#actionable steps

The second tactic is one suggested by the recent statements of Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey. Both senators focus on the fact that while the Democrats are out of power in government, they are not without power to slow or even stop the seizure of the financial levers of the government by the Trump White House. Sen. Schatz declared last week that he would use his right to withhold unanimous consent on all new state department appointees unless and until USAID was restored as an agency. This was a tactic used by Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Tommy Tuberville to stall Biden-era appointments. Such a move would force each and every Trump appointment to go through a full round of regular process before the Senate, instead of batching groups of appointees through. It would mean the GOP Senate would have to decide between using its time to pass things like the budget or get appointments through. Other Democratic senators should be urged to join Schatz in his protest so that he is not a single target who is easier to bombard. Sen. Kim also drew attention by suggesting over the weekend that he’s open to shutting down the government in order to protest the takeover of government systems by DOGE and the shuttering of whole agencies like USAID. Normally, it is the GOP that has threatened shutdowns when it didn’t get its way politically. Here, all the Democrats would have to do is pledge to do nothing—not lift one damn finger—to help the GOP pass its budget or lift the debt ceiling… unless the White House backs off of its attempts to shut off the money and furlough government workers. The government faces a March 14, 2025 deadline to enact a new budget. Barring something truly wild, it almost certainly will have to lift the debt ceiling to do so. Hardliners within the GOP inevitably will use the opportunity to try and extract concessions by way of drastic spending cuts to popular programs. If the Democrats band together behind Sen. Kim’s call to “Just Say No,” as it were, then the budget disaster will be entirely in the hands of the GOP.

(Excuse the long-ass excerpt; there's even more in the link above.)

I encourage you to call or write to your senators, especially if you have dem senators, and encourage them to unite with these two.

Let me give you a simple script.

If you're calling, begin by stating your name and your zip code, and if you're leaving a voice mail, include your address and, perhaps, a phone number. Then, choose one of the bracketed sections:

As a constituent, I urge Senator [Name] to band with [Senator Schatz]/[Senator Kim]'s call to [withhold unanimous consent]/[shut down the government] in protest of Musk's attacks on government agencies. Voters want to see you taking action right now. Thank you for your time.

That's it! That's all you have to say! You can reword that to suit your preferences better, but the important thing is, you don't have to be eloquent, you just have to tell them what actions you want them to take.

Calling is usually better than emailing, but a) the phone lines are melting to bits because they are getting 1500 calls a minute instead of the usual 30-50 and b) emailing is better than nothing. If you can, call, but if you can't, email! Simple as that.

If you have a Republican senator/rep, your focus should be on Musk. This isn't a perfect script, but let me try. Again, if you're calling, give your name and zip code (and if it's a voicemail, your address and maybe phone number), and then:

I want to express to Senator/Representative [whoever] that I believe Elon Musk has too much influence over the current administration given that he was not elected and his actions seem largely self-serving. I urge Senator/Representative [whoever] to take action against his rushed and clumsy dismantling of government agencies. Thank you.

Again, feel free to reword that and if anyone has a better script with more specific actions, feel free to add that.

Regardless of what you think about his views, he has not done anything illegal, and he is being held without being charged for a crime, and his family was lied to about his location so they can't contact him. THAT IS BAD. Even if you disagree with his views (and again please don't debate in my notes one way or another, I am not here for that discussion), you cannot support only "free speech" that backs you and your opinion. You can tell individuals to shut up all you like if you disagree with them, but the second the government starts shutting people up, that is an actual first amendment violation, and not a good precedent to set.

This is a test. If the regime can black bag one man, they can do it to more. You know the "first they came for" poem, I don't need to tell y'all shit. SO, time to contact our reps. (Please don't come in here telling me that talking to them is useless; representatives and senators are going through the courts, which takes time, but is going to be effective in the long run. It's just not glamorous and showy.)

5Calls, as usual, has a script for phoning your reps. (AltNPS also had a script for calling ICE but I can't find it now so it may have been taken down.)

I encourage you to call if you can, but if you can't, here's an email script as well. If you email, put something like "constituent concerned about first amendment" in the subject line, something that makes it likely it will be seen by the staffers and actually reaches your senator's desk or whatever. Use the word "constituent" anyway. Here's what i wrote to mine (in addition to making calls), so you can copy my homework and make something similar, but try to change it up a little bit:

Senator [blank], the recent situation with Mahmoud Khalil has me (and many others) deeply concerned about our first amendment rights being eroded in this country. He has been held without charge, his family has been denied knowledge of where he is, despite him being a legal resident of the US, all because he peacefully backed views that are not in line with the current president's preferences. I urge you to do what you can to help this man and to prevent this from becoming a trend. I know there is a lot to deal with right now, but this is one of the worthiest causes yet. Regardless of anyone's views of Palestine and Israel, we cannot just have people arrested (effectively kidnapped) for their views and beliefs. We have a right to free speech, whether we agree with it or not, and we NEED our representatives especially to stand up and fight for those rights before they are fully eroded. Because once this is established, what next, or whom? People standing for DEI or trans rights? People standing against Trump at all? Democrats? Women who speak up? It sounds like a slippery slope, but history has shown us that we cannot allow things like this to happen at all. Please, please, be bold and take a stand. Thank you.

My current senator is a democrat, so that made that easier, but I can write one for your republican senator. Let me try:

Dear Senator [asshole], I am deeply concerned about the government overreach with regards to the unlawful arrest of Mahmoud Khalil. Supporting this arrest seems to go against our constitutional rights and does not promote the ideals of a small government, nor of lawfulness. He has done everything correctly in becoming a legal resident, and he has not been charged with any crimes, and I do not think this is an appropriate action for the government to take. I ask you to stand against this situation and support our constitutional right to free speech and peaceful protest.

Using lots of words like "constitution" and "small government" and emphasizing rule of law is going to work slightly better with the Republicans, or at least, has a greater chance than a script written for Democrats.