10/30/25 - From No Kings Day to Continuing Resistance
Longer Term Context
The Trump regime is consolidating power by shattering norms, asserting powers not given them by the constitution or precedent, pressuring institutions (companies, universities, media, etc) into positions that suppress dissent and/or add to the regime’s power.
The patriotic resistance is pushing back against the regime to stop or delay their accumulation of power and preserve traditional norms. The opposition’s priority is to grow as rapidly as possible while disrupting the illusion that the regime is inevitable or all powerful.
In the Spring and Summer, institutional decision makers facing regime demands saw minimal consequence for caving from the patriotic resistance. After No Kings II and Jimmy Kimmel, that calculus has changed significantly – Trump’s success is no longer seen as inevitable and blow back from the resistance is becoming a major factor in institutional decision making. America is in the early stages of learning to say "no" to Trump's fascism.
Chapters
There are currently ~2700 Indivisible local chapters.
NEW Strategy - Developing a Rapid Response Capability
Many of the organizations that partnered in the No Kings protests are standing up the No Kings Alliance for continuing operations as “the rapid response arm of the movement.” NoKings.org/alliance
Transitioning from episodic protest to continuing action is a very significant step forward in the resistance's capabilities and scope.
The first rapid response will be to support people affected by the end of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). Although $5-6B emergency funding for SNAP is allocated, the administration is poised to shut SNAP down, claiming it is a casualty of the shutdown. Their intention appears to be increasing pressure on Democrats to cave on health care.
Indivisible members are urged to support SNAP recipients (and in our area, furloughed Federal workers) to support our people and mitigate the tactical impact of the regime's cuts. National asks we:
Give money to aid organizations (preferred since food banks buy in bulk at special rates)
Give materials (e.g., food) to food banks
Launch drives in our local communities
NEW Strategy - Applying Economic Pressure (Boycotts)
A major new front in the resistance movement is being opened, in Ezra's words, "to build a culture of defiance." We will exert economic pressure on corporations with key aims:
Build on Disney/Kimmel to develop our capability for economic pressure
This is a new action area for Indivisible – essentially, a new front in our struggle
Change corporate decisions from accommodation to defiance of the regime
The resistance requires a rapid-reaction capability and Spotify is the pilot
Spotify boycott – No Streams for the Regime
Spotify is a suitable target because (like Disney) most of their revenue depends on easily cancelled subscriptions
We're not picking Spotify because they are more egregious than others but because
- our ask (stop ICE ads) is clear and simple for Spotify to implement
- Spotify is exposed (subscriptions are ~ 90% of their revenue)
- Spotify will be “rewarded” if they comply (re-subscriptions)
· Indivisible members indicated willingness to apply pressure
- About ½ of Indivisible poll respondents use Spotify, 30% of which are paid
- 85% of Indivisible Spotify users said they would cancel/stop using Spotify
Indivisible trying to make boycott easy as possible for members
-A social media toolkit has been prepared - SoSha
-Instructions for how to cancel are here.
- There are 3rd party services that help move favorites and playlists from Spotify to other platforms (e.g., tunemymusic.com)
-Help family/friends move to a different platform. Members can help members!
- Planning to bring on more partners and make a sustained push
-Planning a day of action to focus on Spotify
-Limited number of brick and mortar offices – physical protest
-Pandora is running ICE ads – don’t switch to them
November spending blackout - National Indivisible is in active conversations with partners re. a spending blackout for late November and will likely join one of them. Note that many of the current proposals are spontaneous acts of defiance, which indicates resistance is metastasizing!
What’s Next - Long Term?
Looking for 9M-11M for the next mass protest (NK III)
We must help rebuild the Democratic party in the primaries (“fight for the party that we want”), then take the House
- We need to do the hard work of recruiting, promoting, selecting candidates that are more representative of the rank and file.
- We don’t need ideological purity … we need candidates that can actually win elections.
- National Indivisible won’t be working top down -- local chapters will be working bottom up
