It is the second week of Black History Month and what else would we expect to talk about but a potential Republican presidential nominee working to gut AP African American Studies courses?
That’s right, MAGA Republican Ron DeSantis threatened to ban the advanced placement course — his Department of Education saying that it is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.” We are not surprised by this: Last year, DeSantis signed a bill that restricts how teachers can talk about race with students, and he has continually waged a war on LGBTQ+ individuals — through bills like “don’t say gay” — while taking a specific aim at attacking the medical rights of trans children.
This is not a quirk of Southern politics. This is a concerted plan, by a major leader in the MAGA Republican party, to attack marginalized Americans in a bid for power (as Thomas B. Edsall wrote in his frequently-quoted opinion piece in the New York Times, DeSantis is a “test case”). Republicans have been using culture wars to divide Americans for decades, and as the party has gone full MAGA in recent years, they have ramped up those efforts to drive a wedge between working class voters.
Dividing communities and targeting vulnerable people is the foundation of the Republican strategy.
It is easy to think that, with Trump’s influence waning within the Republican party (for now), we could see a “return” to a reasonable world of bipartisan governance — that is not in the Republican playbook. Whether it is Ron DeSantis’ planning to run for president or insurrectionists like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Paul Gosar in the House, MAGA Republicans are doubling down on their attempts to sow discord and reap the rewards.
We must continue to fight against these attacks by bringing more people over to our side in a rejection of MAGA’s vision for our future.
With that, here are your weekly to-dos:
Your 3 weekly to-dos
- Read the new 2023 Indivisible Guide (PDF). If you want tangible actions you can take to confront MAGA extremism, this is the place to start. Catch up on where we stand in the new year, explore our game plan for the current Congress, and find out how to get involved. Our wins over the last six years have been because we were coordinated, energized, and informed; let’s make sure we go into 2023 with that same foundation in place to fuel more wins.
- Watch the State of the Union (SOTU) tomorrow Tuesday, February 7 at 9pm ET/6pm PT. President Biden will present his second State of the Union address tomorrow evening. Read more below about what we are looking out for and stay tuned for actionable items coming out of the SOTU later this week.
- Do you live in a rural area? Click here to join our National Rural Program. We have resources and calls specifically for our rural Indivisibles where you can learn more about strategies and issues specific to Indivisibles living in rural areas. If you want an idea of what that looks like, check out our agenda and notes from previous meetings.
State of the Union
This is our second time covering the State of the Union (we didn’t give more air to Trump’s lies during his term) and we’re excited to see what goals President Biden has in store. We expect him to touch on many things, but here are a few we’re excited to potentially hear:
- The debt ceiling — We know that Republicans want to use the debt ceiling to hold the government hostage and cut funding to critical programs like Social Security and Medicare. Biden has been a strong opponent of these Republican attacks on our economic well being, and we expect him to continue to hold firm.
- Progressive policy wins — Over the past two years, Biden has passed the Inflation Reduction Act, a historic legislative package aimed at creating jobs, building infrastructure, fighting climate change, lowering prescription drug costs, and more. We expect Biden to highlight these achievements and present a path forward as we continue to build an economy where all of us can thrive.
- MAGA extremism — From January 6th, to abortion bans, to the Speaker nomination, to anti-trans bills across the nation, Republicans have been battling to restrict the basic rights of Americans in the name of holding on to their wealth and power. Democrats have done a great job of highlighting the hypocritical, selfish, and malicious nature of MAGA Republican attacks on our freedoms and democracy. We expect President Biden to remind the American people just how repugnant MAGA extremism is in action.
If you’re watching along, tweet us @IndivisibleTeam with your thoughts, and join us and our friends at Working Families Party as they stream IndivisiCandidate Rep. Delia Ramirez’s (D-IL) response or follow us on Facebook to watch the livestream.
IndivisiWin of the Week
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Get excited for the State of the Union tomorrow and remember that we seek to bring people together while MAGA Republicans seek to divide. It is through that unity that we continue to win.
In solidarity,
Indivisible Team
Indivisible Project is a locally-led, people-powered movement of thousands of local groups in red, blue, and purple states, and in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Our mission is to power and lift up a grassroots movement of local groups to defeat the Trump agenda, elect progressive leaders, and realize bold progressive policies.
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