen und sagen, hey, weißt du was? The federal government shouldn't be kidnapping people off of the street, because if they can do that to somebody who's brown, they can do it to me, too. Like that.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
That is crazy that that any Democrat would say this is a losing position for us. They're thinking about it in these like 1990s political terms. And we just live in a complete. Ja.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Never write a book with your spouse. We're both very opinionated writers. I write a lot and then Leah kills all of what I've written. And it's just... Das ist wahr.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
War es immer eine Gäste-Ruhe-Schlaf-Situation während des Editing-Prozesses? Aber es gibt dieses Ding, das in 2017, 2018 passiert ist, Leo, das ich viel denke, weil ich denke, es ist eine gute Repräsentation der Rolle, die wir in der Organisation spielen. Wir nutzen eine interne Kommunikationsplattform, eine Slack-Plattform, um intern mit dem Team zu sprechen.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
And somebody proposed that we do something. I don't even remember what it was. It was a strategic play. And Lee and I both responded at the same time. And Leah wrote, maybe, but let's run the traps on this. And I wrote, fuck it, let's do it and be legends. And I think, I actually do think that healthy tension has been beneficial to the organization because you do need both of those impulses.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Tim, you've got to remember, at the time in late 2016, this is Trump is coming in with a unified Republican Congress promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He had future appointees talking about the Japanese internment camps during World War II as a model for what to do with Muslims and immigrants and refugees. People were scared. And there was this organic energy already building, right?
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
We literally last night watching Andor.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Geburtstag. Militärparade in D.C. Protesten überall anders. Ich weiß nicht, wo ich bin. Juni 14.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
And people were looking for, okay, how do we secure our devices? How do we push our elected officials? And Lee and I, being former congressional staffers and having seen the Tea Party in action, we thought, well, look, one thing you can do
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
ist, sich lokal organisiert zu machen, in einer Gruppe, fokussiert auf eure eigenen ausgewählten Offiziere und sagt ihnen, dass sie sich zurückkämpfen, wenn sie Demokraten sind, und sagt ihnen, dass sie die MAGA-Koalition von den Republikanern verlassen und nie einen Winkel geben.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Also schrieb der Guide explizit von der T-Party, der erste Kapitel ist alles um, hier sind Lessons von der T-Party, hier ist, was wir gesehen haben. Wir haben uns nicht mit ihrer Begeisterung, der Rassismus und ihrer Gewalt verabschiedet, aber verdammt, sie wussten, wie man lokal organisiert ist und sie wussten, wie man sich auf ihre ausgewählten Offiziere fokussiert.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Und sie haben nicht alles gewonnen, aber sie konnten einige Dinge zerstören und andere Dinge zerstören. So, look, I mean, we put the Google Doc out. It took off that night. I remember Leah and I, we were like, we did a good thing. It's like people are reading this. This is cool.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
And then we started getting all these responses that all said the exact same thing, which is this guide that you put out is just absolutely chock full of typos. Because it turns out, when you put a document online, that's what you get. But then, as Leah said, what people started doing, they started picking it up and forming these groups. It was an incredible thing.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
And we, at the bottom of the very first page at the end of his book, the original one, we said very explicitly, we're not selling T-shirts, we're not forming an organization, take this and run with it, good luck to you. And then we formed an organization when there was this incredible operative thing von Bewegungsenergie.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Es gab all diese Gruppen, die in Tallahassee oder in Austin oder in Albany angefangen haben, und sie sagten uns, hey, wir haben gerade eine Gruppe zusammen in unserem Wohnzimmer, was tun wir jetzt? Ja, richtig. Und so haben wir angefangen, einfach Volunteure zusammenzuführen und zu sagen, wir müssen all diesen Leuten antworten.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Und dann wurde das in die Individuelle Nationenorganisation eingetreten.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Das wird immer wahr sein. Das war auch in 2016 wahr, Tim. Es gab viele Leute, die hyperfokussiert waren auf Politik, die sofort nach der Wahl schockiert waren, sie wünschten, dass sie mehr gemacht hätten. Und so, was sie in manchen Fällen gemacht haben, war, eine lokale Indivisible Gruppe zu formen, um ihre Gemeinschaft zusammenzubringen.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Wie Lea gesagt hat, you know, days after the election, we left our kids with my mom and then went to a cabin in West Virginia to write the new Indivisible Guide. and then put it out the following week. We had tens of thousands of people join that call to find out, what can I do in this moment?
