Take Action: According to Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda, tackle one issue at a time. The more trouble it takes you to contact your politicians, the more they pay attention. So when you can manage the time and effort, put your body out there. Face-to-face or protest march > calling > faxing if you can’t get through on regular phone > writing letters (because they may arrive too late) > personal email > petition or group email.
But we are in this for the long haul, so pace yourselves. Do whatever level you can do. We will be here once a week with the latest.
Since last time: We found a resource to find your legislators’Town Hall meetings, so that you can meet them face to face if you wish; but since I posted it on Facebook it’s broken so the link can no longer be posted (it tries to embed in a tiny form in the diary, which freezes this page). So here is the link to the Breaking Pawlitics Facebook page, which has a link at the top to the Town Hall page (a google doc). I have received an email from the Town Hall group; they’re going to be posting the page soon using something other than google doc; I will edit when they do.
To write your letter then fax it for free: FaxZero: Create and send faxes for free to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada
Easy resource to find your politicians’ phone, email, etc: The AARP has an action site, Advocacy - Legislative Action Center - AARP. I know AARP isn’t perfect, but it has a nifty feature for everyone: Look down to the right, where it says “find your state legislators”. Put in your zip code. It returns federal, state AND local politicians, NOT just legislators. Federal, for example, includes contact information for Trump, Pence, your two Senators, and your Congressional representative. If you need more than phone numbers and email addresses, it has clickable links to their web pages, which should have up-to-date contact information including fax numbers, street addresses, appearance schedule, how to schedule appointments, and constituent services.
I think this will be most effective with legislators, but if you want to call Trump and the White House line is still blocked: Call Trump properties! Until he divests, he is in touch with them. If you have time, consider telling them you have concerns, ask to speak with a manager so you don’t make the low-level employees do all the work. Tell them this is about security, you might consider staying there but not if they might be a terrorist target, ask when he will divest and when they will change the name away from Trump for a lower profile.
Then whoever you speak with there, ask them to leave Trump a message, such as this sample phone script (please feel free to modify as desired):
“Who am I speaking with? Thank you, _______. Please pass along this message to Mr. Trump and tell him that we need him to open the White House phone lines so that we can urge him to fire Steve Bannon. Bannon is trying to take over as President and take over the National Security Council, for which he is grossly unqualified. He is a warmonger who is just going to get the President into trouble. Bannon also makes Trump look weak, like he’s just a figurehead taking orders from the real power behind the throne.
“I appreciate you passing that along. Please read the message back to me so I can make sure you were able to write it down accurately. Thank you for your time.”
For this purpose, I prefer Mar-a-Lago: "The Crown Jewel of Palm Beach" (click for contact information), current phone number 561-832-2600, but you can choose any Trump property, just Google them. Or you can go to White House Inc and they will set you up with a random Trump property anywhere in the world. His properties cannot shut down their phone lines, they have to be able to take reservations. Every Trump property is getting called, so they may change their numbers. Please let us know if they do, especially if you ferret out the new number!
Remember no matter what staff you contact: They probably are not happy about working for Reptublicans either. Please try not to direct your anger and frustration at them. They will be more likely to listen and pass along messages when you sound professional.
If all else fails, MoveOn has a petition for Congress to keep Steve Bannon off the NSC: Sign to tell Congress: Stop Bannon's national security takeover.
Please feel free to share and/or reprint this diary in whole or in part with attribution far and wide, other websites or newspapers, I give it freely. Our aim is for millions to take action.
Each week: The week’s cartoon will post shortly after press time at the TeePublic elenacarlena store if you’d like to pick up a shirt, mug, or other items with any cartoon in the series, to help spread the word and support these efforts.
Thank you for taking action!
References:
Steve Bannon's Long Love Affair With War
Steve Bannon's own words show sharp break on security issues
Steve Bannon's Presence On The National Security Council Is Not Just Terrible. It's Illegal.
Donald Trump just made an unprecedented, radical change to the National Security Council
Update: Per request, a closer look at Steve Bannboon:
Update 2: The Trumps are at Mar-a-Lago right now, this weekend, for a romantic getaway at the “winter White House”! www.usmagazine.com/… Call away, folks, and please let me know if they let you talk with him! Again, that phone number is 561-832-2600. Be a “shame” if the Trumps had no peace all weekend. Poor boy, not a moment’s peace after he worked hard for a whole 2 weeks to deserve a vacation.
Update 3: There is a specific bill — Please ask your representatives to support “House Bill 804: To amend the National Security Act of 1947 to protect the National Security Council from political interference, and for other purposes,” introduced February 1, 2017, by Stephanie Murphy, Florida representative. H/t 2thanks!
Update 4: This episode of Breaking Pawlitics is now available on shirts, mugs, and more at the TeePublic elenacarlena store, on sale for the next 3 days! Here’s one possible shirt design:
