A friend of mine signed up for MoveOn.org’s emails—not because she agrees with them, but as an act of civic reconnaissance. “Know thy enemy,” she said. Noble work, really—she reads their nonsense so you don’t have to.
Anyway, this gem landed in inboxes Thursday. It’s from none other than Robert Reich—yes, that Robert Reich, Clinton’s former Labor Secretary and full-time alarmist. Honestly, he fits right in with MoveOn’s brand of hysteria. A perfect match.
Be sure to stick around for my response after you wade through this pile of progressive panic. Trust me—it’s worth it.
Dear MoveOn member,
Authoritarians benefit from an under-informed population—which is precisely why Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Republican Party are carrying out the most sweeping assault on the American mind in modern history.1
Trump has effectively dismantled the U.S. Department of Education—gutting its staff and attempting to close the department altogether. American children be damned.
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELHe’s cutting funding to public libraries and museums—invaluable places that provide internet access, literacy programs, and homework help to millions.2
He’s going after scientific research. Silencing dissent. Threatening universities, researchers, and students and their free speech and academic freedom. Detaining immigrants—including lawful permanent residents with green cards—for speaking out. 3
These efforts aren’t about policy, efficiency, or saving taxpayer money. They’re about control. It’s about creating a culture of fear and complacency. It’s about tearing down the means and institutions that allow people to think critically, challenge authority, and participate in democracy.
Our country is in enormous danger right now. That’s the terrifying worry that keeps me up at night. But we can prevent our democracy’s downfall, together.
I believe the Trump-Musk regime will ultimately fail, because the backlash to their authoritarianism is growing every day. This past week, tens of thousands of people across the country showed up to see Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and other progressive champions who have been rallying around the country to urge people to fight against oligarchy.4
I believe a reckoning is coming. But to succeed, we need a massive movement.
MoveOn has a plan—using cutting-edge technology—to reach, train, support, organize, and communicate at a scale that is unparalleled in the progressive movement. It won’t be easy, but for the sake of our country’s future, it must happen. Will you help?
Please: Will you start a $5 monthly donation and help MoveOn create a movement so powerful that Trump will face a reckoning he can’t ignore?
Yes, I’ll chip in $5 a month. If you’ve saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately.
No, I’m sorry, I can’t make a monthly donation.
Research on other authoritarian regimes gives us the playbook we need to fight back.
According to researchers, “no government has withstood a challenge of 3.5% of their population mobilized against it during a peak event.”5,6
3.5 percent of the population is 11 million Americans. If we mobilize at this scale, the research shows we’ll win.
And I believe that mobilizing people at this scale is absolutely achievable. But it won’t be easy: It means even more people than attended the Women’s March. Even more than Martin Luther King’s March on Washington.
Getting to that scale will require significant resources. Which is why I’m asking you, Tina:
Please help MoveOn build the movement we need to engage 3.5% of the U.S. population in a massive protest movement to stop authoritarianism in America by starting a $5 monthly donation.
I’ll chip in $5 a month. If you’ve saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately.
I’m sorry, I can’t make a monthly donation.
Throughout history, tyrants have understood that their major enemy is an educated citizenry. That’s why they want an undereducated and complacent population.
Slaveholders prohibited enslaved people from learning to read. Nazis burned books. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping censor the media. Trump and his MAGA allies are undermining the institutions—from public schools to libraries—that nourish free thought and informed debate and hoping people will give up hope and be afraid to speak out.
MoveOn is working day and night to mobilize the MASSIVE grassroots reckoning that we need to stop this nightmare. That’s why your $5 monthly donation is so critical.
I’ll chip in $5 a month. If you’ve saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately.
I’m sorry, I can’t make a monthly donation.
Authoritarians want us to feel powerless. But we are not powerless.
We’ve faced darkness before. And we’ve come through it by joining together, organizing boldly, and refusing to give in.
Thanks for all you do.
–Robert Reich
Now, here’s my response to all that hysteria:
Subject: A Response to the Fearmongering of the Left
Dear Robert Reich and MoveOn Members,
It’s fascinating—almost impressive—how much alarmism can be packed into a single email. Your message reads more like political fan fiction than a serious critique of policy. But since you’ve invited the discussion, let’s clear a few things up.
First, let’s address the dramatic claim that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are orchestrating “the most sweeping assault on the American mind in modern history.” Really? Because from where many Americans stand, what’s truly dangerous to free thought isn’t Trump or Musk—it’s the institutional Left shutting down debate, canceling dissenters, and labeling opposing viewpoints as “disinformation.”
Trump’s efforts to restructure the Department of Education are not an “attack on children,” they’re a long-overdue return of power to parents and local communities. You call it dismantling—many of us call it decentralization, empowerment, and accountability. It’s not about eliminating education; it’s about fixing a system that has failed students for decades while enriching bureaucrats and unions.
As for libraries and museums, let’s not pretend that anyone’s burning books. Conservatives believe in public access to learning, but we also believe taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to fund institutions that push radical gender ideology, critical race theory, or anti-American propaganda on kids.
You claim Trump is “silencing dissent” and “threatening universities.” But we all know who really shuts down campus speech—just ask conservative speakers who are routinely protested, banned, or shouted down when they try to speak on college campuses. The Left isn’t defending free speech; it’s defining which speech is allowed.
As for Elon Musk, let’s be honest. What terrifies the Left is that he dared to buy Twitter, rename it X, and expose how deeply corrupted the previous system was by government-aligned censorship. Musk didn’t stifle free expression—he unleashed it. And that’s the real threat to your narrative: people thinking for themselves.
And now you want Americans to believe there’s a rising “Trump-Musk regime” and that Bernie Sanders and AOC are the freedom fighters here? That’s laughable. The idea that two self-avowed socialists are America’s last defense against tyranny would be hilarious if it weren’t so backward.
You accuse conservatives of promoting authoritarianism while calling for the mobilization of millions to overthrow a former president… whose worst “crime” was deregulating bloated institutions and calling out media bias. That’s not tyranny. That’s democracy working exactly as it should.
Let’s be clear: tyranny is weaponizing the DOJ against political opponents. Tyranny is locking people out of their bank accounts for donating to the “wrong” cause. Tyranny is forcing speech codes, race quotas, and compelled ideology in every aspect of public life. And tyranny is when a political movement demands loyalty to the state while branding dissenters as threats to democracy.
You don’t want to preserve democracy. You want to regulate it.
But here’s the good news: Americans are waking up. We’re no longer buying the panic. We’re no longer silenced by labels like “authoritarian” or “extremist.” We believe in strong borders, real education, true freedom of speech, and the rights given to us by God—not by government.
You say 3.5% of the population can change history. Maybe so. But millions more are quietly building a future where government serves the people—not rules them.
We’re not afraid of Trump or Musk. We’re afraid of ideologues who think $5 donations to a radical activist group will somehow save America from the very values it was built on. Let’s be real—this isn’t grassroots activism, it’s professional grifting. The same elites screaming about “authoritarianism” are the ones pocketing your donation dollars to fund their own political influence machine, not to “save democracy,” but to control it.
We don’t need a movement of fear. We need a movement of courage, truth, and freedom. And that’s exactly what’s coming in the 2026 midterms.
Sincerely,
A Free American
#exposetheleft #freespeechmatters #stopthefearmongering
