Your weekly Indivisible to-do’s:

1. Recess. Recess. Recess. This is your opportunity to ask the hard questions your members of Congress (MoCs) have avoided for the past year. And after this week, we’re sure you have a lot of questions to ask them -- from gun violence to Dreamers to the Russia investigation. Check out our complete recess toolkit (resources, town hall questions, and a list of town halls) here.
   
   
2. We have THREE new tools to support your organizing. Raise money to support your group’s work. Read our FAQ on campaign finance and compliance. And apply for a certificate of insurance so you can reserve meeting space for your group!
   
   
3. Would you like to talk through your group’s 2018 plans with an Indivisible organizer? If so, fill out this form and one of our amazing organizers will be in touch!

Dear Group Leaders,

We’re going to be honest... this week was hard.

When we sat down to write this email, we were ready to write all about recess, poke fun at Republicans, and get you pumped for 7 days of loud, bold action. We’re still going to do (some of) that, but we want to say something else first: 

Our country is in a moral, political, democratic crisis.

Indivisible -- and the thousands of groups in the country -- was founded in reaction to the crisis of the election. And your work last year was in reaction to the crises repeatedly created by Trump and the GOP’s legislative agenda. But as each week passes, these crises compound on one another. At times, they feel insurmountable.  

This week was one of the toughest weeks so far in the Trump era. 17 young people lost their lives in a horrific school shooting in Florida. And less than 24 hours later, Senate Republicans tried to use Dreamers as a bargaining chip for a mass deportation agenda written by a white supremacist. This all happened in just two days.

In the Trump era, it sometimes feels like our hearts grow heavier by the day. Trump and his enablers in Congress create real, deep trauma either through inaction or through attempting to advance harmful agendas. They refuse to pass laws to prevent gun violence, no matter how many lives are lost or how popular these bills are. They refuse to pass laws to create a more humane, common sense immigration system that protects Dreamers from deportation and keeps families together. They choose big donors and white supremacy (oftentimes big donors who are white supremacists!) over their constituents each and every day.  

Republicans created this crisis. Period. End of story.

This is their strategy: a relentless assault on our values, our sanity, and our people. They’re hoping that we let cynicism take over. That we begin to opt-out. That we stop resisting. This has been their strategy long before Trump became president.  

But it’s up to us not to let cynicism creep in and take over. We have to take the anger, the sorrow, the outrage and turn it to action… just like we did in the weeks and months after the election.

Next week is our opportunity to create a crisis for the Republicans.

Last year, the Indivisible movement turned outrage into action during February recess. You showed the world what's possible when people show up to hold their members of Congress (MoCs) accountable. At town halls. At district offices. At public events. Then, over the course of 12 months, you ground the GOP’s legislative agenda to a halt and won groundbreaking elections from Alabama to Virginia and everywhere in between. 

Next week, we can do it again. Recess is our opportunity to take back the narrative, tell our stories, and push our agenda and our people into the mainstream. Here’s what you can do:

1. Visit our all-inclusive recess resource at recess.indivisible.org to get prepared to face your MoCs and ask the hard questions they have avoided for the past year. Both the House and Senate are on recess from February 17 (today) to February 25.
   
   
2. Find a town hall near you and show up. Thanks to our friends at the Town Hall Project, we have all of next week’s halls up on our website right now. This resource will be updated regularly to include any town halls that may come up, so keep checking back.
   
   
3. If your MoC is hiding from you, don’t worry -- we have a solution. Hold a (not so) empty chair town hall for them: show them that whether they show up or not, their constituents will always be there to ask the hard questions and hold them accountable. Here’s our toolkit for planning your own event. Once you’ve planned an event, register it on our map here and we’ll help promote it to people in your area!

From DACA to gun violence to their 2017 votes on the tax scam and healthcare, your MoCs need to hear from you this week. We have the opportunity to shine a light on the GOP’s cynicism and their obstructionism with our collective action.

And just like last year, we can breathe new hope into the progressive movement that will carry us through the hard days, weeks, and months of the Trump Administration… all the way through to the blue wave in November.

This week’s #TrumpThreatLevel

• The way Trump treats the threat of gun violence versus the way he treats the threat of terrorism is evidence of his white supremacist agenda. This week has illustrated that, when it comes to preventing gun deaths perpetrated by a white shooter, Trump and Congressional Republicans are prepared to look the other way -- but when the shooter is a person of color, they immediately propose racist solutions (such as a Muslim ban or building a wall).

• Trump and the GOP’s refusal to address gun violence is one of the biggest security threats we face. There have been 30 mass shootings so far this year, and 18 school shootings. The GOP’s utter unwillingness to consider any measures that could prevent gun violence is a threat to the health and safety of our families and communities.

• Trump’s White House is full of people who should not have access to classified information. Over 130 White House political appointees, including dozens of people who report directly to Trump, did not have permanent security clearances as of November 2017, including Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and White House counsel Don McGahn. These people have access to some of our nation’s most closely-held secrets, even though there is something in their background that has raised concern for those vetting them.

Be sure to read our running list of all the ways Trump is making us less safe and keep up-to-date on the #TrumpThreatLevel.

Need help with your 2018 plans?

We’ve seen some creative, amazing plans for 2018 from Indivisibles across the country. Whether you’re getting involved in elections, building up and strengthening your group, or planning large actions, we know you’re all going to be very, very busy this year!

There’s a lot on the line, but hard work will pay off! So, if you’d like to talk through your group’s 2018 plans with an Indivisible organizer, you can fill out this form, and one of our great teammates will be in touch with you!

In solidarity,
The Indivisible Team