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The Politics Chicks is a progressive politics podcast and politics news show hosted by Christy Branham and Monica Healy.
Every week, we sit down with candidates, elected officials, journalists, historians, policy experts, advocates, and everyday Americans shaping the future of our democracy. We go beyond the headlines with thoughtful interviews, fact-based analysis, and candid conversations about the issues that affect our lives—from elections and public policy to healthcare, education, civil rights, and the economy.
Whether we’re interviewing members of Congress, first-time candidates, medical experts, or community leaders, our mission is the same: to inform, challenge, and inspire.
If you’re looking for a politics podcast that values evidence over outrage, curiosity over division, and hope over cynicism, welcome home.
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@ThePoliticsChicks
Monica: Hello, welcome to the Politics Chicks podcast. I'm Monica Healy
Christy: And I'm Christy Branham
Monica: Today we're talking about something we've heard from so many listeners lately "I care deeply about what's happening, but I don't know what to do."
Christy: Our guests today have helped answer that question for hundreds of people across the Twin Cities. Lisa Erbes and Rebecca Larson are the co-leaders of Indivisible Twin Cities, one of Minnesota's most active grassroots organizations
Monica: Both Lisa and Rebecca spent decades working in information technology before retiring and becoming involved in political activism after the 2016 election
Christy: They're here to talk about organizing, community building, and how ordinary people can make a difference in extraordinary times. Lisa and Rebecca, welcome to the show
Rebecca/Lisa: Hi. Thanks for having us.
Monica: Welcome, ladies. And in full disclosure, this is take three for our listeners because technology is great until it's not. So I think we have all our, all of our technology bugs worked out, and we're glad to have you here again with us. Thank you, ladies.
Rebecca/Lisa: Thank
Monica: Neither of you planned to become activists, so tell us about your lives before politics entered the picture.
Rebecca: I'll go first. Uh, you know, I, I, in my life I have tended to fall into things. So I was a history major in college, uh, liberal arts. I fell into a career, in IT. I just found that I had a knack for it. And so, spent many years working for a large corporation, doing application support and managing people and projects, and learning a lot about how you, make things happen, which is a skill that has come in handy, in my work in, i-in Indivisible Twin Cities.
Lisa: I, I have a similar background, although I don't have a, uh, what was it? An English major? Yeah. History major. History major. I don't have that. But anyway. Eng-English, English minor. Um, I, I actually studied computer science and, uh, got a career in IT as well, working mostly in cybersecurity, and I was a manager and, uh, led big, you know, big groups and big projects, which again, trained me really well for this kind of work that we're doing now.
Lisa: And, uh, and so when Rebecca and I met we were, was when Indivisible Twin Cities was not even a thing yet. It was Indivisible St. Paul back in 2017, and that's when we started working together and kind of began our activism career, our s- our reboot, so to speak, of, of what we were doing with our lives.
Monica: I think most of our listeners are probably pretty civically engaged, but for anybody who doesn't know what Indivisible is, can you just give us a, an overview of what the organization is and what it does?
Rebecca: Sure. Um, generally we talk about Indivisible, as an, a pro-democracy, anti-authoritarian movement. It started in 2017, by the, married couple who are still the directors of Indivisible at the national level. But it is made up literally of thousands of grassroots chapters around the country, and each chapter, um, kind of decides what it wants to do and how it wants to use its resources and spend its time.
Rebecca: within Indivisible Twin Cities, we really are focusing on we have focused on legislative advocacy, trying to influence our elected officials to vote in the way we want them to. We support progressive causes and candidates. and so every chapter around the, the state and the country is doing something similar.
Rebecca: and it's a way for people to, to plug in. Um, we tr- we try to make it easy for people to find a home for their activism because a lot of people, as you said in the introduction, they wanna do something but they're not quite sure where to go. And, um, Indivisible especially has become a place for people to find a home and take action on a whole host of things, and that's really one of our main goals is to give everybody who's interested a job to do.
