putting all our cards on the table

We're just going to put all our cards on the table.

Historically, we've been able to depend on a surge in online donations every December.

But we are facing some hard realities this time around:

• A lot of people donated a lot of money to political candidates and parties in the lead up to the election and are understandably feeling tapped out.

• There is a justifiable worry about how the economy is going to look — and how much the billionaire class and Big Business are going to rig things even more in their favor — under a second Trump presidency.

• Many organizations may be asking you to donate right now. (Perhaps with gimmicks like ALL-CAPS subject lines, garish formatting, implausible "7x" matches, etc.)

We're sending this email to about 470,000 Public Citizen activists and supporters all across America. We know that donating will be right for some and not for many others.

Either way, please take a look at our earlier note — copied below in case you missed it — outlining some of the ways Public Citizen is preparing to confront the Trump regime.

Thank you!

Lisa & Robert

******

We want to talk about maintaining hope in what are undeniably dire times.

By the way, this is not the shortest email we've ever sent you. (Though it's not the longest, either!)

Hope is not something a person simply does or doesn't have.

Yes, some of us are more optimistic by nature, some of us are more cynical.

But hope is something we can build, nurture, invest in.

Indeed — when so much is going in the wrong direction — building, nurturing, and investing in hope is not just something we can do, it is something we must do.

We have to put in the work. We have to make hope real. We have to make it a living, breathing thing.

And that starts with working together and doing whatever we can. Even if we don't see an immediate impact. Even if it feels small. Even if — especially if — it seems impossible.

Since the moment Donald Trump was declared the victor in the presidential race, Public Citizen has been been charging forward to activate and build out far-reaching, impactful plans that will limit the damage he and his cronies can inflict upon millions of Americans, our democracy, our planet, and everyone on it.

Our plan for confronting Trump focuses on three key areas:

1. Mobilizing the American people against Trump's authoritarian actions.

2. Exposing the conflicts of interest and systemic corruption within MAGA.

3. Litigating against Trump's cruel and illegal agenda.

Here's just some of what we're already doing:

• Two days after the election — with the Election Sabotage Response Network — we helped organize a "Making Meaning of the Moment" video call that drew more than 100,000 activists. As a follow on, we've helped organize over 600 community meetings around the country to prepare people for the work ahead.

• We have created a tracker of Trump administration conflicts of interest that is already drawing lots of media interest (even as we rush to keep up with more conflicts every day).

• We have created a public database of the environmental, health, consumer, and other regulations the Republican Congress and Trump are likely to target in their first months. And we are spearheading a coalition of over 100 organizations to fight those deregulatory efforts and label them as the corporate paybacks they are.

• We wrote a formal, legal letter to the Trump transition team about the Elon Musk-led "Department of Government Efficiency" — explaining that what they are in fact doing is setting up a federal advisory committee that must follow open government rules and requirements that advisory committees be balanced and representative — paving the way for possible litigation after the inauguration.

• We documented ongoing federal investigations against wrongdoing by Elon Musk-owned companies, highlighting how Musk may leverage his close relationship with Trump to benefit his companies and enrich himself still further.

• We submitted a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission on Dr. Mehmet Oz's apparent violation of rules requiring social media "influencers" to disclose their financial interests when promoting products.

• We are issuing reports on conflicts of interest for Chief of Staff-to-be Susie Wiles and Attorney General-designate Pam Bondi, and issued detailed statements opposing more than 10 Trump nominations.

• We have generated tons of media coverage, including in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, ABC News, and much more.

• We are conducting trainings that will give more Americans the tools to sue and advocate around regulatory rollbacks, open records requests, misuse of presidential emergency powers, and more.

• And we are readying a host of lawsuits once the Trump cabal takes office.

All of that in just the few weeks since the election. And, again, that's far from a comprehensive list of our work.

We are also putting specific plans in place around challenging other Trump nominations, ensuring drug safety, protecting Medicare, opposing attempts to minimize the threat of climate change, blocking tax cuts for the super rich, and much, much more.

For now, the name of the game is defense and mitigating harm. It won't be long into the next year, however, when we'll also be able to start building consensus around bold, transformative proposals. That's the work we did during Trump's first term.

Look, by design, our plans and our work are unbelievably ambitious.

Because that's precisely what the moment demands: aggressive, strategic plans that will make a difference.

Because an audacious approach can — and should — give us hope.

This is the fight of our lives.

We are in it together.

And we need your help to build up more financial strength than we've ever had before.

If you can, please donate to Public Citizen right now.

Anything you can chip in — $5 or $25, $50 or $100, $500 or even more — will help us confront what's coming from a second Trump term.

CONTRIBUTE NOW
Or join our popular Monthly Giving program (if you haven't already) to help make sure we have the ongoing financial resources to fight Trump day after day after day.

Thank you for reading this, and thank you for everything you do as part of Public Citizen.

For progress,

- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
 
 
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