Democracy is not a spectator sport. Whether you want to exercise your right to vote, join a protest, call your elected officials, run for office, or keep tabs on the week’s hottest issues and protests, The Contrarian has you covered.
Here are our top suggestions for getting involved in the days ahead. These are heated times; we encourage non-violent and lawful activism.
Keep Up the Fight Over Homeland Security Funding
The fight is ongoing! Thanks to pressure from constituents outraged over Immigration and Customs Enforcement killings, Senate Democrats (and a couple Republicans) blocked a Republican-authored budget package that includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Because 60 votes are required for passage, Democrats have leverage to insist on meaningful reforms and/or reduce DHS funding. (As The Contrarian’s own Jen Rubin insists, the point is less the specific outcome. “The point is the fight” itself.) Indivisible is leading a campaign to keep up the pressure “make sure Dems don’t accept empty reforms and call that a win.” The group offers talking points and advice for contacting your Senators.
Join or Support a Nurses’ Strike
National Nurses United has organized a “Week of Action” to protest the brutal slaying of Veterans Affairs nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol in Minneapolis. (Watch The Contrarian’s coverage of an event in Portland, Oregon, here.) A nationwide vigil is planned to honor Pretti’s life on Feb.1 outside of VA facilities at 6 p.m. local time.
Join a National Shutdown, Jan. 30
In response to the killing of Pretti, Minnesota student organizers, with the support of 50501, are promoting a National Shutdown on Jan. 30. Building on last week’s general strike in Minnesota, the aim of the shutdown is simple: “No school. No Work, No Shopping.”
Ride For Pretti
In addition to being a nurse, Pretti was an avid cyclist, and the bike community has organized nationwide rides this Saturday as a rolling memorial. Find a ride near you here.
Find an ICE Out Rally Near You
Help Targeted Community Members
If you’re looking to help vulnerable communities in the Twin Cities, Stand with Minnesota has a list of dozens of mutual-aid efforts and organizations.
The threat from ICE is not static. The agency targeted immigrant neighborhoods in Maine and could turn up in your community. When agents are out in force, many immigrants and citizens of color alike are afraid to leave their homes. Some ways to show solidarity:
Distribute know-your-rights cards.
Hand out whistles to blow if deportation agents are spotted in your neighborhood. (You can connect with activists distributing free 3D-printed whistles here.)
Print out zines (in English and Spanish) with advice for reporting ICE activity in your area to local advocacy groups.
Create teams to monitor neighborhoods near schools and bus routes for federal agents.
Organize school carpools or grocery runs for vulnerable families.
Learn the SALUTE method for documenting the presence of federal agents.
Record federal agents (from a safe distance, please) and distribute evidence of abuses widely.
Contact the House Judiciary Committee’s whistleblower tip line to report illegal activities by a federal agency or agent.
Mark Your Calendars
The next No Kings protest has been called for March 28. (Watch Jen Rubin’s interview with Indivisible founder Ezra Levin to learn more.)
Keep Epstein in Focus
The Trump administration continues to flout Congress by not releasing the full Epstein Files. (The deadline was more than a month ago, and millions of pages have been withheld.) This is clearly a sore subject for the president, who flipped the bird at an auto worker who called out his association with the late pedophile. Pressure your representatives to insist that the administration comply with the law and expose the full rot of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking network.
Below, find The Contrarian’s standing resources for empowering yourself in American civic life:
Contact Your Elected Officials
It can feel old-school (or even cringe), but calling your elected officials is effective in moving the political needle. This is true whether you’re calling to oppose an official’s stance or spur them into action that matches their rhetoric. Watch our how-to video here.
To reach the Washington, D.C. office of any House or Senate member, call the congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121. In the runup to big votes, you may have better luck reaching a human by calling the politician’s state or district office.
Common Cause has built a remarkable tool that lets you plug in your home address and receive a roster of contact information for the many politicians who represent you — from city council members to U.S. senators. When you’re ready to make a call, the League of Conservation Voters offers a comprehensive guide on best practices.
E-mail from constituents can be effective too. Democracy.io has a one-stop tool to email your Senators and Representatives.
Find out more at: Common Cause; LCV; Democracy.io.
Get Active with Neighbors
No group has channelled the energies of the anti-Trump coalition more effectively than Indivisible. The group focuses on empowering local activists who come together in periodic, nationwide mobilizations that stretch from big, blue cities to sleepy red-state towns. (Watch Jen Rubin’s interview with Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin on the tactics of effective resistance).
If you’re more comfortable organizing on a Reddit forum or a Discord server than a living room potluck, try the newest player on the activist block: 50501.org. And if you’re just looking to make a difference on your own, Mobilize.us offers an array of local volunteer opportunities, petitions, and events.
Find out more at: Indivisible.org, where you can read the handbook and find an active group in your area or start one of your own. Discover 50501.org’s “Welcome Guide” here. Or click your state at Mobilize.us to find an action that works for you.
Guarantee Your Vote
Trump & Co. are committed to gerrymandering and voter-suppression — including purging voter rolls of supposedly ineligible or “inactive” voters — because they’re afraid of the power of your vote. Don’t be intimidated. Vote.org offers a one-stop shop to double-check your registration status; if you’re not registered, you can sign up in minutes online. The group also offers a toolkit to begin a voter registration drive of your own. The Fair Elections Center has compiled a helpful, state-by-state resource (click the map) that will alert you to registration deadlines and help you find your polling location.