Christy: And part of that is rapid response, right? I mean, that's-- that is the immediate on-the-ground reaction to things. So let's just talk about the elephant in the room and the Minnesota 15. last week on, I believe it was Tuesday morning that the arrests happened, we all in Minnesota just kind of woke up to a gut punch that the federal government was breaking down doors and, uh, seizing electronic devices and arresting people.
Christy: They ultimately arrested 15 people last Tuesday. Why don't you walk us through that and then what you two did as far as getting that rapid response off the ground?
Lisa: Well, like you said, we, I mean, we, we started hearing about it pretty early that morning. we were getting some Signal chats, some messages across Signal that, that some people were being arrested. And so basically, as more and more information was being revealed, we found out that the, the people that were being arrested were, were basically being charged with s- very similar, if not the exact same charges that the Broadview Six in Chicago were being charged with.
Lisa: W- you know, conspiracy, charges, um, efforts to, uh, hinder federal agents and, and, and perhaps cause harm. Uh, so there was a news conference that morning with Daniel Rosen, who's the lead prosecutor here in Minnesota. Uh, I, I would like to commend the media that was-- that were there because they did a great job of asking really pointed questions about these charges.
Lisa: And, one of the things that was brought up was, any evidence they had that any agents were actually injured or harmed protesters, and he did not have an answer for that. Uh, he was... He kind of stumbled around with it a little bit. So once we kind of had the facts, we could read the indictment, we, we knew what they were doing, and we-- at that point, we knew who they had arrested and, and a couple of people were familiar to us.
Lisa: and then it was a very, quick turnaround to say, "Let's gather at the St. Paul Federal Courthouse," where they would be having their first hearing on Tuesday afternoon. And about 100 people, I, I think, showed up there and it, uh, it did not go well. Um, basically the, the protesters were out front. They were chanting.
Lisa: They had bullhorns. They were doing kind of your typical things that you do when you're protesting. And they were holding the door open to the building so that the people in the courtroom could hear that they had support outside and that there were people there supporting them. And really, without any provocation, um, there's m- many, many videos out on social media that you can look at to see, but without provocation, they started...
Lisa: They released canister, um, and then came out of the building with, you know, three or four big burly guys all in their costumes and started spraying people. Well,
Christy: Exactly
Rebecca/Lisa: well, it started spraying people, you know, at point-blank range, directly in the face. They actually did that to a friend of ours, and, and were kind of beating people up and throwing them to the ground, and our friend actually wound up in the hospital, um, due to that, uh, altercation.
Rebecca/Lisa: And, you know, she was guilty of holding the door open, basically. So, um, yeah, it was, it was a bad day. I would say, uh, it was, uh, very troubling to see that they are not giving up on us. they, they wanna continue to try to intimidate, the resistance here in, the Twin Cities. They wanna try to keep people from going out and, exercising their freedom to protest or to speak out or to have...
Rebecca/Lisa: you know, to say what they wanna say against the, administration. And Right now, we're-- we love this saying, it's from one of the Broadview Six, but, basically the process is the punishment. They know these charges aren't gonna stick. They know they're probably gonna get thrown out. and-- But the point of all this is to intimidate people into being silent, and we're not falling for it.
Rebecca/Lisa: I don't think anybody in Minnesota's gonna fall for it
Christy: I think one of the most troubling things that I, I find in all this is that, real law enforcement, trained law enforcement is well-versed in de-escalation, right? And in all of these circumstances repeatedly, there is no de-escalation attempts by ICE and DHS and Border Patrol.
Christy: It is immediate zero to 60, grab the cans of mace, grab the pepper balls, and attack the people rather than trying to calm things down. And you as Indivisible leaders have been trained in de-escalation, correct? That's part of your training?
Rebecca: Mm-hmm. I think what happens when we, when, when we watch these or are, are a part of these protests where de-escalation isn't happening and, and w- and we can be surprised by it, but that's because we expect-- Like, we still expect there's some level of, of justice or normalcy to all of this, and it just is not that.
