Boycotts and Being Relentless Are Working. More To-dos for Flooding the Zone.
Author’s Note: While I had no idea my book would be this relevant right now, it apparently is. My new book, A Life Made from Scratch, Lessons from a Controversial Congresswoman, releases on 3/18/25. My book shares stories about how I built social movements, campaigns and my unlikely journey to Congress. An inside/outside view of creating change and social impact, against all odds. You can pre-order for delivery on 3/18/25 at Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-life-made-from-scratch-marie-newman/1146694081?ean=9798888246580 or Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-life-made-from-scratch-lessons-from-a-controversial-congresswoman-mompreneur-and-unstoppable-political-activist/ffb22ad9559c8a85?ean=9798888246603&next=t&next=t
Ready for some good news? Today, I present an encouraging progress report on effective actions and a new list of “FLOOD-THE-ZONE” actions for all opposition activists to keep taking, including asking folks to run for office, everywhere, at every level. Yes, that means you (more on this later)!
Encouraging news from everywhere! People are getting out there and speaking out.
In short, money talks…
-People are descending upon the streets in all fifty states. Protests are everywhere. Indivisible and MoveOn are leading the charge with excellence and grace. We are getting the attention of Congress.
-Unions are weighing in and demonstrating force via organizing protests in every state. Shawn Fain, president of UAW said it best, “Trump is president because we have candidates in this party who can’t decide who the f*$k they want to represent.”
-Top Democratic Party donors are stopping donations to the DNC, DCCC and DSCC until members of Congress start fighting back in an aggressive way. A quote from this week’s The Hill article “…The thing that’s clear to a lot of us, is the party never really learned its lesson in 2016.They worked off of the same playbook and ineffective strategies and to what end?” said a top Democratic donor (one of many who said similar things). Money talks and now several members of Congress have started fighting back and getting creative.
-Target lost over $15 billion in sales last month because of boycotts. That hurts and they are listening.
-Voters of all types are going to Republican town halls and speaking out with vigor. In person protests are always most impactful. Their donations are down as well.
-Several judges have issued cease orders on thirty-five of Trump and Musk’ most egregious actions as a direct result of those lawsuits brought by the attorneys general coalition - across eighteen states. More to come.
-Call volume to House and Senate members has exponentially increased. It is estimated on average, a 500% increase in calls to House and Senate members. Excellent work.
-The Stock Market is shaky and is starting to get CEO attention signaling this administrative coup of our government and capricious austerity is a bad idea.
-More companies are becoming concerned and quite vocal on news outlets about the impact of boycotts (because they work).
To-dos for you. We need to “Flood the Zone” on every front.
Let’s be clear, the billionaires and oligarchs are taking over and they must be stopped. If we hit this Trump regime and its oligarchs in the wallet, it will hurt. It is already starting to get their attention.
Important note: Our leaders in Congress are always more powerful when public opinion on matters is loud, clear, frequent and sustained. This is a multi-year effort. The more aggressive we are, the more aggressive congress members can and will be.
1. Boycott companies supporting un-American and oligarchical actions such as ending DEI: https://fortune.com/2025/02/19/maga-anti-diversity-dei-hit-list-companies-list/
2. Organized boycotting dates to participate in:
-40-day boycott of Target: March 5 to April 13
-24-hour spending blackout: Feb. 28, March 28 and April 18
-Amazon Blackout: March 7 to 14
-Walmart Blackout: April 7 to 13
(Note: sometimes the only stores closest to a given town are Walmart and Target. In these situations, the above does not apply to those folks in food and store deserts.)
3. Encourage Union leaders to have full-on work stoppage strikes across all sixty unions with a clear message to Trump and Musk. The top four: SEIU, AFSCME, Teamsters, UFCW. Others include: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_labor_unions_in_the_United_States
4. Encourage your friends in rural places that have been affected by deep cuts to farmers and to the federal workforce to visit their members of congress and senate to complain, in person. Tell your story. Be clear and don’t back down.
5. Encourage all friends and neighbors to immediately call Republican members of House and Senate to vote against devastating proposed Medicaid cuts ($880 million would be taken away from 23% of all Americans) as well as Social Security and Medicare cuts. Be clear and don’t back down.
6. Encourage friends, neighbors and family to show up at congresspeople and senator’s offices and say you will revolt if the post office is folded into the commerce department. Tell them: “we know you are folding it into the commerce department in order to make it a private company and take away our voting rights.” Be clear and don’t back down.
7. Tell Democrats that tacking to the right or the mythical center that does not exist (and has not existed for 30 years), will have the same effect as it did in 2016 and 2024 = disastrous. Stop with the tacks, there is no center. People do not care about “party” or where you are on the political spectrum. They care about their own problems, not your labels. Get out there and ask folks what their everyday issues are. Ask people who are hurting (working people, rural folks and people everyday issues) right now. Do not take the MAGA bait about excluding folks: DO NOT THROW COMMUNITIES, GROUPS OR TYPES OF FOLKS under the bus. This is not brain surgery. We should be including everyone.
8. Run for office! Build your own movement! Run at every level of government. Particularly women. Flood the zone from library board to Congress. Need help?
Building a Movement:
https://www.amazon.com/Building-Movement-Made-Scratch-Planning-ebook/dp/B0DSJSRXCJ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2290UQDY21B2A&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qwomKCEIB-uEqWFHOvwlsntzjcVCxxl4tQ1vdY31fJZa2Bhobi8ps-2vm7BRWPFONEAqAzqDleQ2EETMAfS5gGtziRmxOzqkvypcg4OBwwTEyOzrh5dpl52-p-IsmeTRX33wkcCxyUzT8pNKv3_5L0aAilXyJVUHNb15jzAuEY3CH1hd73hMH7aLka7n8qgMnYWhCU9k1Sr1-YwsWXAWgelCgRAgUFVX1fZpncxA5Ws.rVg5kYoKlijRqlgystwhgrJIRafuPKJEcTWs2jpS__g&dib_tag=se&keywords=building+a+movement+planning+guide&qid=1740331721&sprefix=building+a+movement+planning+guide%2Caps%2C105&sr=8-1
Finally, a reminder to the Trump Regime: Americans are good organizers and tough as nails.
1. General Strikes work. In the last century, we have done it before in this country and it worked. Similarly, France, Belgium, Russia, the UK and Italy have conducted general strikes in the last century that ceased the march of an impending oligarchy.
2. Not Paying Taxes Is On the table. If Musk and Trump keep cutting capriciously and we don’t get the services we need, there is always the option to not pay federal taxes moving forward.
Have a great week and reach out to me on my website if you have questions: marienewmanstudio.com,
M
PS: If this was helpful, give it a like or share.
My main book is on BN and bookshop. Unfortunately, Amazon is the only online platform that will sell small manuals and guides under 20 pages. Believe me , I researched thoroughly. That said, I totally understand if folks do not use. My theory was it’s there if needed and the only place that would sell a small niche manual, so while we should all boycott, it is a resource they do not make any money on, but is available if needed
Thank you for, as has been noted, being relentless. I agree with almost all of your ideas. I wish that I could run for office. My county commission desperately needs more liberal voices; right now there is one environmentalist on our five-person commission and we have a national treasure - one of the largest freshwater springs in the world - in our backyard. (Wakulla Springs State Park in Florida.) Unfortunately, I have fibromyalgia, a disease that responds very poorly to stress - in fact, it's how I got it. So I cannot run for office. But I can participate in the boycotts.
Also, I am curious about how not paying our taxes will help. Thanks to withholding, the government already has our money. Maybe you can shed some light on your thought processes behind this suggestion. Thanks.