Trump dealt NATIONWIDE blow with new update
I'm joined now by Ezra Levin and Leah. Greenberg, who are the co-founders of. Indivisible. Uh you guys have an. announcement about something big. happening this weekend. Can you explain. what that is? >> Yeah, Brian, it's only the largest. protest in all of American history with. more than 3,100 protests globally that. everybody should be making a plan to. show up with tons of friends and. families and colleagues to make it a. huge historic event and make Donald. Trump very sad that he is small and puny. and on the way out. >> So, can you talk a little bit about. about what you hope to accomplish with.
this third iteration of the No Kings. protest? >> Sure. Well, that's a great question. No. Kings is a it's a tactic within a. strategy. The strategy is about. fostering mass defiance everywhere that. pushes back on Donald Trump, on his. regime, on his secret police, on his. policy agenda. The way that we do that is organizing. locally and occasionally collectively. coming together for a massive show of. popular defiance that demonstrates that. the resistance to Donald Trump is.
literally everywhere in the country. Um. you are within 30 minutes of a No Kings. protest wherever you are in America. right now. Um that it is growing on an. ongoing basis and that there are an. enormous number of us who are. collectively coming together to link. arms and to oppose his agenda of chaos, cruelty, and corruption. And it also. funnels all those people into ongoing. local organizing so that we are moving. people on regular basis into a space in. their neighborhood, into mutual aid, into advocacy, into electoral work, all. of the things that we collectively are.
going to need to beat back these. fascists. >> I I think one thing to keep in mind, Leah said this already, but it is a. tactic among many tactics in a strategy. I don't think anybody is under the. illusion that we have a historic protest. with millions of people out and suddenly. democracy wins. We don't have to worry. about it anymore. Trump is gone. That. that's not how this works. Nobody thinks. that's how this works. It is, however, a. very essential tactic for welcoming new. people into the movement and then. getting them trained up and connected.
locally so we can escalate tactics as we. move forward towards an election in. these midterms that Donald Trump is. saying himself he plans to sabotage. >> And that's the part I want to dig into a. little bit because, you know, there. there is some concern that like these. happen and the protests come and go and. that there's no kind of tail from them, that there's no. overall benefit other than a show of. force. And look, I I I think that. anytime you can get people out onto the. streets to to to display their. opposition to an administration that. kind of relies on the optics of total.
control, that pierces that bubble. And I. think that that's important in its own. right. But, you know, we have these rare. opportunities where millions and. millions of people show up on the. streets. And so and so in terms of. making sure to get the biggest ROI on. that stuff, how do you harness that many. people to have the the longest tail, to. have the biggest return on on the. investment that is everybody giving out. their time? >> Well, for us it's all about treating. this not just as a a big popular message.
to the powers that be, but also as a. mass absorption event. If you talk to. anybody who is hosting or organizing one. of these, what they're going to talk. about is not just their plan for the. day, but the ways that they are. recruiting and absorbing the folks who. come out to these events, right? We're. actually working with hosts. and organizers. Some of these are. Indivisible groups or 50/50 1 or DSA or. the League of Women Voters or a local. immigrant defense organization. Any. number of folks across the political. spectrum, but we're working with folks. on how do we all collectively recruited. these things and then plan a what's next.
event afterwards. Because what we want. to make sure is that if you come out to. a No Kings for the first time, you're. actually getting. you're getting invited by a human to go. to another place or another location. where you're going to get absorbed into. ongoing work that is meaningful to you. in your town. That is for us the real victory with one. of these is that there are a lot of. people who maybe came out for the first. time who are actually moving into. ongoing cycles of local activation. We. know from our side, we get.
hundreds of new Indivisible groups. whenever there is a No Kings because. somebody raises their hand, they start. organizing a No Kings, and they say, "Hey, 50 people came out in my tiny red. town. Wow, that's 50 people I didn't. know agreed with me. Let's keep this. going." And they're off to the races. >> I think you need to look no further than. the Twin Cities for the to see the. impact of what these national protests. and organizing that comes out of them. can have. I mean, the same people who I. think have inspired certainly us and the. country through their opposition to the.