Rebecca: It just is not that. And it, and it continues to surprise us and shock us in a way because, you know, we expect law enforcement, some of us. You know, I, I mean, we can't say this without, recognizing that for, for many members of our community, law enforcement has not been their friend, you know?
Rebecca: But depending on y- on where you come from and what community are, you are with and perhaps what, what color you are, we have this idea that law enforcement should, should be able to deescalate these situations. But they in no way are, are, interested in deescalating. Um, to the contrary, and we saw this during Operation Metro Surge, they were in- they were or inciting, um, they were trying to get protesters to be violent- Yep
Rebecca: so that they could then react and have, justification for taking e- extreme measures against protesters. And for the most part, you know, we didn't take the bait. And, and I would say on Tuesday they didn't, they didn't either, the, the, those that were tear-gassed.
Monica: We have seen the, the value of the prevalence of cell phones because everybody's got a cell phone, everybody's taking video, and that has proved invaluable in showing the public what has actually happened. We saw that with Rene Good to some extent, although there was debate amongst the right about what was actually happening.
Monica: But it was very clear what happened with Alex Pretti, and it was pretty clear what happened last week with the, the people showing up at the courthouse.
Rebecca/Lisa: Mm-hmm.
Monica: Um, in 2017, we saw the initial birth of Indivisible, and then we had an explosion after the 2024 election, and I'm guessing that you have seen that much more around Minnesota since Operation Metro Surge?
Lisa: Yeah. We've had amazing growth, uh, um, not just Indivisible Twin Cities, but across the state. I, I think we're up to almost 100, is that right? 100 chapters now? Just in Minnesota. Yeah, just in Minnesota. And, um, quite a few more have popped up here in the Twin Cities and, and, you know, we welcome all of that.
Lisa: Uh, it-- the more the, the merrier, the better it is, the more of us working on this and, and doing all this work with candidates and, training and actions. It, it-- you can't have too many people. So, so we've loved it, watching how Indivisible has taken off, during this time. I wish we-- it wasn't necessary y- obviously, but, but here we are.
Lisa: Um, but seeing all these people who really want to get involved and take, uh, take some kind of action has just been really, uh... it keeps us motivated 'cause there's some days when we're not that motivated and we-- but when we see that kind of, participation, it really helps us keep going.
Monica: What kind of people are showing up? You know, what are you hearing from people that are starting chapters and people who are joining chapters? Are they longtime activists? Are they getting involved in the first time? Who are these people?
Rebecca: I mean, it's a variety, but I would say, Neither Lisa nor I were longtime activists when we first got involved, in 2017 and, you know, found, found our way to Indivisible St. Paul. In fact, a very common story you hear from people all the time is, Well, I always voted. I always paid attention to politics or paid attention to the news, but I didn't really do anything beyond, beyond voting."
Rebecca: That's, that's a very, very common story, and it-- that was my story. And for me, the, the triggering point was when Donald Trump was elected the first time, 'cause he, he was such a horrible human being. And I'm like: How could we elect this guy? You know, and at that point, it, to me, it was a lot based on character because of all the things he had said, you know?
Monica: Mm-hmm
Rebecca/Lisa: so for everybody, it, you know, it, it takes a different kind of triggering event. So for many people, it was after Donald Trump was elected the second time because they maybe thought, you know, the first term was a, was an aberration. It was an anomaly. I'll just wait it out, and then we elect Joe Biden and, you know.
Rebecca/Lisa: So that was a real shock for a lot of people. But I would say, there are people of all ages and backgrounds who are interested in taking action in one way, shape, or form. So it, it kind of is-- It just depends on the people who feel that they, they want to lead or they just can't sit on the s-sidelines anymore.
