Trump CANCELS RALLY Tonight As 7000 PROTESTORS SHUT IT DOWN
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00:00For weeks now, we have seen protest after protest all across the country as Americans
00:04have pushed back against this strategy, pushed back against what Donald Trump and his top
00:11campaign donor have been doing to the United States and to the federal government, demonstrations
00:16all over the country.
00:18Now the activist group Indivisible is planning for a big one, but they want to be a big central
00:25demonstration where everybody shows up in the same place.
00:27Saturday, April 5th, Indivisible is announcing what they're calling Hands Off, a nationwide
00:33mobilization to stop the most brazen power grab in modern history.
00:38Joining us now is Ezra Levin, co-executive director of Indivisible.
00:41Ezra, thank you for being with us tonight.
00:42I appreciate it.
00:43Of course, Rachel.
00:44Great to be here.
00:46It's been a couple of weeks since we checked in.
00:48Tell me how Indivisible has been operating over these past few weeks.
00:51I know the president and Republican members of Congress have started to talk about you
00:56as if you are some sort of like foreign terrorist threat or something.
01:01We know that you've got their attention.
01:02How have things been from Indivisible's perspective?
01:05Look, we're going through what's known as a wave moment in organizing circles at Indivisible.
01:10We had more local Indivisible groups join.
01:12These are volunteers, start local Indivisible groups in their community in November than
01:17any month since 2017.
01:18We beat the November month in December, beat the December month in January, beat the January
01:22month in February.
01:23It's mid-March.
01:25We've had over 100 local Indivisible groups join.
01:28And these are peaceful protesters shown up to make their voices heard in red states,
01:32purple states, blue states.
01:33So how's it going?
01:34Well, the opposition is taking note and criticizing us, so I think it's going pretty darn well.
01:39What's the plan for April 5th, and how is that different from the other kinds of actions
01:43that you guys have been taking part in?
01:46So for the last several weeks, we've been hearing from old and new Indivisible group
01:51leaders, hey, we're all getting together, we're doing these actions locally.
01:55When do we actually really hit the streets?
01:56When do we all show up in mass?
02:00That's what this is.
02:01I want to be clear.
02:02This is not just Indivisible.
02:03We're partnering with the brilliant folks over at 5051, with Labor, with lots of other
02:07folks.
02:08But this is an organic, energy-fed moment.
02:12Anybody, anybody who is watching this can sign up and register in their community to
02:18say, look, hands off our jobs, hands off our democracy, hands off our volcano observatories.
02:24My God, we need to show up because Doge and this administration is negatively impacting
02:29all of us.
02:30Now, Senator, you held a virtual town hall earlier this week to sound the alarm about
02:36what this administration and Doge is doing to Social Security.
02:41Lot of our viewers and listeners are concerned about this.
02:45We're seeing more and more Americans turning out for community forums, especially in Republican
02:51districts, demanding answers about the mass government layoffs and interruptions to vital
02:58government services.
02:59Do you get the sense that many voters are getting fed up with the chaos being caused
03:05by President Trump so far in his second term?
03:08Yeah, absolutely.
03:10And I think polling numbers show it.
03:12And I think the fact that Republicans can't go and have a town hall themselves any longer
03:17because they've angered their constituents so much also shows that people, I think, are
03:22fed up with this.
03:23And the danger to Social Security, I think, is very real.
03:26You know, watch that carefully.
03:28Trump lies.
03:29And one of his lies is that he won't touch Social Security.
03:32But he sent in Musk and those doggie boys, the Musk brats, to wreck up stuff in Social
03:38Security.
03:39And the former commissioner, Governor O'Malley, says that the wreckage that they're doing
03:44will lead to interruptions in benefits.
03:49And at that point, he comes in and says, oh, look, I broke Social Security.
03:54We have an emergency.
03:55Let's fix it.
03:56Let's get the private equity people and the big data people in here to run Social Security.
04:03There is this moment, I think it's fair to say, a broad frustration with what we just
04:08saw from a handful of Senate Democrats led by the leader, Chuck Schumer.
04:13Everyone from Senator Bernie Sanders to former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger and
04:17lots of people in between opposed the effort to allow Trump's continued assault on the
04:22federal government.