regime in the Twin Cities and their the. secret police force that was terrorizing. their communities and murdering. Americans like Alex Ready and Renee. Good. Those same people were at Hands. Off last April, were at No Kings in. June, were at No Kings 2 in October, and. then spun up Ice Out for Good protest. after Renee Good's murder. There were. 1,300 of those in 48 hours. You're not. able to accomplish that kind of rapid. response, targeted organizing unless. you're building over time. So, I would. think of March 28th, No Kings 3 as this. historic moment, but a moment that then.
leads to more historic moments. >> How are you thinking about this in terms. of new areas? Like have you seen. Indivisible chapters sprout up in these. areas that otherwise wouldn't normally. be where you would think. you would see these chapters? I mean, we're not talking about like, you know, West Hollywood or or or New York or you. know, something like that. But like are. you seeing kind of this movement grow. thanks to the exposure that some folks. are getting at No Kings where all of a. sudden you have real infrastructure. that's going to outlast, you know, just.
the the the the protest that we're. seeing right now? >> Absolutely. What we've seen since Trump. was elected is that we've grown about. 150% in new chapters with a. disproportionate number of those coming. in red and purple areas and particularly. in in some of the rural areas where. we've actually not had presence before. And that's just not not just our data, that is actually the finding when you. look at folks like Erica Chenoweth and. the Crowd Counting Consortium. What. they're finding is that protest in the. second Trump term, and organizing the.
second Trump term, is extending further. and deeper into red areas of the country. than it ever did under the first Trump. term. >> I'm from I'm from rural Texas, and one. of the incredible things that I get to. see is all of these small little rural. areas, or these red deep red areas where. Trump won the district or the county by. 70 or 80%, they're having No Kings. protests as well. So, look, Bruce Springsteen is going to help us. kick off the flagship event in the Twin. Cities. I know New York City is going to. be huge. I know San Francisco is going.
to be huge, and LA is going to be huge. That's great, we need that, but just as. important are is Coloma, California, population 372, Gustavus, Alaska, population 612. There are 17 events. across Alaska. There are 12 events all. across Hawaii, multiple events on. multiple islands. I mean, it is. important for us not just to show we're. here in big crowds, but to connect with. community, with our own community, because that's how we recruit for what's. to come.
>> Yeah, I like the idea of of this kind of. being a funnel, because you know, at its. core, like, we have to make sure that we. get people who aren't already in the. tent. Though look, if you're if you're a Democrat, you just. lived through an election in 2024 where. Democrats lost the electoral vote, they. lost the popular vote, lost the House, the Senate, and the White House. We. don't have the privilege of being able. to rest on our laurels and say this is. our coalition, we've got everything. covered. We have to grow the tent, we. have to grow the coalition, because it's. the only way we win. And so, I do like.
the idea of these mass events serving as. a funnel to get people more involved as. we move forward and get closer and. closer to midterms. Are you seeing any. difference in the in the participation. as Trump's unpopularity grows. Like are. you seeing. the net catch people that would. otherwise not have shown up to an event. like this, who would otherwise have. identified as an independent or even a. Trump voter? >> Absolutely. That's a That's a really. common thing that we are hearing from. our groups around the country is that.
this is this the harm that this. administration does has been so. wide-ranging and so. enormous that it is bringing in people. who never would have activated before. From the DOJ cuts that have had a. disproportionate effect on veterans to. the massive backlash that has been. triggered by ICE and CBP going after. people's neighbors, what we're seeing. collectively is that there's a bunch of. folks who maybe don't consider. themselves political, certainly didn't. consider themselves a Democrat, but who. feel incumbent on them to come out right.
now. >> It's interesting because. everybody has their own breaking point. Everybody has their own reason for being. part of this and one of our the goals. for the movement right now is not to see. new people come in and say, "Well, why. the hell weren't you here last week or. last month or last year?" It's actually. our responsibility to welcome everybody. into this big coalition of no kings, including people who didn't vote with us. back in 2024. I want Trump voters who. voted for Trump thinking he was going to. do no worse. He was going to cut the.
