There will be a reckoning

Authoritarians benefit from an under-informed population—which is precisely why Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Republican Party are carrying out the most sweeping assault on the American mind in modern history.

Dear MoveOn member, Authoritarians benefit from an under-informed population—which is precisely why Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Republican Party are carrying out the most sweeping assault on the American mind in modern history.1 Trump has effectively dismantled the U.S. Department of Education—gutting its staff and attempting to close the department altogether. American children be damned. He's cutting funding to public libraries and museums—invaluable places that provide internet access, literacy programs, and homework help to millions.2 He's going after scientific research. Silencing dissent. Threatening universities, researchers, and students and their free speech and academic freedom. Detaining immigrants—including lawful permanent residents with green cards—for speaking out.3 These efforts aren't about policy, efficiency, or saving taxpayer money. They're about control. It's about creating a culture of fear and complacency. It's about tearing down the means and institutions that allow people to think critically, challenge authority, and participate in democracy. Our country is in enormous danger right now. That's the terrifying worry that keeps me up at night. But we can prevent our democracy's downfall, together. I believe the Trump-Musk regime will ultimately fail, because the backlash to their authoritarianism is growing every day. In the past few weeks, tens of thousands of people across the country showed up to see Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and other progressive champions who have been rallying around the country to urge people to fight against oligarchy.4 I believe a reckoning is coming. But to succeed, we need a massive movement. MoveOn has a plan—using cutting-edge technology—to reach, train, support, organize, and communicate at a scale that is unparalleled in the progressive movement. It won't be easy, but for the sake of our country's future, it must happen. Will you help? Please: Will you start a $5 monthly donation and help MoveOn create a movement so powerful that Trump will face a reckoning he can't ignore? Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately. No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation. Research on other authoritarian regimes gives us the playbook we need to fight back. According to researchers, "no government has withstood a challenge of 3.5% of their population mobilized against it during a peak event."5,6 3.5 percent of the population is 11 million Americans. If we mobilize at this scale, the research shows we'll win. And I believe that mobilizing people at this scale is absolutely achievable. But it won't be easy: It means even more people than attended the Women's March. Even more than Martin Luther King's March on Washington. Getting to that scale will require significant resources. Which is why I'm asking you, Andra: Please help MoveOn build the movement we need to engage 3.5% of the U.S. population in a massive protest movement to stop authoritarianism in America by starting a $5 monthly donation. I'll chip in $5 a month. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately. I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation. Throughout history, tyrants have understood that their major enemy is an educated citizenry. That's why they want an undereducated and complacent population. Slaveholders prohibited enslaved people from learning to read. Nazis burned books. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping censor the media. Trump and his MAGA allies are undermining the institutions—from public schools to libraries—that nourish free thought and informed debate and hoping people will give up hope and be afraid to speak out. MoveOn is working day and night to mobilize the MASSIVE grassroots reckoning that we need to stop this nightmare. That's why your $5 monthly donation is so critical. I'll chip in $5 a month. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately. I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation. Authoritarians want us to feel powerless. But we are not powerless. We've faced darkness before. And we've come through it by joining together, organizing boldly, and refusing to give in. Thanks for all you do. –Robert Reich P.S. The 3.5% rule teaches us that we don't need a majority to defeat tyranny. We just need enough. Enough people with courage. Enough people with clarity. Enough people to say: No more, this ends here. Will you start a $5 monthly donation to help MoveOn's efforts to help mobilize 3.5% or more of the population? Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately. No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation. Sources: 1. "Trump's attack on the American mind," Post by Robert Reich on Substack, March 20, 2025 https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-attack-on-the-american-mind 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. "Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rally tens of thousands in Denver to 'fight oligarchy,'" Colorado Politics, March 24, 2025 https://www.coloradopolitics.com/elections/2026/bernie-sanders-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-rally-tens-of-thousands-in-denver-to-fight-oligarchy/article_b58a784b-e2f7-4127-bda7-9a6e6b07bfcc.html 5. "Questions, Answers, and Some Cautionary Updates Regarding the 3.5% Rule," Harvard Kennedy School Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, April 2020 https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/2024-05/Erica Chenoweth_2020-005.pdf 6. "We Are Living Through Moral Collapse. How Democrats Can Strike Back," Lucid, March 16, 2025 https://lucid.substack.com/p/we-are-living-through-moral-collapse Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us? If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: Donate: $5 monthly Donate: $15 monthly Donate: $50 monthly Donate another amount monthly Or make a one-time gift Contributions to MoveOn Civic Action are not tax-deductible for income tax purposes. MoveOn.org Civic Action - PO Box 96141, Washington, D.C. 20090-6141. ActBlue Civics Inc. is the merchant of record for all transactions made to MoveOn Civic Action using the ActBlue platform. ActBlue Civics Inc. receives and processes these donations before disbursing them to MoveOn Civic Action within 30 days of receipt. This email was sent to Andra Patterson on April 01, 2025. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. MoveOn's privacy policy was recently updated. To read our new privacy policy, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here. Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from MoveOn, please click here.