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
So there was a real gap between how the broader media was covering the reaction to Trump's re-election and how a lot of folks on the ground were responding to it. Like, look, we had more indivisible groups form in November than any month since 2017 when protest was the new brunch. We beat the November number in December. We beat the December number in January.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
We beat the combined number of new local indivisible groups from November, December and January in February and then beat that number in March. So what we were witnessing as organizers on the ground were a lot of folks who were flipping out, but they weren't hiding. They were trying to grapple with the situation and what they were doing was organizing on the ground.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
And they were responding to two things. One was the heinous Trump agenda and the promises that this administration and the Congress was Ja, genau. Absolutely not. We've got to organize against this guy. And I think those two features, which were somewhat similar to 2016, drove this wave of engagement that was largely behind the scenes up until February.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Because in February was congressional recess. And then suddenly... In February, all the headlines were about where the hell did all these people come? They're in Republican districts and they're in Democratic districts and they're angry with Democrats for not fighting back and they're angry with Republicans for backing up Musk and Trump. This is amazing. I guess the resistance isn't dead.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
But for the month, for November, December and January, I can't tell you how many journalists I talked to were like, well, obviously the resistance is dead. There's not going to be any opposition and y'all screwed this up. Yeah. So it's been an interesting journey these last six months, but we're a hell of a lot better off right now than we were six months ago.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Elon Musk ist in der White House mit seinem Hals zwischen seinen Beinen. Wir haben seinen Arsch nach oben und nach unten in Wisconsin in einer Supreme-Court-Runde geschlagen. Donald Trumps Vertrauensrate liegt bei 40 Prozent. Ich meine, ich weiß nicht. Was wir sehen, ist, dass die Räder aus dieser Administration kommen. Und vielleicht nicht fast genug. Wir können Dömer sein.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
Wir sind in einer schmerzhaften Position gerade. Wir sind in einer konstitutionellen Krise. Wir sind in einem Zeitraum eines autoritären Ausbruchs. Wir haben noch nicht gewonnen. But the big, bright, silver lining out there is as institutions like media institutions or law firms or some universities are falling, we're seeing a historic level of pro-democracy grassroots engagement.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
And when you listen to the experts in authoritarianism, what they tell you you need as a bulwark for democracy – sorry – So to speak. You need people, normal everyday people, organizing a broad-based, ideologically diverse, geographically distributed movement of pro-democracy people organizing. That's what works. That's what saves democracy. There's no other silver bullet out there.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
So that's what should give us optimism. Not that Donald Trump is suddenly going to see the light of day or a lot of Republicans are going to join you, Tim, but that normal people are organizing against one of the most unpopular policy agendas and most aggressively anti-democracy administrations in the world. in American History. That's pretty cool. And if we can build that, that's the solution.
The Bulwark Podcast
S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'
You nailed it. First one, Levin.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Busted: DOGE humiliated by brutal fact-checking, walks back bogus savings claims
Really?