price of their eggs or their bread or. their gas. They believed a better world. was possible. They didn't like the. status quo, so they took a chance and. now they feel betrayed. We got to. welcome them with open arms. To your. point, Brian, we cannot just organize. the Kamala Harris voters or just the. folks who consider themselves Democrats. We have to build a gigantic coalition. and that is one of the reasons why we. are organizing everywhere. We want to. provide a place where people feel. comfortable to join and can connect with. their community in a powerful and fun. environment. >> I think the idea of infrastructure is is. um so important, too, because as we see.
the success of some of these. organizations on the right that have. been in place for years and years and. years. As we look at the Turning Point. USA's of the world. Obviously, having. that infrastructure intact. has some has some gives some advantage. confers some advantage to the other. side. And look, the left has been slow. at building up that infrastructure. You know, there's a story that I like to. that I like to kind of. revert back to and that is this idea. that in South Florida, you know, maybe. maybe about 10 years ago,
Democrats were buying up ads in the. lead-up to the election and you know. spending millions of dollars on ads to. get these elusive. Latino voters or or Miami voters, whatever it may be. And you know, for 15. second spots that would go in one ear. and out the other. And meanwhile, there. was a right-wing group that bought a. radio station for $350,000. And now they get to now they get to. reach those people every single day. And. that's how you build up allegiances. That's how you share your worldview and.
kind of proselytize folks much more. effectively than waiting until September. or October and saying, "Here, we're. going to throw a bunch of attack ads on. air and then just hope that does the. trick." People consume media differently. and I think without that infrastructure, we're kind of leaving ourselves we're. kind of relying on tactics from, you. know, the late '90s and early 2000s to. win elections in the late 2020s. >> I couldn't agree more there. I. personally had this experience in 2016.
Lee and I were out in the Philly suburbs. knocking on doors for for Hillary. Clinton. We knock on doors we try to. every single midterm. And vividly. remember coming into into somebody's. neighborhood and a guy stops and he's. like, "What are you doing?" I said, "Knocking on doors for for Clinton. We. need to get the vote." And he said, "Yeah, you all are here every four years. and then I don't see you again.". >> Yeah. >> And that that is real. That is real. I I. do not think we can just treat midterms. or or presidential elections as an. October and November organizing effort.
We've got to be engaged year-round. And. I'll tell you, the same people who are. going to show up on Saturday for the. first time, never went to a protest. before, these people are going to be the. folks who are knocking on doors and who. are protecting the vote come the. midterms when Trump tries to sabotage. it. >> So, for folks who are looking to. participate, where can they go? >> You can head to nokings.org and you can. find a protest near you and we can. pretty much guarantee that there will be. a protest near you because they are all. over the country. >> Awesome. >> My challenge to folks trying to help out.
in this moment though is I know. everybody watching Brian, they're going. to go. They're committed to helping out. My challenge to folks watching this. though is think of three people in your. life who aren't activists, who aren't. organizers, who might think politics is. and never participated, but. they don't like the direction of the. country. Reach out to them and give them. the gift of an invitation to hang out. with you this Saturday. That's how we're. going to build this up to be historic. >> Great call and I'm going to put the link. to to the website right here on the. screen and also in the post description. If you're listening on the podcast, that's going to be in the show notes.
Highly, highly, highly recommend for. everybody who is watching right now. Get out there and be with some. community. I know that a lot of us, I. can speak for personal experience, it gets tedious. just, you know, being alone and you. know, with your phone. It is nice to. have some sense of community. It's also, you know, as we get towards spring, it's. obviously much more nice out much much. nicer outside. So, try to get out there. and do something good for the for the. weekend here. Ezra and Leah, thank you as always for.
all the work you all you all are doing. and thanks for taking the time today. >> Thanks, Brian. >> to join.
