Thank you for all the recommends, shares and tweets!
If you’re new to this, it’s the 4th in a series of diaries with action items specific to addressing the threat of Russian interference in our election. Here is the first diary in the series: A Ten Point Action Plan for Resisting Putin’s Takeover of America.
Here are the actions for Tuesday, December 13 - one week until the EC votes.
Key Actions Today:
- Call your senator to ask them to support an intelligence briefing for the Electors on Putin interference. Take a few minutes first to revise the script from yesterday (see sample below).
- Then call your 2nd Senator.
- Donate to the legal funds that will pay legal fees and fines for Electors who decide they cannot vote for Trump. The link goes to Larry Lessig’s Electors’ Trust website.
- Taunt Trump on Twitter with #PutinsPuppet. Remember Sun-Tzu’s advice from the Art of War: “If your enemy is choleric, irritate him.”
- Make your plans for Inauguration Day and the day after, and share them. If you’re going to the protest in DC and want to meet up with other Kossacks, post something in the comments thread. I’m going to DC and I’m bringing two people with me. Parallel marches are happening on other major cities.
The actions above are the things that I am personally committing to do today, but it’s far from a complete list of all the things that could be done. There are lots of other things that you can do - please post them below
Based on wise counsel from our own DailyKos #HamiltonElector RWN, we recommend that you not lobby the Electors directly. The most important thing you can do to help them is to lobby the Senators to release the evidence so that the Electors can make their decisions with full knowledge of the situation and make up their own minds.
Developments Since Yesterday:
Key Messages Today:
- Turkey is already using Trump’s business interests against American interests. He must divest or resign!
- Trump is irreparably damaged by Putin and Erdogan. Our allies will never be able to trust him. Our enemies will use this against us.
- Trump is the person our Founding Fathers feared. Release the Electors to do their duty.
Draft Scripts for Phone Calls:
Hi! I’m [Kascade Kat] and I’m calling to ask for Senator Murray’s support for the Electors’ efforts to get an intelligence briefing before they vote. We can’t let our electors finalize their votes without this - they may make a decision they’ll regret for the rest of their lives.
Help Spread the Word with Bonus Actions:
- Bonus #1: Share the original diary and this one on Facebook to amplify the effects of our efforts.
- Bonus #2: If you are dedicated to this fight, please consider following the Kos Group “Sons and Daughters of Liberty.” I’ll post these Action Lists there, as well as other diaries that offer concrete opportunities to take action. That way, you’ll be able to read them even if they don’t make the Rec List. If you’d like to play a more active role, send me a Kosmail and I’ll add you to the group.
- Bonus #3: Sign up for Twitter and let us know you’re there. If you’re not on Twitter already, consider signing up with your DailyKos handle. You’ll need a phone number to register. I already have an account under my IRL name for business, but they let me create another one. Twitter is better than Facebook for amplifying messages, IMO because it’s a primary tool for so many journalists, politicians and major media figures. My handle is @Kascade_Kat - share yours in the comments so that we can amplify each others’ messages.
Finally - a note on strategy and setbacks
I don’t expect to win the battle for the Electoral College. I give that a less than 10% chance - which is higher than I gave it last week, but still low.
This is how the battle against Trump is going to be. We’re going to have many more losses than gains at first but if we don’t fight at all when we can, our final losses will be much, much worse.
Even if we lose the EC, the fight helps us achieve three strategic objectives in the overall war against the excesses of the Trump Administration.
- It damages Trump by keeping the pressure on, and we know that Trump does not perform well under pressure. He’s blundering right and left this week between China, Lockheed Martin, his “Friend of Russia” SecState pick, the cancelled press conference, attacking the CIA. All of these errors give the Democratic Senators and others ammunition to use later.
- It exposes his weaknesses. That gives us intel for future battles and if the pile of s*** gets big enough, he might actually be forced to resign before the Inauguration. If we manage to throw this into the House, that introduces a delay and increases the pressure on Trump, continuing to expose his weaknesses.
- It strengthens us. We get practice calling our Senators on a daily basis to keep the pressure on, we build skills and confidence with social media we can draw upon later, we learn how Trump and his supporters react to the pressure we exert, and most important - we build new networks and strengthen the ones we have.
I know that there are people on this site who are uncomfortable with this particular battle because they don’t think we can win and perhaps don’t think we should win. Or at least not win the way we’ll probably win, if we do - with a caretaker Republican president instead of the popular vote winner.
We don’t have to agree, but if you are in that camp, you don’t have to sit on the sidelines for the next week. You can still call your Senators about Trump’s deplorable nominations, you can still plan to attend Inauguration protests, you can still Tweet.
Remember - history has its eyes on us this time.