A Plea to My Fellow Activists: Demand More

Every resister in America should be demanding Congress impeach and remove Trump now.

In the wake of the cold-blooded execution of ICU nurse Alex Pretti, the 42nd known ICE-related death under Trump’s second murderous administration, we are once again faced with the question: how much are we willing to take?

The answer I long to share with my fellow activists and the entire country is:

We the People don’t have to take any of it. We have the right not just to abolish ICE, but to abolish the entire regime.

Unless and until we start demanding our constitutionally-mandated way out of this, we are giving cover to the lawmakers who cheer us on the streets while they have blood on their hands. Article II, Section 4 empowers Congress not just to treat the cancer, but to remove it, and we shouldn’t be settling for anything less than the immediate impeachment, conviction, and removal of this criminal president and all of his enablers.

We are living through nothing short of a collapsing state, a wholesale dismantling of American democracy by a domestic terrorist regime, and we are conditioned to accept that we simply don’t have the votes? To wait for midterms that may not even happen? We can and must reject this.

In the past few days, we seem to have reached an inflection point that has prompted prominent voices across the spectrum to endorse impeaching Trump now.

John Mitnick, one of the founding architects of the Department of Homeland Security and Trump’s appointee for General Counsel at the agency in his first term, wrote over the weekend: “I am enraged and embarrassed by DHS’s lawlessness, fascism and cruelty. Impeach and remove Trump—now.”

Renowned historian and authoritarian expert Timothy Snyder likewise wrote here on Sunday: “The president should be impeached and convicted, as should everyone responsible for these outrages.”

And the Democratic Party establishment, no doubt realizing it couldn’t withstand public outrage over Pretti’s murder and the administration’s vile response without doing something, finally embraced the impeachment remedy they have long rejected. On Tuesday, House Judiciary ranking member Jaime Raskin, who has thus far been a major impediment to impeachment efforts, issued a statement endorsing House Res. 996, articles of impeachment against Kristy Noem first filed by Rep. Robin Kelly after the murder of Renee Good.

Indulge me as I break this down, as it has everything to do with the more we must be demanding.

As Texas Congressman Al Green rightly pointed out Tuesday—and as is obvious on its face—Secretary Noem is but “the face” of the horrors committed by federal agents. Donald Trump is the “architect,” and scapegoating his expendables will only save face for the terrorist-in-chief as he recalibrates to make things even worse. Green, for his part, is promising to file new articles of impeachment against Trump, and force a vote as only he has in the past.

It should be lost on no one that while Green has in previous efforts been been singled out by the media and his colleagues as a “rogue Democrat" taking “performative” action (despite being hailed as a hero and moving in lockstep with the majority of Americans on impeachment), the Noem impeachment as it stands is little more than performative. It’s meant to placate you. Don’t let it.

Raskin says that Democrats will pursue an impeachment inquiry with public hearings and fact-finding, and that every successful impeachment has included this drawn-out process. Many of Kelly’s co-sponsors, including Stansbury and Crockett, are echoing this narrative. But it is neither mandated by the Constitution, nor is it true. Andrew Johnson was impeached after someone wrote a single sentence on a piece of paper, and they voted on it. House Rule IX empowers any member to force a vote on articles of impeachment at any time.

As American citizens get executed in cold blood, and this regime moves at breakneck pace to dismantle any semblance of law and justice, we don’t have time for slow-walked impeachment efforts that will die in committee, or letting Donald Trump off the hook. Impeachment is a political process—not a judicial one—and giving this criminal, illegal president the luxury of a mission to find facts that we’ve all witnessed and suffered from countless angles is quite frankly a spit in the face.

It has taken Robin Kelly two weeks—and the death of Alex Pretti—to get three-quarters of the Democratic caucus on board with her Noem impeachment. Rep. Green got that same level of support in one day when he forced a vote on his last articles against Trump. Despite the party’s resistance, there was a 77% surge in Democrats voting against tabling articles of impeachment from the first time Green forced a vote over the summer. Forcing votes and taking names is the way to move the needle towards removal.

And that massive progress was no doubt a by-product of us articulating and amplifying the demand for impeachment—the very reason I formed the Removal Coalition and spearheaded the Remove the Regime movement—and the relentless pressure campaigns of our parters and allies like Free Speech for People and Citizens’ Impeachment. I have seen first-hand how the pressure works when applied.

Since Pretti’s murder, I am both underwhelmed by the belated and inadequate response of Democratic leaders, and reminded of our ability to move them (and Republicans) if we only push harder and fully embrace our power.

As resistance historian Tad Stoermer has been pointing out, effective resistance operates from the bottom-up, but we’ve been selling ourselves short by accepting a resistance that is top-down. I can’t wait to shift my ire and pressure to Republicans, but we can’t even get there unless we break ranks and call out the Democrats who have been operating largely as “loyal opposition”—in some far-removed fantasy land where we can employ soft politics as usual or count on Donald Trump to respect the results of a free and fair election.

Yesterday, the “No Kings Coalition” announced their third namesake protest on March 28th. Our partners in the Removal Coalition will once again be giving that action teeth with “Remove the Regime” protests on the day, and lobbying actions for impeachment. If you’re spearheading one of these protests, I implore you to join us. And join us first at the March for Democracy, an explicit rally for impeachment and removal in D.C. on February 27-28.

If you’re taking part in the National Shutdown to stop funding for ICE tomorrow—the most serious effort and noble strike effort I’ve seen so far—please join our partners in also demanding the more we’re entitled to: that Congress impeach, convict and remove.

These are precious opportunities when then media and our lawmakers are forced to pay attention and respond. Let’s not squander them by selling ourselves short. Once we fully leverage a relentless, uncompromising and unified demand for removal, we can and will get the votes we need.

ICE must be abolished. And Donald Trump and his conspirators should be prosecuted, convicted and jailed. But none of that is going to happen if we don’t start with impeachment. Impeachment and removal is the bare minimum to save our republic and end this reign of terror. Please, join us in demanding it!