Rebecca/Lisa: So the, these local groups that we see springing up or, you know, even better example, what happened during Metro Surge, Operation Metro Surge. And we saw people-- N- And that wasn't political necessarily, although we were fighting against our own federal government. We saw people, meeting the moment in unbelievable ways, just unbelievable ways.
Rebecca/Lisa: And when it comes to political activism, it's kind of the same. There are some people who are just like: Okay, this is my time. I'm gonna start a group in my neighborhood, and we're gonna figure out what to do. We'll register voters or, you know, set up a sidewalk protest or a bridge brigade and go to town.
Rebecca/Lisa: And it's-- It is very inspiring to see that, and it gives me some hope.
Christy: And Monica and I often talk about the fact that we kind of stumbled into this whole social media thing. Um, we're both in our mid-50s and did not anticipate that we would end up garnering a sizable following on social media and actually having this platform. But one thing that we notice across the board is that it's always the fucking women, right?
Christy: It is... And it-- And when you go to-- Like, even our event that we held in the Twin Cities to help platform candidates and help, with community mutual aid, the far and away the age demographic that attended was middle-aged women. What do you think that says Because you're-- We're, probably a few years younger than you, but not that much younger than you.
Christy: What does that say about women our age and where we're at as far as our rope, so to speak?
Lisa: I think it, I think it really go- going back to what Rebecca said a minute ago, a lot of it came from, for, especially for women, we're-- we are about 10 years older than you all, but it-- I think people in our generation, women of our generation, all of a sudden saw this threat to feminism and to reproductive rights and Donald Trump making such vile, horrible comments and people accepting it like it perfectly okay.
Lisa: And we didn't fight all those years and to, to get, you know, our rights. I mean, I can remember when my mother got her first credit card in her name in 1974, and she was so excited about that. And that's a kind of an unfathomable thing for, for people nowadays to think, "What do you mean? A woman couldn't even get her own credit card?"
Lisa: And so to, to come that far and then to have this misogynist asshole, excuse my language, you know,
Monica: Say it louder.
Rebecca/Lisa: denigrating, denigrating women, I think that that's what brought a lot of us out. You know, we were just... That's what-- That's why the Women's March was such a huge deal in 2017, was because we were outraged that this hap- that he was the person that people voted for, and they were, like, okay with it.
Rebecca/Lisa: They were giving him his vote and saying, "Oh, this is okay. I can deal with this. No big deal." So I think that's why you saw this, this, this mostly female response to him, 'cause we saw it, too. We, we had many conversations. We were kinda like, "Where, where are all the men? Why are they not here?" we did see it change, though, when, Trump was elected the second time And all of a sudden, uh, we were getting men who wanted to join us to be a part of this, to look for things that they could do to help.
Rebecca/Lisa: And we're thrilled about that. We're happy to have them. They've-- We've had some really, really great new volunteers with us, over this last year and a half and making great contributions, so we don't want them to go anywhere. they've been great. So I think, you know, it's still probably more female than male, but at least the-- there, there's good guys out there and they're, they're fighting the good cause.
Rebecca: Well, and I think it does too point out, you know, the patriarchy is alive and well, right? And so, um, when you, when you can see firsthand that your rights are being trampled on and that they are threatenedyou're more apt to do something about it. But if, if you're a, if you're a white man and you're basically in the, you know, the power demographic, you may not feel that same threat, in the same way.
Rebecca: Maybe it's-- Maybe you start-- It, it starts to, resonate when your daughters can't get an, get an abortion or, you know, something along those lines. So I think we're seeing that too, that, for, for a lot of people This time feels very different and the stakes are much higher.
Monica: Uh, anecdotally, I would say that I have seen some of the same. I, I can't even tell you how many protests I have been in the last 16 months, and it wasn't until January of this year where I started to see a prevalence of more men and louder. The protests in January and February in the Twin Cities were far more-- There were far more men there and far louder.
Monica: The constant chants were-- They were amazing.
Rebecca/Lisa: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah
Monica: So kudos to the women for leading the way, and come on, men, let's, let's get in gear.
