We CAN do something about all of this.

Forward this to someone who needs to know there's a place to fight back. There is. You helped build it.

I’m done with hopelessness. I hope you are, too. The situation is dire — the American experiment faces an existential threat — but we CAN do something about it. And we are.

I hear the same thing everywhere I go.

People are tired. They’re exhausted by seeing lawlessness and corruption become routine in America. Trust me, I get it. Federal courts have literally found the Trump administration has broken the law THOUSANDS of times in just the past year, from illegal detentions of Americans and migrants to the brazen and illegal use of taxpayer dollars to advance Trump’s self interests.

They keep breaking the law anyway.

Then there’s the grift, the likes of which we’ve never seen in American history. A “cash-for-criminals” slush fund for Trump’s allies… billions in public money flowing toward the Trump family and his business interests… his name defacing everything — buildings, paper bills, coins, monuments, ballrooms, park passes, airports, passports, national concert venues, citizenship programs, federal savings accounts, prescription drug platforms, military ships, and train stations, and that’s not even the full list!

So I understand why many good people have concluded that showing up to a protest, as vital as that is, doesn’t feel like enough. They look at the scale of what’s happening, and they ask in obvious frustration: WHAT ELSE CAN I DO?

If you’re reading this, you probably already know the answer. Because you’re doing it. But today I want to remind you… because I think you should share it with others who feel hopeless.

We built this growing community at DEFIANCE.org — this “club for courageous Americans,” as we call it — for exactly that question. We didn’t throw our lives into the cause just to vent each week on a podcast or doomscroll. We built it to convert the helpless feeling into a defiant feeling with concrete actions to save our republic. Week after week. Every Wednesday, we’ve gathered and picked a fight worth picking, putting real money and people behind it.

This morning, I woke up and decided I wanted to show you what that looks like.

Individually, each week might feel small. But taken together, what we’ve been able to do together (as a mighty band of “The Defiant”) is staggering. Below is just a partial list — only the things we’ve done in the first few months of this year — and I think when other folks see it, they’ll understand why we refuse to be despondent.

Here’s what the DEFIANCE.org community has done since January. Together, we banded together and…

• Aided protesters in Minnesota by delivering know-your-rights briefings on the front lines and teaching them how to safely film and document ICE abuses — the single most powerful tool we have for holding lawless agents accountable. We also sent TENS OF THOUSANDS of whistles to frontline communities. (January)

• Invested in independent journalism in battleground states to expand fact-based local news ahead of the midterms — a direct counter to Trump’s censorship regime — which is already having an impact. (January)

• Launched FAFO — the Fight Against Federal Overreach — to charge law-breaking federal agents by building the first-ever national coalition of district attorneys willing to prosecute federal agents who break the law. Some of those prosecutors have now charged Trump’s reckless agents. (January)

• Funded efforts to elect young people against MAGA (by supporting Leaders We Deserve, founded by David Hogg), including encouraging the next generation to enter races against radical far-right candidates. (February)

• Funded efforts to get out the youth vote (by supporting Voters of Tomorrow, founded by Santiago Mayer) to bring real organizing energy onto campuses that right-wing group Turning Point thought it owned. This will be essential in November. (February)

• Supported election integrity in the primaries by helping the Fund for States increase voter turnout in Wisconsin — the test case that later helped the pro-democracy side win 18 of 22 targeted races. (February)

• Sent pocket Constitutions to Congress, hundreds and hundreds of them in fact, hand-delivered to Congress on the morning of the State of the Union to remind them what they swore to defend. The deliveries made national headlines. (February)

• Hosted the biggest rebuttal to Trump’s State of the Union by taking over the National Press Club with Robert De Niro, Mark Ruffalo, Stacey Abrams, Sen. Ron Wyden, Rep. Jason Crow, Jim Acosta and more, and reaching tens of millions of Americans with the truth. (February)

• Helped block a secret ICE prison in Arizona by putting people on the ground to expose the corruption behind these facilities before they open, contributing to a work stoppage at the facility. (March)

• Powered a veteran-led movement opposed to the Iran war (by supporting Independent Veterans of America, led by Paul Rieckhoff), including mobilizing thousands who fought in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan against another senseless forever war, an effort that was featured on national news. (March)

• Sent Americans into the halls of Congress via FLARE USA to demand their representatives stand up to Trump on the Iran conflict, resulting in a face-to-face pressure campaign. (March)

• Co-sponsored a protest at the Kennedy Center put on by our friends at the Committee for the First Amendment — with Jane Fonda, Joan Baez, Billy Porter, Maggie Rogers and more — defending free speech at the building Trump corruptly slapped his name on. (March)