The Rachel Maddow Show
Busted: DOGE humiliated by brutal fact-checking, walks back bogus savings claims
Great to see you, Rachel.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Busted: DOGE humiliated by brutal fact-checking, walks back bogus savings claims
I gotta say, I love to see the previous segment with all of those people at town halls, and then the Republicans seeing them, being surprised, and then slightly, as you said, slightly moderating their positions. Look, as we say in the streets, this is what democracy looks like. Now, I'm a former congressional staffer. I can tell you what's going on in those offices. Here's what they're thinking.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Busted: DOGE humiliated by brutal fact-checking, walks back bogus savings claims
They're saying, oh my gosh, there are a lot of people here. Oh my gosh, we might lose the majority over this. Oh my gosh, I might lose my seat over this. Oh my gosh, we've got to do something about this. We've got to tell them to stop. We've got to tell the White House. We've got to tell Senate leadership. We've got to tell House leadership. We've got to put the brakes on this.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Busted: DOGE humiliated by brutal fact-checking, walks back bogus savings claims
This could really endanger us. But they don't say, gosh, they have a lot more expletives behind the scenes. But that's Good. That means they're getting the message. What I would say is our lesson from the first month or so is that pressure is working. That should be the main takeaway. Pressure is working. But as you said, they haven't changed their tune entirely. They've changed a few notes.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Busted: DOGE humiliated by brutal fact-checking, walks back bogus savings claims
It's working, but the pressure can't stop. We're not done yet.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Busted: DOGE humiliated by brutal fact-checking, walks back bogus savings claims
Absolutely. Look, it's one thing when you're asking Republicans to vote for a messaging bill, a piece of legislation that has no chance of becoming law and most people will never hear about it. It's an entirely different political matter when you're actually considering legislation.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Busted: DOGE humiliated by brutal fact-checking, walks back bogus savings claims
that is going to negatively impact your constituents' health care, your constituents' schools, your constituents' families. You're playing with fire there. And when you've got a margin in the House of Representatives of three votes, when you've got a margin in the Senate of four votes, you've got to be really concerned about skittish members.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Busted: DOGE humiliated by brutal fact-checking, walks back bogus savings claims
The way we make them more skittish, though, for those of us who oppose that agenda, is by showing up and putting on this pressure.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Busted: DOGE humiliated by brutal fact-checking, walks back bogus savings claims
Great to see you.
The Rachel Maddow Show
The ridiculous real story behind the tariff plan that turned Donald Trump into a global disaster
Gosh, Rachel, it's been incredible. Can I just say it has been incredible? We knew when we announced three weeks ago on the show that this was going to be the week where we saw an election in Wisconsin. We were cautiously optimistic about that election in Wisconsin for the Supreme Court. We didn't know we were going to kick.
The Rachel Maddow Show
The ridiculous real story behind the tariff plan that turned Donald Trump into a global disaster
Elon Musk's butt all across the state, but we were cautiously optimistic. We also didn't know that Cory Booker was going to give this incredible speech inspiring all of us and telling us that he was taking a stand in response to pushes from his own constituents.
The Rachel Maddow Show
The ridiculous real story behind the tariff plan that turned Donald Trump into a global disaster
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The Rachel Maddow Show
The ridiculous real story behind the tariff plan that turned Donald Trump into a global disaster
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The Rachel Maddow Show
The ridiculous real story behind the tariff plan that turned Donald Trump into a global disaster
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The Rachel Maddow Show
The ridiculous real story behind the tariff plan that turned Donald Trump into a global disaster
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The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump reportedly keen on law at root of disgraceful chapter in American history
Of course, Rachel. Great to be here.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump reportedly keen on law at root of disgraceful chapter in American history
Look, we're going through what's known as a wave moment in organizing circles at Indivisible. We had more local Indivisible groups join. These are volunteers. Start local Indivisible groups in their community in November than any months in 2017. We beat the November month in December, beat the December month in January, beat the January month in February. It's mid-March.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump reportedly keen on law at root of disgraceful chapter in American history
We've had over 100 local indivisible groups join, and these are peaceful protesters shown up to make their voices heard in red states, purple states, blue states. So how's it going? Well, the opposition has taken note and criticized us, so I think it's going pretty darn well.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump reportedly keen on law at root of disgraceful chapter in American history