Christy: Yeah, get your asses in gear because, you
Rebecca: we talk about this all the time, and I'm sure, Christy and Monica you do too, that we also are, are living by examples that we have seen, especially, um, from, from Black women throughout the, the decades 'cause they have been the ones fighting relentlessly. And when we, talk about, " Well, how long is it gonna take?
Rebecca: Where's... You know, can't we kick him o- out of office already?" You know, these kinds of things where we expect maybe some, quicker resolution to all these problems that we have, we remember that, there have been fights for civil rights. You know, there have been anti-war protests, there have been fights for, voting rights, and people have come before us and we feel like now this is, this is our time.
Rebecca: This is our time.
Christy: And we interviewed, Mark Legvold last week, and we had a discussion about white cisgendered men and how it's so rare for them to actually have to push back or fight for something because they rarely meet with resistance. It's people of color, it's people p- who are part of the LGBTQ community, it's women that have to push back.
Christy: So for us, it's an automatic reflex, right? Where we see this injustice and we're like, "Hell no." That, yeah, w- if we give them an inch, they're gonna take a fucking mile. But I think men are finally realizing, okay, well, they're coming for all of them. Eventually they're gonna get past them, and then they're gonna be coming for me, and I think we're at that point right now,
Monica: of, it's the end of the poem. Yep.
Christy: Yeah.
Lisa: Yep. Exactly. Yeah
Christy: You were talking about the news cycle and how that can be relentless and feel relentless, and also you brought up the point that the process is the punishment, right? This morning, did you guys see that a judge ruled on the indictment of Tim Walz and Keith Ellison, and he said that it was malicious prosecution
Rebecca/Lisa: Yeah, I saw that. Mm-hmm
Christy: That was very helpful for
Christy: me. I saw that and I just-- It was like a breath, like I could exhale because a lot was riding on that, right? Do you guys wanna talk about that a little bit?
Lisa: Yeah, I think one of the things that I, I have just been astounded by, y- and you think you can never be surprised again, you know, with all the things that this administration has done over the years. But I still f- find it surprising, um, how they, they have tried to weaponize our justice system and, you know, they bring these charges against people and they sue people and they...
Lisa: And there's all the things. And, the courts mostly have been there, on our behalf and, and throw things out that are, not legal or, you know, just seemed, you know, just seemed like, okay, something's not working right here. You guys didn't follow the rules. You didn't do this right.
Lisa: You didn't bring the case correctly, you know, whatever it may be. But, you know, I, I do hope that we all remember that we still have a really, really messed up Supreme Court, and so many times the Supreme Court has bended to him and given him exactly what he's wanted, because frankly, I think this is exactly what the majority on the court, this is exactly what they want, you know, this, this type of environment that we're living in and, you know, where it's mostly white men in charge and they can rule however they want to rule.
Lisa: So, you know, while the courts have been there for us most of the time, I think they will continue to be at the lower court level. I'm still really concerned about the Supreme Court, but I think, you know, one of the things that we keep trying to tell everybody, that's why we call this an election like no other, because we must take control away from Trump and put some, not necessarily guardrails, but at least if you've got majorities in the House and the Senate, it's gonna be a lot harder for him to get things done.
Lisa: He'll still do an all his executive orders and just make a proclamation on X and-- or on True Social, but it's-- it doesn't hold the same weight. And so getting the Supreme Court back in to some semblance of normalcy is critical, and that's not gonna happen if we don't take over those two, branches of government.
Christy: That's gonna be Mitch McConnell's disgraceful little footnote in history, I
Christy: think
Monica: both the Supreme Court and, and his reluctance in impeaching Trump.
Rebecca/Lisa: Yeah,
Monica: Con- convicting him.
Rebecca/Lisa: Yep. Exactly.
Christy: for sure
Monica: For those of us that are immersed in the news and very hyper-aware, it can be pretty overwhelming. What are you hearing from membership right now? Are people feeling energized? Are they overwhelmed?
