When this fascist power grab leaves you hopeless, here’s how to find hope
13 minutes “Deeply disturbing.”
“Chilling.”
“[This] is sending us into a very dark and malignant time.”
These are just a few of the messages I received this week from folks in our group who are concerned about the abductions carried out by this regime of bullies and billionaires. Abductions like that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The Maryland father of three was disappeared to a brutal prison in El Salvador and remains there, even after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered his return to the U.S.
And that’s just one abduction, one family ripped apart. 💔
Stories like this have left many of us reeling. It’s hard to focus on much of anything. It’s hard to know what we can do to help. It’s hard to have hope.
I wish I knew the magic words of wisdom to help every one of us tap into our hidden stores of hope.
But I’ve never lived through a fascist power grab. I haven’t devoted my life to community organizing. Heck, I didn’t even pay all that much attention in high school history class when we covered fascism.
I’m just some rando self-employed mom of four kids who’s struggling to fit “save democracy” into the nooks and crannies of my day. And—if you don’t mind me being brutally honest here—I can’t even manage to fit in a shower every day. 🫣
And that was before the pillars of our democracy started crumbling to the ground.
👉 So let’s take a step back and start with what we do know. (We’ll get back to the problem of hope in a minute, so stick with me.)
Because you’re a member of Molly’s Army, here are three things I know about you:
- The path we’re on now is not what you want for your family, your neighbors, and your fellow humans.
- You want your community, your country, your world to get better.
- You believe that a better future is possible.
We all have these three things in common. ✅
But nobody’s gonna hand us that better future just because we can picture it in our minds.
We have to take it.
To get from point A (the hostile takeover of our government) to point B (a true democracy that works for all of us), we need power.
And since you and I aren’t in the Billionaires Club, we need to keep building our collective power.
The good news? We’re already building our collective power. 💪
When Rob wrote the scripts for voicemails he left for his reps so I could share them with fellow Molly’s Army members, that gave a handful of folks the courage to make phone calls they’d been putting off and turned one voice into a chorus.
When Austin and Gena invited several friends along to the April 5 Hands Off rally, they amplified our presence during a pivotal moment.
When Sally signed up to register voters at a local high school, she grew our ranks for the future.
We build power when we work together, one tiny action at a time.
But in the last couple months, I’ve discovered that when we work together to grow our collective power, we get a bonus side effect. ✨
By taking action together from a sense of shared purpose of working towards a better future, we also build our mutual trust in one another.
Now, I know who can help when I want to spread the word about an event. I know who’s all in for brainstorming clever rally signs. I even know a go-to expert on how to order a cardboard cutout of a Congressperson for when they’re too chicken to show up to their own town hall event. 🐓
And as it turns out, mutual trust is an essential pathway for finding hope during dark times.
To be clear, that’s not just some fortune-cookie fiddle-faddle. The research on how to cultivate hope has shown this to be the case in many different types of communities, from those dealing with substance abuse to young people growing up in poverty.
If Yoda were fighting alongside us right now, he might put it this way:
Tiny action is the path to democracy. Tiny action leads to community; community leads to trust; trust leads to hope. I sense much tiny action in you.
You can see this in everyone who spoke out against drastic cuts to Social Security phone services—and got DOGE to abandon the plan.
You can see it in the 20,000 people who showed up in ruby red Utah (!) to hear AOC and Bernie Sanders on the Fight Oligarchy Tour.
You can see this in the folks who showed up at a county jail to demand the release of a U.S. citizen who was arrested in Florida as an “unauthorized alien”—and then was released hours later. 🙏
When we work together, we build our collective power—and hope.
So in those dark moments when you’re feeling hopeless, try this: Picture a packed lecture hall or a movie theater, every seat filled with someone who believes in that shared vision of a better future.
That’s everyone in Molly’s Army. Every one of us can relate to what you’re feeling. We know how hard it is to get through every day, let alone to stand up and fight back. ❤️
But one by one, we are standing up. Every time one of us takes any action, no matter how small, we’re standing up and stepping into our power.
At this point, more folks are standing than not. As a group, we can carry this fight until every one of us is standing. Those who haven’t found their moment yet can trust us to keep going until they’re ready to join in. But in the end, we will need every single one of us to stand up and help carry us forward.
We need you.
🎯 I can’t wave a magic wand and *poof* fill you with hope during these dark times. But I can tell you one thing that I know works because I’ve seen it again and again in the last few weeks:
Choose connection.
Take one small step to join in community with others who are saying, Nope, not on our watch.
Ask a friend to buddy read a short book like On Tyranny with you. Add a local community event to your calendar and make a plan to show up. Forward this message to a friend.
