We are going to win.

2/4/2025

Surviving the trump administration, A Daily Thread. Episode 13: Hope and Advice from AOC: We are going to win.

I love AOC. She is a compassionate, fierce, strong, intelligent, no-bullshit leader who practices effective leadership for progressive change. She helps me come back to hope and action. So, I took some notes about her Instagram Live last night. She says:

Take a breath. Before we can DO anything, we have to ground ourselves!

Divide and conquer. No individual will be able to tackle every issue that the administration and its associated billionaires are throwing our way. That’s OK. Choose a handful of the issues to focus on.

Do what you can. No action is too small. Part of the action plan is to SLOW DOWN THE MACHINE they are running, and each grain of sand will help to block the gears as they turn.

Educate yourself beyond the headlines. That way, we’ll be able to see the broader perspective of how the pieces fit together. It’s not 1000 unrelated changes they’re seemingly randomly throwing our way. It’s a larger central theme, which makes it easier to understand, and more manageable.

That larger central theme is money.

In 2017, the trump administration rolled out huge tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and those cuts will expire THIS YEAR. So, the administration and associated billionaires (musk, bezos, zuckerburg, and the other CEOs who were standing with trump at his inauguration) need to find $4 trillion in the government budget to continue (and increase) those cuts.

Remember, we outnumber them. Authoritarians rely on perceived power. She compared this to The Wizard of Oz, saying that these are tiny men with huge, fragile egos. They want us to feel hopeless and afraid. So, don’t give them our fear or hopelessness. Refuse to feed the machine.

Some action steps she suggested are:

Know your rights in regards to immigration and ICE raids (even if you’re not an immigrant). Refuse to comply. Every refusal slows the system down, which is what we want.

Call your senator (whether democrat or republican) and tell them to vote NO on trump’s appointees. Even if we think our representatives won’t care, or will ignore us, EVERY ACTION MATTERS. Again, be the grain of sand in the gears of the machine.

Sometimes you have to try 100 doorknobs before you find the door that opens, and we will.

And she said: Remember, we are going to win.

We are going to win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVgNJf6CsBA

https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/services/immigration-know-your-rights

#survivingthetrumpadministration #fightfascism #notmypresident #standupspeakout #strongertogether