• Mobilized thousands for No Kings III on March 28, alongside Indivisible, in what became one of the largest protests in American history. (March)

• Fueled a lawsuit against Trump’s hijacking of mail-in ballots by backing the Campaign Legal Center, democracy’s “legal Avengers,” who took Trump to court over his illegal effort to seize control of how Americans vote. (April)

• Helped fund “May Day Strong” by supporting Sunrise Movement and Democracy Takes Work to power a national strike that built the muscle we’ll need to get millions into the streets fast when it matters most. (April)

• Launched a nationwide, rapid-response network against ICE, called GTFOice.org — built with Project Salt Box and Save America Movement — that turns ordinary neighbors into an early-warning system to stop ICE prison camps before a single permit is approved. (April)

• Sounded the alarm about emergency powers (via Keep Our Republic, co-founded by former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt), including plans to brief leaders at every level on Trump’s potential abuse of national security authorities to manipulate the midterm elections. (April)

• Announced the Trump-Epstein Bookmobile, an unprecedented effort to take printed copies of the 3.5 million Epstein Files directly to communities across America so survivors get the justice they deserve and the cover-up stays in the light. (May)

• Backed DOJ and FBI whistleblowers (through a grant to Justice Connection, led by Stacey Young) by funding a confidential lifeline for prosecutors and investigators inside the government to be able to sound the alarm about wrongdoing. (May)

That’s not all, actually. In addition to the major efforts above, we “crowd-sourced” actions to keep the spotlight on Trump’s corruption and to counter his schemes.

Tens of thousands of you…

• Walked away from TikTok, a platform an oligarch warped to serve the regime.

• Backed the “No Sleep for ICE” campaign.

• Joined your local Indivisible chapter.

• Told the Senate: not a penny more for ICE brutality.

• Subscribed to COURIER’s newsletter, your local COURIER newsroom, and your hometown paper to support independent journalism.

• Encouraged a young person in your life to run for local office.

• Backed young candidates who are running against MAGA diehards.

• Phone banked with anti-corruption organizers across America.

• Joined Scott Galloway’s “Resist and Unsubscribe.”

• Signed the No More Forever Wars petition and told Congress to reclaim its war powers.

• Joined anti-war protests on Capitol Hill and in your congressional districts.

• Brought friends — three, five, as many as you could — to No Kings III.

• Set up election reminders and followed your Secretary of State for election information.

• Signed up to be a poll worker or poll watcher, including in key battlegrounds.

• Joined a get-out-the-vote effort near you.

• Confirmed your voter registration and helped friends do the same.

• Signed Democracy Takes Work’s ICE Out Pledge.

• Took Sunrise Movement’s digital organizing trainings.

• Pledged and struck on May Day — no work, no school, no shopping.

• Showed up for the Communities Not Cages national day of action.

• Supported Black Church PAC and Voto Latino against voter intimidation.

• Learned how to legally and safely document ICE actions.

• Attended and hosted Know-Your-Rights trainings.

• Emailed prosecutors, DAs, and police chiefs urging them to investigate ICE lawbreaking in your area.

• Recruited your local District Attorney to join the FAFO accountability network.

• Called the DOJ to demand the Epstein Files be released — with survivors’ names protected.

• Called Congress to co-sponsor the Congressional Whistleblower Protection Act.

• Texted the federal employees in your life two confidential lifelines if they need to expose misconduct.

• Filed public comments opposing Trump’s gag order on federal workers.

• Signed up for GTFO ICE early-warning alerts and started Freedom Vigils in your own communities.

“What are YOU doing to protect our democracy?” Well, if you’re a DEFIANCE.org Member, you’ve got a damn good answer to that question.

Every single line I wrote above is a thing that didn’t happen on its own and would not have happened without you. This community of The Defiant decided that despair was a luxury we really couldn’t afford. You showed up to take action.

I want you to remember this the next time the news makes your chest tighten. Maybe that will happen today. The lawlessness is real, and we’re reading about it constantly. But so is the resistance and the defiance. Our crew hasn’t been sitting around watching it with frowns on our faces; we’ve been working. The people who profit from your despair don’t want you to see what you can do about it.

So now you have.

Let me humbly suggest that you forward this to someone. Send it to a person who you want standing beside you the day we gather to watch Trump’s name plucked off all of those federal buildings and erased from the facade of our republic. Send it to someone who’s been asking whether there’s any way to fight back in the meantime.

There is a place for that. You built it with us.

Your friend, in defiance,

Miles Taylor

P.S. Miss the most recent DEFIANCE Daily? Our most recent episode is below. Also, don’t forget you can list to DEFIANCE Daily on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!