ROBERT REICH: I need to talk to you about TikTok

 

Do you know what you need to know about Project 2025?

It's a nearly 1,000-page blueprint for turning America into a fascist police state by purging civil servants and suppressing dissent. It would impose a far-right, extremist Christian nationalist agenda on our country … by executive order and without an act of Congress.

If Donald Trump becomes president, then with the stroke of his pen:

• The Department of Justice will no longer be independent—and there will be no one left to stop Trump from charging his political opponents with crimes.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) efforts to curb the spread of disinformation, including Russian propaganda, will be shut down.
• The Insurrection Act will be used to shut down protests and to deploy red-state National Guard units against blue states—even over the objections of those states' governors.
• Abortion will be banned nationwide using two approaches. First, through a radical right-wing interpretation of the Comstock Act, a long-dormant law from 1873; as one of Trump's lawyers says, "We don't need [Congress to pass] a federal ban when we have Comstock on the books."¹ And second, by reversing the FDA approval of medication abortion, which is safer than aspirin.²

It's becoming clear that a second Trump presidency would be far, far worse than his first. It would be a total nightmare.

But there is hope. The vast majority of Americans are against Project 2025's proposed far-right policies. And when they hear about Project 2025, support for anyone who supports it—including Trump—sinks like a rock.³

So we know what we've got to do: We've got to raise awareness of Project 2025 and Trump's plans, so that voters keep him out of the Oval Office.

My friends at MoveOn have been laying the groundwork to do just that. They've been sounding the alarm about Project 2025 and building the infrastructure to ensure that voters across the country hear about it.

Now, MoveOn needs your immediate help to turn their plans into action.

Will you start a $5 monthly donation to MoveOn, so they can engage millions of people with the truth about Trump and Project 2025's Christian nationalist agenda?

Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

I'm very active on TikTok, and I can tell you firsthand that MAGA is absolutely dominating there right now.

When Trump joined TikTok, within three days he had 5 million followers—14 times as many followers as President Biden.⁴

And that's a huge problem because, according to the Pew Research Center, about one-third of people under 30 regularly get their news from TikTok. One-third!⁵

In 2016, when fundraising was slow to tick up for Hillary Clinton, voters were complacent, Trump dominated on social media, progressives were slow to adapt … And, well, we all know the devastating results.

We must not let that happen again.

The good news is that progressives are starting to catch up on social media, including TikTok, and young people are paying attention to Project 2025 on TikTok in particular.⁶

This means that the stories about the horrors that a second Trump presidency would bring are starting to break through on social media and drive down Trump's popularity.

I've been working to build up a following on TikTok, and I'm one of the few progressives with a large following there. But to really seize this moment, progressives need many more voices with many more followers on TikTok, Discord, Instagram, and other social media.

That's why I'm excited by MoveOn's plans to build a cadre of 200 social media influencers who can help spread the word about Project 2025 and the other terrifying plans Trump has for his second term to their massive, dedicated audiences.

But I'm getting anxious that MoveOn won't be able to raise enough funds to get going quickly enough. It's keeping me up at night.

Will you start a $5 monthly donation today and help MoveOn spread the truth about Trump and Project 2025's Christian nationalist agenda? Your ongoing donation will power their efforts from now to Election Day.

Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

In 2018, MoveOn's Real Voter Voices project used testimonials from ordinary Americans to reach tens of thousands of voters, which helped achieve a blue wave and take back the House of Representatives.

MoveOn is building on that success this year, collecting thousands of testimonial videos from MoveOn members speaking authentically about the stakes of the 2024 election (such as Project 2025), why they are voting, and the candidates they are supporting. So we're planning to flood the digital airwaves with members, micro-influencers, and MoveOn's own accounts.

But with the dip in grassroots funding, I am getting increasingly anxious about what it will mean if MoveOn has to scale back their plans. Will you help them close the gap?

Click below to start a $5 monthly donation and help MoveOn spread the truth about Trump and Project 2025's Christian nationalist agenda.

I'll chip in monthly.

I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

The literally "apocalyptic" plans in Project 2025 go on for hundreds of pages.⁷

They aim to ban IVF, even though 86% of Americans support it.⁸

They propose exempting Christian churches, and only Christian churches, from any health requirements, including during a pandemic, and imposing the Christian Sabbath on all of us by paying more to workers—but only on Sundays—while workers will continue to fall behind on the other six days of the week.⁹ Meanwhile, tax cuts for the rich would be permanently extended, costing more than $4 trillion.¹⁰

They would delete the terms "sexual orientation" and "gender identity"; "diversity, equity, and inclusion"; and "gender," "gender equality," and "gender equity" from all government policy.¹¹

And, they would direct the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) to rewrite all policies to adhere to a "biblically-based definition of marriage and family," including recognizing only heterosexual marriage and rejecting any transgender care or protections.¹²

I could go on and on, but I think you understand it clearly: Everything that we fought for over the past decades is now on the line.

If you're worried, please turn your worry into action and help MoveOn's work to ensure that the voters who will decide this election know the stakes.

Click below to start a monthly donation of $5, or whatever you can afford.

I'll chip in monthly.

I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

When I travel around the country and talk with young people, I feel immense hope. Hope that when the American people, particularly young people, realize what a second Trump term would actually mean for our country, they'll do the right thing and vote for Joe Biden.

But we have to reach voters before it's too late. And we can't do it without MoveOn. Will you donate now to help?

I'll chip in monthly.

I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Thanks for all you do.

–Robert Reich

Sources:

1. "Anti-Abortion Extremists Want to Use the 150-Year-Old Comstock Act to Ban Abortion Nationwide," ACLU, May 30, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194137?t=12&akid=395111%2E3735812%2EtPH2S6

2. "What Is Project 2025?" Time, June 9, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194138?t=14&akid=395111%2E3735812%2EtPH2S6

3. "POLL: Voters Soundly Reject MAGA Republican 'Project 2025' Plan in Favor of President Biden's Clean Energy Plan," Climate Power, August 24, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/194024?t=16&akid=395111%2E3735812%2EtPH2S6

4. "Trump quickly surpasses the Biden campaign on TikTok," NBC News, June 4, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194139?t=18&akid=395111%2E3735812%2EtPH2S6

5. "More Americans are getting news on TikTok, bucking the trend seen on most other social media sites," Pew Research Center, November 15, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/194140?t=20&akid=395111%2E3735812%2EtPH2S6

6. "Project 2025," "Today, Explained," April 3, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194141?t=22&akid=395111%2E3735812%2EtPH2S6

7. "Conservative groups draw up plan to dismantle the US government and replace it with Trump's vision," AP News, August 29, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/193049?t=24&akid=395111%2E3735812%2EtPH2S6

8. "Overwhelming majority of Americans support keeping IVF legal for women: Poll," The Hill, March 4, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194021?t=26&akid=395111%2E3735812%2EtPH2S6

9. "The right's Project 2025 wants to make faith the government's job," MSNBC, September 8, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/194020?t=28&akid=395111%2E3735812%2EtPH2S6

10. "Permanently Extending the Trump Tax Cuts Would Cost $4 Trillion Over the Next Decade," Center for American Progress, May 8, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194142?t=30&akid=395111%2E3735812%2EtPH2S6

11. "Project 2025: The Right's Dystopian Plan to Dismantle Civil Rights and What It Means for Women," Ms., February 8, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/193050?t=32&akid=395111%2E3735812%2EtPH2S6

12. "The right's Project 2025 wants to make faith the government's job," MSNBC, September 8, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/194020?t=34&akid=395111%2E3735812%2EtPH2S6

Want to support MoveOn's work? The MAGA movement's book bans have forced teachers and librarians across the country to remove books from their shelves and censor what young people can learn. MoveOn is fighting back, including by filling a "Banned Bookmobile" with books that the far right has banned and driving it to key cities and towns to raise the visibility of book bans, hand out banned books for free, and bring people together to stop censorship. To keep up the fight against book bans and the MAGA politicians who support them, we need your help.

Will you start a monthly gift to power and sustain MoveOn's critical work? 

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

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