All The Light We Cannot See

It’s been a rough few weeks. We know we’re feeling it, and we’re sure you are too. But when we turn off the TV and stop reading the headlines, we realize there is much more to this picture than meets the eye.

On Monday night, we attended an event hosted by Red, Wine and Blue with the renowned historian and political commentator Heather Cox Richardson about Project 2025 (watch here). It was a Monday night in the middle of July. We thought, at most, 500 people would attend.

We were blown away.

42,000 concerned citizens attended, and another 200,000 watched on Facebook. As of today, 41K have watched it on YouTube.

Even more amazing, after the call, more than 10,000 people stayed on and joined the “non-swing state” breakout room to learn more about starting their own Trouble Nation chapters. (Find your local chapter here!)

Yet, this isn’t new. We saw this same energy in early June at a fundraiser hosted by Focus for Democracy where more than 1,000 people showed up to raise $1 million. It happened again in July when 3,000 people joined a F4D event and raised over $3 million for grassroots organizations doing GOTV work in Swing States (see our donation recs here).

Friends, F4D and RWB are not part of the DNC or the Biden-Harris campaign. These organizations were started when groups of friends and neighbors got together and decided to do their part. And it’s not just these two, there are so many groups like this across the country making a huge difference.

This is the light we cannot see in the headlines. This is the light out there guiding our path if we look close enough.

Across all major social media platforms, we’ve seen a tidal wave of fierce commitment to defending our democracy, challenging the media to cover the threat of a second Trump turn, and people showing up in ways they never have before. As this letter from Movement Voter Project said today:

Polls did not capture this energy in 2022 when everyone predicted a red wave that never happened. Polls did not capture it in the 2023 special elections when the media declared women were over Dobbs. They did not capture it in France a few weeks ago when the media predicted that the Far Right would win.

So — instead of falling into despair each time a pundit declares we have already lost — listen to the people who have been fighting against fascism their entire lives, generation after generation, and know more about this country than anyone.

In 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023, we, as John Lewis once said, found a way to make a way out of no way, and we will do it again and again until we no longer face the threat of fascism. How?

• We donate - see out latest recs.

• We volunteer every week for the next 3.5 months - see our list of GOTV orgs.

• We stay positive and talk to our friends and family about what’s been accomplished and what’s at stake.

Republicans want us to give up because the way fascism wins is through division, defeatism, and apathy. Don’t fall for it. The more united we are behind our shared principles, the stronger we are. This election isn’t about a single candidate — it is about the world we want to live in. It’s about the future we want our children to have. As Jessica Craven, one of the best organizers we know said today:

It’s time to turn away from the doom and gloom and look for the light. We have so much to celebrate from the last three years and a powerful agenda for the future. Let’s lock arms and make this happen!