Moved to @bunngvira

[a TikTok stitched video starts with someone commenting on how to leave comments for the president, saying "Hi I'm Adam". The volume is off for this section of the video. From there, the video cuts to a different person, who speaks the following transcribed sections. Emphasis mine.]

As someone who used to answer these phone calls for two different federal representatives, let me tell you how to make sure your phone calls are making the most impact possible.

So, as cathartic as it may feel to give this long & passionate speech about why you're saying what you're saying, it's not gonna really make a difference. The most impactful thing you can do is to call over & over & over again.

At the end of the day in a representative's office, everyone who receives these phone calls from constituents will keep a tally of how many calls they get on any given issue & the representative will only see the number of calls (& maybe a few stand-out comments). For the most part, it's just the number of calls.

So, the best thing you can do is call again & again & again — keep it short so you can do it more rapidly. I would also consider skipping saying your name because if they figure out it's you making the same calls over & over & over again, they might stop counting your calls but if they're not sure if you're the same person, they'll count it.

So for example, when I'm calling about Gaza, I'm saying: "I would like to call & leave a comment with my representative strongly opposing the US's relations with Israel & standing in strong solidarity with Palestine, asking that my representative do the same." & just say that.

You can change it a little bit, just say it over & over & over again. Because the more calls the office gets, the more pressure that representative feels. They're just looking at numbers.

- make sure you mention where you are a constituent from even if you don't leave a name. Reps get suspicious of people not in their district calling sometimes.

- if they get slammed enough they will start getting suspicious about people calling multiple times. The not-leaving-a-name thing us a double edged sword and depends a lot on your particular representative.

- mention voting and that their decisions *will* impact your voting choices. This kind of thing has historically put more pressure on reps and gets them spooked faster. Even if it's just a number in a column or an asterisk indicating displeasure with their performance etc.

- Call your local office *before* the DC office. Messages left at your local office make it clearer that you're from the area you are calling from. (You can call both if you want - but shit coming from sleepy local offices is usually more impactful)

- Don't want to talk to a live human? Many reps will have voicemail boxes after hours. Try both DC and local offices.

- want to do text instead? Try resist bot. Use your favorite search engine to look them up. It got developed a few years ago in response to reps shutting down their emails and phone lines. They're hooked up to the congressional backend at this point so mail through them is much more likely to get to the right place. Also, speaking from personal experience they work.

(Also back in the day they used to guarantee delivery even if they had to have a person hand in the letter personally. I have no idea if this is still the case - but I think it is emblematic of their commitment to providing citizens a venue to lobby through).

thank you all for your additions so far

Just a couple of sluts in the kitchen cookin’ up a spicy vid for y’all ❤️‍🔥

let’s turn that frown upside down