So for the last several weeks, we've been hearing from old and new Indivisible group leaders, hey, we're all getting together. We're doing these actions locally. But when do we actually really hit the streets? When do we all show up in mass? That's what this is. I want to be clear. This is not just Indivisible.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump reportedly keen on law at root of disgraceful chapter in American history
We're partnering with the brilliant folks over at 5051, with Labor, with lots of other folks. But this is an organic, energy-fed moment. Anybody, anybody who is watching this can sign up. and register an event in their community to say, look, hands off our jobs, hands off our democracy, hands off our volcano observatories.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump reportedly keen on law at root of disgraceful chapter in American history
My God, we need to show up because Doge and this administration is negatively impacting all of us in all of our communities. So, yes, there's going to be a big presence in D.C., But it's not just D.C. I want to see this in rural areas, in suburban areas, in urban areas, in red states, purple states, blue states. And it's going to take all of us.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump reportedly keen on law at root of disgraceful chapter in American history
So this is an opportunity for all of us to stand up together and demonstrate the power, the people power that is against Doge, against Musk, against Trump.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump reportedly keen on law at root of disgraceful chapter in American history
Thanks, Rachel.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
Thank you. I have the best constituents in America, Rachel.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
Well, I can only speak for myself, but I can tell you I'm incredibly disappointed. I think this is the wrong move. And I'm really proud of House Democrats. We stood together. This was a tough circumstance. There is no perfect answer here.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
But I think it's very clear to me that if Trump and Musk are given six more months to run a rough shot over our agencies, to have cuts that, you know, maybe are not able to be defended against with with the Impoundment Control Act lawsuits maybe being undercut. You know, with this CR maybe validating some of that, I thought that, look, this wasn't that close of a call.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
And as far as the government shutdown, big chunks of the government are being shut down right now before our eyes. We see it at the VA. We see it the Social Security Administration. We see it across the board, the Department of Education. You know, and at the end of the day, we have to stand up and we have to fight against all of this.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
And I'm proud that virtually all of my House Democratic colleagues did that. And I know that at least my two senators, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, are fighting back. And look, there's still time before the vote tomorrow. I hope that Chuck Schumer hears loud and clear that so many of us think this is the wrong decision.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
It's really sad. I have a huge veteran population in my district, so we know that roughly a third of the federal workers are veterans, and a lot of the people who are getting let go are veterans. I think it's all about the personal stories, whether it's the veteran that loses their job or
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
no longer can get the health care the way that they're used to, or whether it's the senior who doesn't have access to Social Security the way that they used to, or the children that don't have the nutrition assistance that they need to have enough to eat. The real world toll that this is taking on people, I think, is the most important thing.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
It's not even about Democrats and Republicans as much as it is the people that we represent. And it's just a tragic, tragic situation. And my hope is that we can continue to tell those stories, Rachel, ultimately the people that are impacted by this.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
I'm very concerned. And, you know, I'm pleased that the Biden administration was able to get 200 judges in there in their four years. But this is one of the reasons that I am so adamantly opposed to the Republican CR, because it could be seen as validating a lot of what Trump and Musk have been doing.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
It could be seen retroactively as validating a lot of these actions, which I think are clearly in violation of the Impoundment Control Act, along with other federal laws like the Anti-Deficiency Act. And we have to do everything we can to fight back. And the reality, Rachel, is we have an alternative. There is a real alternative.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
And that is a one month clean continuing resolution so that appropriators like me can actually come to the table. There was no effort by Republicans whatsoever to try to get a single Democratic idea incorporated into that bill.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
There was there were no meetings to to talk about things, for example, like the California wildfire aid that's needed or for all the community project funding that we need for our districts. It was Republicans controlling the White House, House and Senate jamming this through on a party line vote.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
And I hope that the Senate will have courage tomorrow because the alternative is six more months of this mess.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
Thank you, Rachel.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
Next time I'm in California, I owe you.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
I'll take it. Come moderate our town hall one of these days. We'd love to have you.
The Rachel Maddow Show
'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring
All right. We're going to take you up on that. All right. Thank you, Rachel.