04:24Folks wanted to draw a line in the sand and say we cannot operate under the normal set
04:28of political rules here.
04:29And as painful as shutting down the government might be, the Democrats, as the opposition,
04:34needed to use any leverage available to them.
04:38Leader Schumer and nine other Democratic senators saw it differently.
04:42They all voted to move to a vote on the shutdown vote to continue to fund the government.
04:50It's dispiriting.
04:52It's even infuriating to a lot of folks.
04:54But what we've been saying on this program, the bulwark against tyranny in this country
05:00is not politicians.
05:02It's us.
05:04All of us in every walk of life who hold fast the American promise of government of, by,
05:08and for the people, not the debased whims of a wannabe dictator and billionaire weirdos.
05:14No kings, not ever.
05:18If there was any good news on this otherwise bleak day, it's every single hour of every
05:22single day folks are waking up and there is a dawning awareness that it's time to fight
05:26back.
05:27Donald Trump's project is as clear as day.
05:31He wants to dismantle the system of self-governance and checks and balances and to create a presidential
05:36dictatorship that does not depend on the will of the people.
05:39His model is Turkey, Russia, Hungary, places where the strong man rules no matter what.
05:45And you don't get a say whether there are elections or not.
05:49That is his goal.
05:50It's clear as day.
05:51He basically enunciates it daily.
05:54And everyone else needs to be asking, how do you stop that from happening?
05:58How can you use whatever nonviolent tools are at your disposal to stop this unlawful
06:04power grab?
06:07How can we, as Americans, as supporters of democracy and the Constitution, build a united
06:11front across ideological lines in defense of marginalized people, the ones he's coming
06:17for first in an almost literal reenactment of the famous Niemöller poem, in defense
06:23of working and middle class people against the pillaging of oligarchs, heck, in defense
06:27of elites and powerful people who are using their platforms and power to preserve the
06:30American way of life?
06:34Right now, it doesn't seem like Democratic leadership understands that yet.
06:39But in many ways, and I know this sounds weird to say it right now, they are simply not what's
06:43important here.
06:45Stay focused on what's important.
06:48People are what's important.
06:49We're what's important.
06:50Public opinion is what's important.
06:52Civil society is what's important.
06:53And it's getting activated and organized every single day.
06:57Every day, the movement is growing.
06:58I mean, Republican representatives are being told to stop holding town halls because their
07:03own voters will not stop showing up to yell at them about what Donald Trump and Elon Musk
07:07are doing.
07:10I was proud to vote recently for the House Budget Resolution, which provides the framework
07:18to abolish the U.S. Department of Education.
07:22The decisions need to be made back on the state level.
07:28I believe that the president is very supportive of Ukraine.
07:35Like him or not, Elon Musk has brought a lot of really smart people to Doge.
07:42And you wonder why folks don't want to do these town halls.
07:46The protests against Musk don't end there.
07:49There's something really remarkable happening right now.
07:51I'm not sure people have really quite gotten their arms around this.
07:54We're seeing this organic bottom-up movement against Musk's signature company, Tesla.
08:00Some activists just put up a website with a simple message, right?
08:04Sell your Teslas, dump your stock.
08:06And then an entire Tesla takedown movement has sprung up in response.
08:11They've got a map where all the protests are planned all across the country.
08:14It's been happening for about a month.
08:16This weekend alone, there are more than 100 protests planned at dealerships, Tesla dealerships
08:22across the country, from Brooklyn to Toledo, Dallas to Grand Rapids, Raleigh, dozens more.
08:28There are even, as you might see there, a handful planned in Canada and the U.K.
08:32I'm going to tell you something.
08:33I wager next weekend there will be even more, and the weekend after that, more.
08:37Because this is growing every single day.
08:40And it's not Democratic leadership in Congress organizing the protests.
08:43It's just everyday folks who are fed up and want to make their voices heard.
08:50And it's having an insanely outsized effect.
08:53I mean, Tesla's sales are just cratering.
08:56The stock price has seen all of its post-election gains vanish.
08:59Musk's personal wealth has declined by more than $125 billion since the beginning of the year.
09:05That's because of this.