Monica: Hopeful? All three?
Rebecca: All three. I think we, all of us, you know, go through these moments of feeling completely overwhelmed. but we, well, Lisa and I, and we try to remind our, um, our membership and our trusted and core volunteers all the time, and anybody else who listens, that action is the antidote to an- anxiety. I mean, truly, um, if you are, you know, are doing something, that really helps.
Rebecca: And, doom scrolling doesn't serve any purpose, truly. You know, um, staying informed is one thing, but spending your whole day reading about all the horrible things doesn't help your own mental health or anybody else. right now we're, we're at a really good time actually because we're, we've got this program, as Lisa mentioned, we're calling it the Election Like No Other.
Rebecca: And, so we, we are gonna be very, very busy over the summer and fall with, campaigning for candidates that we support, and also for doing a lot of things around election defense, which includes getting as many people to vote as possible. We're actually holding a t- two trainings over the next couple weeks on, how to talk to disaffected, disengaged, and new voters, because many of us don't like to do that.
Rebecca: You know? It's hard. And, so the person doing the training has, you know, some techniques for all of us to use, whether it's we're, you know, we're talking to our neighbor or we're talking to people at a farmers market or something. So we have a lot going on. So I think we, we also have a lot of volunteers who are excited to get to work and, ready to do this thing, which is, win the solid trifecta in the Minnesota legislature, flip U.S.
Rebecca: House, flip the U.S. Senate, you know, and, give us a chance to actually push back on this authoritarian regime that is taking so much power day by day.
Christy: You know, I was watching, um, "MS Now" this morning and Alan Weissman was on. Love him. And he made a very poignant comment that I think is, is appropriate to make now just for our listeners, but also for you guys to think about. He brought up the, the confirmation process of Todd Blanche. And in his mind, as a jurist and as a, an attorney, he almost sees that as the precursor to the election, how that confirmation goes so the election itself could go.
Christy: And what are some ways that the average person, because we don't all have an infinite amount of time, right? People work. They have their families. They've got their kids. They've got aging parents they need to take care of. In a situation like this where this decision rests with the Senate, what can people do that won't take a lot of time for them to maybe help influence the outcome of that confirmation?
Lisa: Well, first of all, they can call their senators. And, I realize that we have two, DFL senators in our state who most of the time do the right thing, um, looking at you, Amy Klobuchar. and, and, and make sure that they hear you. A, a lot of people have this impression that calling your representatives isn't-- doesn't do any good, and that is-- could not be further from the truth.
Lisa: They do listen, and, they may not, you know, they may not do what you want them to do, but they know, they know that-- they know what people are saying, and they t- they track it. So I think that is probably one of the key things to do and, and do it sooner rather than later, do it every day, get a, you know, and just keep calling and saying, "I, you know, uh, do not vote to confirm this, this person."
Lisa: and if you live in a state where you're represented, by Republicans, it's even more important because whether they follow what you say or not, they, they're gonna get the message that their constituents are not in favor of this, and it's gonna come back to bite them in November, especially if they're somebody who's trying to run for re-election.
Lisa: So, um, it-- So you-- So the-- really the key is to hold them accountable for their votes and let them know in November that you're not happy with how they voted for, for any of these nominees, whoever they may be.
Christy: Mm-hmm.
Monica: I'm gonna chime in and, and say don't just limit it to your lawmakers in your state. I regularly call Mike Johnson and, and John Thune. They're not in my state, but they are in great positions of power, and they need to be accountable to not just their constituents in their state, but to all of us
Lisa: Yeah, and that's a good point because, um, we do tell people a lot of the time that, you shouldn't, you, you shouldn't call like people who don't represent you because they they don't care what you think. However, that rule is-- doesn't apply to people in leadership. So you're absolutely right that contacting leaders in both parties definitely should be done as well
Christy: Excellent
Rebecca/Lisa: Amy Klobuchar is on the Judiciary Committee, I'm pretty sure.
