This is not normal. It’s time for action.

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Dear Friend,

What’s happening right now in Washington, DC is not normal. Two weeks into the new Trump Administration, and the country faces a serious constitutional crisis. Trump is violating laws, ignoring the constitution, turning over access to sensitive U.S. Treasury data to an oligarch, attacking immigrants and trans folks, restricting access to critical government websites, firing government watchdogs, and more. Trump and Musk are orchestrating a hostile takeover of the U.S. government. 

Imagine how U.S. media might report about what’s going on were it taking place in another country. Journalist and Historian Garrett Graff has done just that, writing a dispatch as if he were a foreign correspondent reporting on what’s unfolding in the U.S. right now. (Citations for the issues we list in the opening paragraph can be found in Garret’s excellent article.)

This is an unprecedented time, and we’ve heard from a number of people in Katal’s network who are feeling deeply unsettled, frightened, or who are just mad as hell about what’s going on. You’re not alone. That’s why we wanted to reach out today – we remain steadfast in our belief that collective action is the antidote for overwhelm and despair, so let’s turn to what actions we can take to fight back right now.

1. Call your representatives in Congress. Congress must act NOW.

Find your elected representatives, their numbers, and useful call scripts – by using this helpful tool from 5calls.

Tell your representatives that they must not allow Trump to violate the Constitution.  And tell your Senators to vote NO on two unfit nominations to the cabinet:

  • NO on Russell Vought, the Project 2025 architect now nominated for the Office of Budget Management; and 
  • NO on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy’s nomination is rightly opposed by thousands of doctors and public health groups. 

2Email your Senators, tell them to vote no on Vought and RFK Jr. After you call, send an email with this quick online email tool. It takes only one minute – the message is already ready to go, or you can draft your own version. 

3Visit your Congressional reps their district offices. We’re planning visits to the in-district offices of congressional representatives. If you’d like to join, or get more information, let us know. Or head there on your own! Here’s a toolkit from Indivisible about in-district meetings with Senators.

4. Join meetings, events, and actions with other people and groups. Last night, we joined a national call with 50,000 people to talk about fighting back against the Trump/Musk assault on democracy. The call was convened by Indivisible, the Working Families Party, and MoveOn. Here’s our notes from the call. It’s a time for solidarity and movement building  – find actions and events going on and join where you can! 

5Follow helpful media: Below, we’ve listed a few articles that we think are worth checking out, from people doing good writing/reporting on this moment. What media are you following right now? Let us know by responding to this email. 

6. Take inspiration from people taking action together now: Just this past weekend, protests broke out around the country. Today is a Day Without Immigrants, where many businesses have closed in solidarity with immigrants who are under attack by the Trump administration. Also today are actions unfolding in DC with others taking place around the country, including a rally to protect trans kids in NYC tonight at 6:30 in Manhattan, and actions across the nation planned for later this week.  People are moving together! 

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We’re thrilled to see that around the country, people are coming together to fight back. There are already signs that when confronted with firm resistance, Trump backs down. Let’s do this. 

More to come,

Lorenzo and gabriel

Cofounders

Katal Center

Articles of interest

Nathan Tankus from Notes on the Crises provides a detailed summary about the implications of Elon Musk gaining access to the payment system at the U.S. Treasury

Parker Malloy writes how The Media Is Missing the Story: Elon Musk Is Staging a Coup

Jeet Heer, in The Nation: Who Will Stop Elon Musk’s Coup? 

Scott Nakagawa on The Most Immediate Threats to Democracy

On Democracy Now, Lori Wallach talked about what the Trump tariff’s mean and why they’re a problem.

Graphic by Josh MacPhee

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