Find out more at: Vote.org, Fair Elections Center. A federal mail-in voter registration form is also available in many languages here.
Help Flip the House
The best near-term hope for restoring American checks and balances is flipping the House of Representatives in November. Swing Left is a progressive organization focused on 33 key House seats for the 2026 midterm —19 GOP-held seats to target and 14 Democratic seats to defend. Around since 2016, Swing Left solicits donations for these high-impact races and organizes grassroots volunteers.
Find out more at: Swing Left.
Support Pro-Democracy Organizations
In the fight against authoritarian overreach, the United States is lucky to have a robust civil society with institutional knowhow. Connect with groups that are engaged in the good fight on behalf of civil liberties, racial justice, immigrant rights, and veterans issues.
Find out more at: American Civil Liberties Union, American Immigration Council, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Brennan Center, Color of Change, Common Cause, Native American Rights Fund, Public Citizen, VoteVets.
Run for Office
If you’re ready to take a leap into politics yourself, Run For Something can help you get off the ground. The organization has built an impressive pipeline of progressive talent to reshape our politics — from local races up to members of Congress. Founded by millennial author and activist Amanda Litman (watch her interview with Jen Rubin here), Run for Something specifically recruits next-generation candidates. But the organization offers resources for first-time candidates of all ages, including logistical support to help run “efficient, strategic, grassroots, driven campaigns.”
Find out more at: RunforSomething.net
Consider a Boycott
In capitalist America, one of the most powerful ways to vote is with your pocketbook. Withholding spending can send a powerful signal to corporations that they should think twice before collaborating with the Trump administration or complying with its culture-war marching orders.
Protests at Tesla dealerships played a role in pushing Elon Musk out of his destructive White House stint as unofficial co-president. The Rev. Jamal Bryant has led a consumer boycott of Target, which abandoned its once-robust DEI commitments after Trump’s election, leading to several quarters of reduced revenue. Home Depot, Hilton, and Amazon have all been hit by recent anti-MAGA consumer protests. These protests are effective. Boycotts of Avelo Airlines helped spur that budget carrier to end its deportation-flight contract with ICE. Spotify similarly stopped airing ICE recruitment ads after consumer backlash.
The activist group Choose Democracy has a solid boycott tracker. Also check out the list at BoycottHere.com.
Find out more at: BoycottHere; Boycott Central; TeslaTakedown; WeAintBuyingit; Groundavelo.
Embrace ‘Tactical Frivolity’
The serious business of defending democracy doesn’t have to be so, well, serious. As the inflatable frogs of Portland taught us, there is room — and, indeed, a need — for lightness and what academics call “tactical frivolity.” This carnival-like spirit, which may involve costumes or music or goofy protest signs, buoys fellow protesters even as it confounds would-be authoritarians who are counting on fear to reinforce the perception of their power. (Context is key, consider whether your inflatable costume will be out of place at a somber vigil.)
Learn more here.
Declare Energy Independence
The planet is overheating and our foreign policy is a nightmare, significantly because of America’s addiction to fossil fuels. The Trump administration wants to keep American drivers hooked on Big Oil and keep the energy grid powered by fossil fuels — and has reduced pollution controls and phased out federal tax incentives for renewable energy and electric vehicles.
But with state-level support, the economics of green energy still make sense for millions of Americans. Kelley Blue Book maintains a state-by-state catalog of electric vehicle incentives. Homeowners can get a rough cost estimate for powering their homes with renewable energy at Solar-estimate.org. For renters, a group called Bright Saver is lobbying to make “balcony solar” — think: small, DIY solar arrays plugged into your home outlets — legal and accessible across the country.
Find out more at: KBB; Solar-estimate.org; Bright Saver.
Combat Misinformation Online
Social media billionaires like Musk are rigging their algorithms to prioritize right-wing content — especially surrounding ICE operations. Report posts with false or misleading content, add or request “community notes,” and circulate or create factual content. RumorGuard — a project of the nonpartisan News Literacy Project — offers tools to recognize misinformation, including a catalog of hoax content that’s gone viral. Snopes.com also specializes in debunking misinformation.
Find out more: RumorGuard; Snopes
Support Nonprofit Media
In an age of right-wing billionaire takeovers of once-great newspapers, broadcast networks, and social media platforms, supporting independent media outlets has never been more critical. Some of our favorites include ProPublica, Mother Jones, and local outlets such as the Barbed Wire in Texas, the Minnesota Reformer, the Tennessee Holler, and the Mississippi Free Press.
The publication you’re reading is also unique: The Contrarian is not owned by anybody and helps fund pro-democracy litigation
Find out more: Subscribe to The Contrarian or give a subscription as a gift.
Thanks for this very helpful piece on the ways we can fight back against the trump regime and ICE. Meanwhile here's something to cheer you up. Melania's film, which opens Friday, has been so poorly received that Craig's List is offering $50 to viewers willing to sit through the entire grotesque picture. For punishment like that I think the fee should be at least $500.
Thank you for these tips, keep em coming!