Because in our darkest moments when every news alert feels like another ton of bricks dropped on our shoulders, moving forward together will not only give us hope—it will propel us toward that better future we know is possible.
Get this in your inbox: When you join Molly’s Army here, every week, you’ll get simple, doable steps we can take to save our democracy even when we’re busy and overwhelmed by the firehose of bad news.
What’s inside
Inside our latest update, you’ll find these sections:
- Do this + feel better: 3 things you can do right now. Taking any action (even if it’s tiny!) will help dispel feelings of hopelessness and overwhelm.
- Keep growing: 3 ways you can keep learning and growing as a citizen—something to listen to, something to watch, and something to read.
- Get a shot of motivation: A quote that resonated this week.
- Hey, look! We did this: A quick run-down of what folks in our little group of rabble-rousers have been doing to help.
- Your turn: What small actions have you taken lately? Let me know so we can celebrate with you!
Do this + feel better
Here are 3 things you can do right now. As a bonus, taking any action (even if it’s tiny!) will help dispel feelings of hopelessness and overwhelm…
1. Join us in a day of action on Saturday
On April 5, millions of us stood up against the hostile takeover of our government and said: Hands Off. Let’s keep the momentum going and build our collective power by participating in the national day of action this Saturday, April 19.
For this day of action, some communities are organizing rallies, others are hosting community picnics, and some will do banner drops on highway overpasses.
👉 Find out what’s happening nearby, and make a plan to show up, even if it’s just to honk in support as you drive by:
- Visit Mobilize.us and click the Filters button at the top, then enter your location in Near and set the Date to Saturday. If you see an event nearby, fill out the RSVP fields and add it to your calendar.
- If you can’t find an event that way, check TeslaTakedown.com and click the Sign Up to Host or Find an Action Near You button to look for a Tesla Takedown event near you.
2. Learn the Truth Bomb strategy
You’ve seen the disinformation on social media. The MAGA memes that get passed around, catching like wildfire. Disinformation is corrosive to our democracy, and we need to fight it.
👉 In this virtual event hosted by the group Civic Sundays, you’ll learn about the strategy of Truth Bombs—a simple, non-confrontational social media weapon to add to our arsenal:
- What: Truth Bomb Briefing
- Date: Friday, April 18
- Time: 4 pm to 5 pm Central (click to see in your time zone)
- RSVP: Go here
You’ll discover what Truth Bombs are, who creates them, where and how to deploy them, who they’re aimed at, and how they can help us fight disinformation. 💥
3. Help a federal worker in need
Our federal workers power essential programs like Medicare and Social Security, run our national parks, inspect our food and medicine, and keep us safe from accidents and disasters.
But this regime has violated the basic rights of hundreds of thousands of our federal workers—including tens of thousands who’ve been fired illegally.
Because of this, federal workers have an urgent need for legal support. 💙
The good news: A coalition of lawyers and community organizations has come together to form the Federal Workers Legal Defense Network.
The bad news: The vast majority of federal workers aren’t yet aware that this resource exists.
👉 Can you help get the word out to the people who need to know? Here’s how:
- If you know a federal worker who’s been fired or a current federal worker who’s concerned about their rights on the job, send them this link: WorkersLegalDefense.org
- If you know a lawyer, suggest they sign up for the training offered through the network and send them this link: WorkersLegalDefense.org
If you don’t personally know a federal worker or lawyer, ask around with your friends until you find someone who does. Our federal workers deserve justice, and it’s up to us to demand it. 🇺🇸
Keep growing
Learning about what’s happening and how we dig ourselves out of this hole is an ongoing process. Here are 3 ways you can keep learning and growing as a citizen who wants to protect this democracy:
- 🎧 Listen (21 minutes): When you feel overwhelmed by the state of the world (or even just your to-do list), try one of these simple stress reset hacks, and you’ll likely feel better within minutes. From the Life Kit podcast by NPR. A short quote:
- “Many of the reasons why we feel stressed ‘are because we feel powerless. We’re so focused on all the things going wrong.’ [This reset] can remind you that you have the power and ability to make things better — for yourself and others. ‘You can live by your values even if so much is out of your control.'”
- 📺 Watch (2 minutes): Fascist regimes can’t stand ridicule, so this is perfection. Someone hacked the crosswalk buttons in a handful of California towns to play Elon Musk’s voice. Here’s a short clip from Rachel Maddow about the prank. (Whenever you need a little pick-me-up, scroll this thread for more short clips of the crosswalk takeover.)
