Friend, forgive me for not rehashing the gnashing of teeth that I’ve seen over the last 48 hours. Plenty of ink has been spilled over whiplash polling and Supreme Court decisions, and I don’t think you need to hear it from yet another angle.
And honestly – hear me out – I think talking about it and ruminating about it does far more harm than good.
It’s Super Tuesday. It’s time for tough, straight, talk.
Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for president. Period. Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee for president. Period.
That’s the reality, and the choice, that is facing the country.
Folks might, or might not, like that those are our choices. Frankly, at this point it really doesn’t matter. Does it?
Let’s stop complaining that we wish the choices before us were different, or easier, somehow – and just get to work already.
This morning I had a conversation with a colleague and friend, who rightly said: There’s just no silver bullet.
He’s 100% right. There’s no court case that’s going to take Trump off the ballot. He’s not going to be carted off to jail before the election. There’s no shortcut, or easy way out.
Friend, the only way to beat Trump, is to beat Trump. It’s not complicated; it’s just difficult.
Is it fair that it’s going to be difficult to beat Trump? No. We should be beating him handily. If things were different, maybe we would be. But things aren’t different. They are what they are. And that just means there’s more work to be done, and arguing over what might have been isn’t going to decrease the size of our to-do lists today.
And (I’m now saying this with my most gentle voice) being in a place to beat Trump means we need to focus. That’s something that is hard to do with all of the moving pieces, and I admit to being in a frenetic headspace myself recently – so I can relate.
But it really is time. The election is less than a year away. We need to steady ourselves and just get to work. We have the people, the funding, the energy, the policy, the results, the message – and, most crucially right now – the time, to make a real dent and a massive difference in this election. Spinning ourselves into circles about what could have been or who could be or should be doing a better job … well.
It’s more than unhelpful, because that kind of ruminating expends excess energy that I certainly don’t have. I’ll bet you don’t have the excess energy to burn over hypotheticals, either.
We need to be smart and strategic about where to put our energy, and our time.
So this week as you’re drawn into conversations about the most recent awful polling or the latest awful court case, try to re-center yourself on what matters: action.
It’s go time, friends.
Let’s get to work.
Actions for the Week of March 5, 2024
Set Your CAlendar for the Blue Tennessee Launch!
Boy this has been a long time coming, and I’m really excited it’s finally here. So I hope you’ll join me, Jessica Piper, Trae Crowder, David Pepper, Aftyn Behn, Kate Craig and Allie Phillips to launch Blue Tennessee. It’s Every State Blue’s newest state project, aiming to fund and support downballot democrats running in some of the reddest, roughest, toughest districts in TN.
No doubt you’ve seen how diabolical the TN GOP has been in silencing critics and quashing dissent. That’s one reason I’m so proud that we’ll be empowering another grassroots community to crowdsource for democratic nominees.
Join us next Wednesday at 7:30pm eastern for the kickoff! Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEscemtqDIjH9UWN33pPPN0Sfz6NcSDZOth
SOTU Watch Party (H/T Jess Craven)
The Biden campaign is holding a virtual watch party on Thursday night for the State of the Union. Sign up and join supporters and campaign leadership as you listen into the State of the Union and learn more about how you can get on board with the campaign.
Thursday, March 7 from 8:15 – 10:30pm EST. Sign up here.
I’m Not Giving Up ON UKRAINE: CALL YOUR CONGRESSCRITTERS
At this point you know the drill and the issue. Ukraine is fighting for democracy and Republicans are holding up the support Ukraine needs. I just do not think we can let this go, it’s too important. So even though it may feel repetitive, it’s still urgent and worth the call.
Get our your phone!
Script: Hi, my name is [name] and I’m a constituent at [zip]. I’m calling today to ask the Congress(wo)man to support getting funding for Ukraine before the full House for a vote. That the speaker has not brought that legislation to the floor is a gift to Putin. Not funding Ukraine is a gift to Putin. Let’s show the world that America stands with its allies, not a murderous dictator. What is the Congress(wo)man doing right now to get funding to the floor?
WHEW! GO TEAM!
P.S.: Why don’t you make someone’s day and send this pep talk to a friend or two? I bet they need it.
If you’d like to sign up to get this pep talk and action list in your in-box each week, you can do that here. Welcome, friend!
P.P.S.: If you want to help support this work you can do so via Patreon at
https://www.patreon.com/smalldeedsdone or via paypal at https://www.paypal.me/smalldeeds
My deepest gratitude in advance.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for writing. I read and respond to every email! We’re in this together. Don’t you forget it.
Small Deeds Done 