Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with a donation.
As of Sunday morning, more than 230 demonstrations in cities and towns across the country are planned for Monday, February 18, with more than 10,000 Americans prepared to protest President Donald Trump’s admittedly fake national emergency, and Republicans for their support for his actions.
After Trump’s press conference Friday morning, progressive groups including MoveOn, United We Dream, Indivisible, and CREDO Action set to work organizing demonstrations against what CREDO co-director Heidi Hess called “an unconstitutional power grab that threatens our democracy and escalates Trump’s attacks on immigrants, communities of color, Muslims and Black and Brown people.”
Within 24 hours Americans had RSVP’d to more than 175 President’s Day protests, with the number exploding again by Sunday.
Emma Einhorn, campaign director for MoveOn, said the enthusiasm reflected the American public’s widespread opposition to Trump’s anti-immigration agenda.
“The American people demanded a course correction in the 2018 election, and poll after poll reaffirms a majority want to build an America that welcomes immigrants and people seeking asylum,” said Einhorn. “MoveOn’s millions of members have continued to act alongside immigrant communities by taking hundreds of thousands of actions, including opposing Trump’s Muslim Ban, defending immigrants who Trump put into risk of deportation by ending DACA and TPS, and standing with all immigrants facing deportation.”
Leah Greenberg, co-founder of Indivisible, shared a link to a map of all the protests that are currently planned across the country and information on how Americans can organize their own actions if there isn’t one planned in their area already. Many of the events will be held at noon local time.
With his #FAKENationalEmergency, Trump is testing what he can get away with. We need to push back HARD.
Join @IndivisibleTeam @moveon @UNITEDWEDREAM Monday- find your event here: https://t.co/Ge39iXBKaI pic.twitter.com/15BbQQ77Dl
— Leah NO WALL, CALL NOW Greenberg (@Leahgreenb) February 16, 2019
“President Trump’s declaration is an undemocratic power grab based on lies. There is no national emergency at the border and no need to waste billions of dollars on a racist border wall,” said Greenberg in a statement. “But the problem is not just Trump, it is also a Republican party that enables his every move. Indivisible stands with immigrant communities and will continue to pressure members of Congress to do their job and put an end to Trump’s reckless actions.”
Important Message: Please Read
For 25 years, Truthout has survived by publishing impactful investigative journalism and analysis; distributing full editions 365 days a year; and building a community of readers who support us with small, hard-earned donations.
Eighty percent of our $3 million yearly budget comes from small donors alone. Of those, 8,000 readers support us with monthly donations. Back in 2018, when Facebook decided to suppress the circulation of posts made by organizations, thereby cutting readers off from seeing many articles shared by the news organizations they had intentionally decided to follow, Truthout’s total traffic declined by 40 percent, as nearly all of our traffic from that platform disappeared.
Now, Google has recently rolled out its AI search bar, providing AI summaries instead of directing readers to our site. Google Search is our single largest source of traffic; it’s the route by which nearly one third of our readers find us. Much like in 2018, a shocking 40 percent of our Google traffic has disappeared overnight.
It will not be easy for Truthout to shoulder this blow. Nor will it be easy for our peers and collaborators — news sites that depend on traffic and aren’t bankrolled by large corporations.
If you can support Truthout with a donation today, you can help us resist the AI onslaught. Please give today.