Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible. 

Levin discussed the movement's multifaceted efforts to counteract Republican overreach, emphasizing the importance of local, group-based organizing, but conceded failure in stopping the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law July 4.

"It is one of the least popular pieces of legislation in American history," Levin told WCPT. "It is a piece of legislation that cuts Medicaid and other health care services for the vast majority of Americans while cutting taxes for billionaires and millionaires. The people were pushing against it. We were driving a massive amount of calls and actions to vulnerable Republicans, trying to convince them to vote in line with their constituents' interests, the kind of campaign that we ran in 2017 to save the Affordable Care Act, successfully. And it was striking how little success we had pulling over even vulnerable Republicans, Republicans who should fear for their future political lives for supporting this legislation, and they still voted for it. They still voted for it because they are more scared of Donald Trump and MAGA than they are of their own constituents right now. And that's dangerous. That's dangerous for democracy. And what it tells me is focusing on Congress is not enough. Focusing on the courts, I think we're finding, is not enough. We have to actively push back against this administration, this federal overreach, wherever we are, in red states, blue states and purple states, in rural communities, urban communities, suburban communities. That's what we need to do right now, and that's where our focus is now shifted in the in the aftermath of the reconciliation bill fight."

Levin detailed the success of the June 14 "No King's Day" protest, which he called "one of the largest protests in American history," adding: "We were in 2,169 communities, actually, not just in America; we were across 27 countries . . . . And we had 5 to 6 million people, showing up saying, we don't do kings in America. An incredible day, an incredible demonstration of the power of nonviolent, peaceful protest in America.  

He also spoke about the launch last week of One Million Rising. "We had 150,000 people register for this training on nonviolent, strategic noncooperation," Levin told Eisendrath. "The experts said this was the largest training in history on nonviolent, strategic noncooperation. So we are breaking records. Lots of people weren't engaged before lifting their heads up and asking themselves the basic question, What can I do? And we're trying to point them in the right direction."

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).   

And find “The Big Picture (Full Episodes)” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon and TuneIn.

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