Rebecca/Lisa: So she's gonna be-- She'll have an opportunity to question, um, Todd Blanche. Um, yeah. So yeah, stay on top of that.
Christy: it's very important
Monica: In, in all of this bleakness and the darkness, what's giving you hope right now?
Monica: DOJ is one thing that we can all agree on that-- Or not the DOJ, but the ruling from the judge about Walz. That was a hopeful thing
Christy: And Ellison. Yes. Yeah
Rebecca/Lisa: Yeah. Um I, I get hope from all the people who are, stepping up, to, you know, take action in some way. know, recognizing that the stakes are really high. You know, it, it is, it is hard to not, not get discouraged, to be honest. But, All we can do is continue to fight for what we believe in, which is the right for everybody to cast their vote, which, you know, human rights and civil rights, voting rights, all of that.
Rebecca/Lisa: And, uh, you know, we're gonna keep going until we don't have any energy left. And it really does give me hope to see other people, um, and, and l- like the two of you, um- Mm-hmm ... having-- s- seeing people, use their voices and, and have, a broad reach, that gives, that gives me hope, but it gives lots of people hope.
Rebecca/Lisa: Because one of the main things, and this is-- we say this about protests all the time or rallies, when, when people especially they say, "Well, Donald Trump doesn't care about No Kings." You know? Well, no, he doesn't. it might bother him a little bit, you know, in the privacy of his own home, who knows? But, but it does, it does give hope to the people who are there or the people even just watching from home.
Rebecca/Lisa: It's like, "Oh my gosh, I'm not alone. Um, there are other people who are as scared as I am and who are motivated to make our country and our state better." That's what gives me hope.
Lisa: Yeah. I would just add one thing too is, and it-- this goes back to Christy, what you were saying about the, the court decision this morning, but it, it's when we do have victories, the victories should give us hope.
Lisa: And for example, we've, we've done some work specifically on, ICE concentration camps. And back when-- It was back in the spring, there was word out that they were gonna try to buy a warehouse in Woodbury to repurpose as a, as a concentration camp. And we got together with our group and a couple of other area Indivisible groups.
Lisa: We formed a team and jumped on that so fast you couldn't even believe it, and managed to fill the Woodbury City Council meeting for-- that was gonna-- where this was gonna be brought up with, you know, standing room only crowds spilling out into the parking lot. So many people showed up to say, "No, no, no.
Lisa: We do not want this in our community." And it worked. It got shut down immediately. They did the same thing down Shakopee, same results. We get those kind of victories, and so we've, we-- One of the things that I saw just the other day, w- I don't know that it got the attention it deserved, but under the leadership of Kristi Noem, DHS was running all over the country buying up warehouses at very prices, by the way, um, trying to do it as secretly as possible.
Lisa: And now They've got all these warehouses, but they, they don't know what to do with them because they've been-- they've had so much resistance. And not just in blue places like the Twin Cities. Oklahoma, Georgia, you know, so many places th- where people are saying, "No, you are not putting this in our, in our neighborhood," for whatever reason.
Lisa: And, and they're backing off, and now they're trying to get out from under these things. They want to try
Christy: We posted about that. I wonder if you saw it on our timeline that
Rebecca/Lisa: DC, but now they, they're trying to get rid of them, give them away, you know, use them for
Christy: They're losing money on them, taxpayer money, and a lot of those buildings were bought as favors to people who had donated to Trump's campaign, which should not go unsaid.
Rebecca/Lisa: I am, you know, it's huge
Christy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. A- and I guess Monica and I talk about this quite a bit between us, um, as far as empowerment, right? Empowerment's not something you're given, it's something you claim. And a lot of people are, I think, who are not taking action or who have that, that paralysis of not being able to get themselves to do something need to get past that.