09:08And that's why Donald Trump had to turn the White House into a car lot this week and cut
09:12an ad for his co-president's fleet of vehicles, while the attorney general of the United States
09:17effectively tried to threaten folks with jail time if they voiced their dissatisfaction
09:22with Musk's company.
09:25You're going to touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything.
09:28You better watch out, because we're coming after you.
09:30And if you're funding this, we're coming after you.
09:33We're going to find out who you are.
09:35If you go to a dealership, no, no, no.
09:39We've all got a First Amendment right to stand on the sidewalk with signs outside a dealership.
09:45It doesn't matter what Paim Bondi says.
09:47By all accounts, this is not being funded by some big funder.
09:49It's a grassroots movement.
09:50Some people are organizing.
09:51They're putting up a website.
09:52And at any rate, it doesn't seem like those scare tactics are working.
09:57I would hazard they only make people want to protest more.
10:01Today, hundreds of veterans and their family members and loved one rallied near Capitol
10:05Hill in protest of Musk's cuts to the federal government, many of which target veterans
10:10who worked for the government and have been fired or are serviced by the government directly.
10:15Yesterday, 100 demonstrators got arrested after hundreds more occupied the lobby of
10:20Trump Tower in Manhattan to protest the unlawful detention of the Palestinian activist Mahmoud
10:24Khalil.
10:26Again, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
10:29It's taken a little while for people to sort of understand what they're seeing, because
10:33it's shocking and it's surreal.
10:36But it's just the beginning.
10:38There's a lot more work to be done.
10:40So yes, some of the Democratic leadership is disappointing a lot of people right now.
10:45But they're elected to represent us.
10:47They're going to follow what the people do.
10:49And so we have to show them what needs doing.
10:54Fas Shakir serves as a senior advisor to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
10:57He's currently executive director of More Perfect Union and a senior advisor to Senator
11:00Bernie Sanders.
11:01Rebecca Traister is a writer at large in New York Magazine.
11:04She wrote about the shutdown fight on her sub stack.
11:06They both join me now.
11:07Fas, let me start with you because, you know, I'm always very aware of the fact that in
11:13politics, particularly when it comes to sort of legislative actions and tactics, there
11:17really is a lot of backseat driving and a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking and a
11:20lot of like, you should have thrown the ball to that guy who was open.
11:24And it's like, yeah, well, it's a little harder than it looks.
11:26So I'm like, I'm genuinely aware of that.
11:28Like, I know that's true and I've covered the hill long enough.
11:31So there's a reason why Trump and or at least other Republicans, Trump, whoever, is canceling
11:36these events that they're doing, and it's because of people like you protesting.
11:42And let's be clear.
11:43I've, you know, had moments on this channel where I've praised Democrats, especially people
11:47like AOC.
11:48I'm a big fan of her.
11:49Jasmine Crockett does a lot of good.
11:51Jamie Raskin, Bernie Sanders, Liz, you know, I've praised Democrats, but it's also clear
11:57that there are going to be moments where Democrats like Chuck Schumer, I'm sorry to say, are
12:02going to drop the friggin ball.
12:04But what's important to remember at this moment is that they're not the only ones,
12:09and that even when they fail, you, the people make it happen.
12:15And all of these protests by progressives, by moderates, by Republicans, in some cases,
12:22by people that aren't even especially political, but are being affected in their lives.
12:27All of the people concerned for their neighbors, their community.
12:32They are all being awoken by Donald Trump's disastrous moves, and it's gotten to the point
12:38that Republicans can't be seen in public right now.
12:42Because if they are, the people are mad.
12:45And the people have always been, you know, angry with their officials, and Trump's never
12:49been popular.
12:50Let's be clear about that.
12:51You know, even now, he's less unpopular than he's been historically, but he's still the
12:56most unpopular new president in modern American history.
13:01Democrats are almost way more popular right now because they get a honeymoon.
13:06Trump didn't get a honeymoon because everyone knew he sucked, and even his mini honeymoon
13:11is gone now because everyone remembered just how much he sucked.
13:16And the reason is, yes, some Democrats, but the biggest reason is that when you're protesting
13:23in the streets, they can't ignore you.