Working Families Party National Director Maurice Mitchell:

Saturday’s shooting at a rally for former President Donald Trump shocked the nation. It left many of us feeling scared and uncertain.

Despite the history of political violence in the MAGA movement, some cynical political operatives and pundits are signaling that Saturday’s shooting should make Trump politically untouchable. Senior Democrats are reportedly resigning themselves to a Trump presidency.

But the last thing we can afford to do is give in to despair or throw in the towel.

We’re hosting the third in our series of mass calls along with Movement for Black Lives, Seed the Vote, and SURJ to make meaning of this moment on Thursday, July 18 at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT. On the call, we’ll grapple with the current political moment and lay out our strategy for how we can win for working families.

Will we see you there? RSVP here, and we’ll send you the link to join Thursday’s call.

The violence we witnessed on Saturday didn’t happen in a vacuum. Since day one, Trump has used his platform to fan the flames of violence and hate. He has called for civil rights protesters to be shot, encouraged police to brutalize innocent people, told the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys to “stand by” during a 2020 presidential debate, and incited an attack on the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. During the Trump years, right-wing extremists attacked the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, injured former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband in a home invasion, and massacred ten Black people in a Buffalo grocery store.

Trump has also made it clear that he will only be more emboldened in a second term. His friends in the MAGA movement have already drafted a 900-page plan called “Project 2025” detailing exactly what they want to do if they win. They want to bring all government agencies under the direct control of the President, slash taxes for big corporations while gutting our healthcare, tear apart families and cage immigrants in massive detention camps, and ban abortion nationwide.

They also want to break the back of the labor movement. Like any bad boss, Trump sees organized workers as a threat to his power.

We can defeat Donald Trump and his MAGA movement. It will take us uniting a broad coalition of people across race, age, and identity. This united front was critical to defeating Trump in 2020. It’s now on us to do it again in 2024.

Are you ready to join us to learn more about how you can help us assemble the united front we’ll need to stand up to authoritarianism? RSVP to learn more on Thursday, July 18 at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT.

Our movement needs to lay out a clear and compelling vision for how we can build a country where everyone can live in safety, peace, and freedom. That thread connects all of our work, from organizing for a ceasefire in Gaza to making sure every person in our country has quality health care.

None of us should have to live in a state of fear and anxiety. We can choose to live in a country where we feel safe visiting a grocery store or place of worship, where we don’t have to worry about weapons of war being used against school children or political figures, and where we can care for our health and the health of our loved ones without taking on crushing debt.

The far right can be beaten. We’ve done it before. But there are no guarantees. The only thing that can get us there is organizing. Resigning ourselves to authoritarianism isn’t an option. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Read Maurice’s full thoughts on this moment on Medium here.