- 📖 Read (2 minutes): The words we use to talk about what’s happening matter. We need to choose words that make it clear exactly what’s at stake and why so that we can help reasonable folks see the truth. Because we need them in the fight to protect our people and our freedoms. From researchers at ASO Communications and Research Collaborative who study which messages are resonating with people and what drives action, here’s a do say/don’t say chart to help shift your language. For example, do say “the hostile takeover of our government”; don’t say “a Constitutional crisis” because violated status quo principles don’t motivate people to act.
Get a shot of motivation
A quote that resonated this week, emphasis mine:
“The way we get through this is together. That means coalitions, means sticking together with what we have in common, which is opposition to this regime and its attack on human rights, on justice, on truth, on science, on education, on libraries and books, on national parks and nature and forests, on climate and human health, on research, on freedom of thought and expression.
It means finding common ground with people who share our commitment to restoring human rights, environmental protections, a functioning federal government, the rule of law. Some of those people may not agree with us on everything. We are going to need to value what we have in common when it comes to these important things and love or at least tolerate what makes us different. After all, we’re fighting an attack on diversity.
If one of us stands up, they can pick that person off. If ten or a hundred or a thousand, they can pick those people off. And they’re picking off people—immigrants, dissidents—to make an example of them. But if ten million people stand up, they cannot stop us all. And today we are millions. We stand up with each other, for each other, and for those who cannot stand up because they are in ICE detention or a nursing home losing its funding or gulags in Guantanamo and El Salvador; we stand up for the people who just lost their AIDS treatment in Africa and those who just lost their jobs in the federal government here; for the trans girl who just wants to play softball and the educators who just want to teach history. We speak up with them to tell the real history, the true history, as histories are being erased and corrupted…
Nobody knows where we go from here. Today is just one day. It’s a glorious day, an amazing day. But we need every one of you to go home and figure out what you do next. Be part of something larger. Find your people, find your place, find your skills. Some of us can be loud out in the streets. Some of us will quietly walk children to school whose immigrant parents are afraid to leave the house. Some of us will write letters and call representatives. Some who can afford to will donate, and believe me, money talks. And protest works—thank you Tesla Takedown, whose global day of action against Elon Musk was only a week ago. We are tanking the value of a huge corporation, because people have the power.”
— Author, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit, in Millions Stood Up: April 5 Hands Off Day of Action
Hey, look! We did this
Here’s a quick run-down of what folks in our group have been doing to help lately:
- Shannon used the call scripts shared by Molly’s Army member Rob to contact her reps. She said his scripts were “the impetus I need to finally get those important messages out!” Nicole used the call scripts from Rob as well. 💃🏼
- Speaking of Rob, he was so angry about the abduction of Kilmar Abrego Garcia that he composed another phone script to Republican reps and Senators. (If you’d like to use his script, please drop a comment below (or email me) and I’ll share the link!) After that, leaving voicemails didn’t feel like enough, so he then copied his message into their contact forms at senate.gov, plus sent it to several other Republican Senators. He also called his Democratic rep Lloyd Doggett and told his staff what he’s doing and asked them to keep up the pressure. 🔥
- Amy and Allison have never organized a people’s town hall event before, but they’re doing it anyway to call out Rep. Michael McCaul for his complicity. 🥊 (If you’re in his district, please let me know so I can get you the details!)
- Janica will be out of town for the April 19 Hands Off event in her area, so she’s donating to help out with supplies and expenses. 🤩
- Robert recommended you subscribe to Letters From an American from historian Heather Cox Richardson, if you haven’t already. 💯
- Diana is moving to Maine and already got plugged into the local Indivisible group there. 💅
- Lisa volunteered the Austin Raging Grannies for performing during the April 19 Hands Off event in Austin. 🎶
- Nicole shared photos of her favorite signs from the April 5 Hands Off event in Tulsa and this story about her experience: “[Our] group nearly lined an entire block. And it’s right on front of a shopping mall, so lots of people saw us. We got a few middle fingers and thumbs-down, but we also got a LOT of honking, cheering, thumbs-up, and waving–far more than the nay-sayers, in fact. As I understand it, there were even more people at Tulsa’s other rally. I can’t tell you how encouraging it is to see people acting in this maroon state!!” 🤸
- Annie and Julia said yes to joining the Pranksters vs. Autocrats book club and laughtivism brainstorming session via Zoom, and we now have folks all over the country who’ve signed up. Event date TBD, but you can get the e-book for no cost here. ✅ If you want to be included on the invite for this brainstorming session, let me know!
Your turn
What small actions have you taken lately? Please drop a comment below (or email me) and let me know what you’ve been up to so we can celebrate with you. 🥳