Christy: There's not gonna be like the su- the sky's not gonna open up and there'll be a message written in the cloud saying, "Today is the day you're gonna get involved." No. You have to find that intrinsic motivation to do it and understand that you have to, to take it yourself and claim it and not wait for someone to hand it to you
Rebecca: Yeah, exactly. And we agree with that 100%. And, but, you know, everybody has a process that they go through in their own mind, you know? And I think that as-- And this is why, we try to put the news in context as you're doing. We try to encourage people in a positive way to, join our group and our work and the movement, because sometimes people need to be invited, and they just need to know that there is, a place for them to participate.
Rebecca: And sometimes it takes a while to find that place too
Monica: I think the organization is, is a great way to get people involved because people sit at home and think, "What can I do?" And knowing that there is a chapter close to you, close to everybody all across the country is, is huge to know that that's a way to get involved. So where can people learn more about Indivisible, the broader group, and Indivisible Twin Cities in particular?
Rebecca: The broader group, their website indivisible.org has a lot of information on it, but it also has a map so you can find the chapter closest to you. that's, that's one thing to do. if people wanna join,or learn more about Indivisible Twin Cities, we're, we are at indivisibletwincities.org and, there are links to sign up for our newsletter or join a team.
Rebecca: and we'd love to have you, if you wanna join our work.
Lisa: Yeah. We are right now, as we were talking about with our, our endeavors for the election called, An Election Like No Other, we are recruiting people in a big way to help with all of the tasks that are involved in that.
Lisa: So we, we would really love to hear from people who wanna get, going on election-related, work between now and November 3rd, and even after November 3rd, because we know whatever the outcome, there'll be a bag of dirty tricks sitting there, you know, waiting for us to, to have to fight. So we, we are looking for a lot of people to help us with all the work that needs to take place over the next few months.
Monica: I always say the best time to get involved was long time ago. The second best time is now
Rebecca/Lisa: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yep.
Christy: and do you guys have anything coming up in the immediate future that you might wanna tell people about in the next couple weeks to help them make the decision to get involved?
Rebecca/Lisa: we have, two trainings, on talking to disengaged, disaffected new voters. those are immediate opportunities. And then we can share a link with you, to a form for people to sign up and get more information for all the various, projects that we have started around election defense, voter engagement, working on campaigns.
Rebecca/Lisa: what we are focusing on right now because of the primary coming up is, helping Peggy Flanagan to win the primary. So that's August 11th. Early voting is starting any day now. so that's one of our main priorities. We, we have endorsed her, and we are gonna do everything we can to help her, uh, win in August for the primary, and we need a lot of help, on that specifically
Christy: we just got an email from her this morning about participating in her content creator, workshop that she's holding tomorrow. So yes, we're on board with
Rebecca/Lisa: Yes. Yeah. Excellent. Excellent. Yeah, she's great
Christy: Yeah. So I will make sure to put all of that information in the show notes so that people can just click on it and be directed to you.
Christy: And Lisa and Rebecca, thank you both so much for joining us and for the work you're doing helping people in our community find purpose in this very unhistoric, moment that we're living in, not for lack of better adjectives.
Rebecca/Lisa: Yeah, exactly. Well, well thank you for your patience as we work through all of our technology issues. Yeah. Thank you so- And, and for all- Thank you so much ... all the work that you all are doing. It's really important. Really appreciate it.
Rebecca/Lisa: And to everybody listening, democracy is not a spectator sport. Now is the time to get involved.
Christy: Yes
Monica: If you're finding meaning in the stories we're sharing, if something moves you, challenges you, makes you see the world a little differently, please like, comment, and share. It helps more than you know
Christy: And follow us everywhere at the Politics Chicks on Substack, Threads, Blue Sky, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook
Monica: Thanks for being a part of our community, and keep shining your light so we can find each other in the dark
Christy: And remember, we're stronger together. Thank you so much, Lisa and Rebecca. It was great having you on today
Rebecca/Lisa: Thank you so much Much of you know. No, I know. I was like, I wanted to, I wanted to
Christy: cut