How to Stop the War, the Bill & the Trump Regime with Sen. Elizabeth Warren

summer winds down, now is the perfect time to ease back into learning.

Whether kids are gearing up for school or enjoying the last days of break, IXL is an award-winning online learning platform that helps students build true understanding across subjects.

IXL adapts to each learner's level, pace, and needs, making it a powerful tool for catching up, staying sharp, or getting ahead.

It's also a time saver.

One subscription provides access for the whole household across all grade levels.

And when extra support is needed, IXL is a smart, affordable alternative to expensive tutoring sessions.

IXL is used in 96 of the top 100 school districts in the US.

Make an impact on your child's learning.

Get IXL now.

And We Can Do Hard Things listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ixllearning.com/slash we can.

Visit ixllearning.com/slash we can to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price.

We are supported by Ring.

With Ring, you can be there from anywhere with doorbells and cameras that help you see more, to exciting features that help you know more, to the app that lets you connect more.

See more at the front door, up high and down low, with battery doorbells, head-to-toe video.

Capture it all.

all day and all night with 24-7 recording and get smarter alerts that know the difference between a person and a package right in the Ring app.

I love my indoor Ring because I get to watch my dogs when we're not at home.

With Ring, you can check in and be there from anywhere.

Some features require a subscription and are available only on select Ring devices.

Exclusions apply.

Learn more at ring.com.

Welcome to We Can Do Hard Things.

We are so glad that you are here.

We are so glad to be doing this very difficult American moment alongside of you.

Today,

we are asking questions of Senator Elizabeth Warren.

We have collected your questions.

All of your questions were based around the things we are seeing happening in the news and what the plan is to stop this fascist regime from destroying our democracy.

We are asking those questions directly to Senator Elizabeth Warren today.

She has brought us a plan.

We're going to keep all of the questions we didn't get to to inform future episodes.

And we are going to get these answers and live them out together.

Elizabeth Warren, the senior senator from Massachusetts and top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, is a fearless consumer advocate and one of the nation's leading progressive voices.

Before becoming the first woman ever elected to the Senate from Massachusetts in 2012, Elizabeth led the fight to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency established in the aftermath of the financial crisis to protect consumers from predatory financial practices.

Elizabeth lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband Bruce and their golden retriever Bailey.

Welcome to the pod, Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Senator Warren is here.

How are you?

Oh, wow.

That's a loaded question.

I'm very happy to see you, Senator.

It's so good to see you.

I miss you.

Oh, I miss you.

I just wish there were 150,000 of you is what I wish.

And same back at you.

So, but that's why we stay in these fights.

They are important.

And we don't give up.

We don't give up.

We can do hard things.

Senator Warren, we have asked you to come here today to talk to us in this terrifying time of chaos and corruption and the dismantling of our democracy because you have always been someone who distinguishes yourself from other leaders in not only talking about the crisis, but

actually having a plan for that.

And on behalf of a very

scared

community right now, We are just really

hoping that

we can hear and understand from you what our plan for that is to hold on to our democracy, what our leaders are doing, what we need to be doing so that the American experiment does not end on our watch.

So our first question that we need to ask is something that has kept us up all night last night, which is,

can you please tell us what is happening

with Iran right now?

Is this president going to drag us into Israel's war against Iran?

Because it seems very scary right now

with him basically saying it's Iran's fault for not signing the nuclear deal, even though Israel assassinated the lead negotiator that was working with us on the nuclear deal.

And he's calling the attacks excellent,

telling Tehran to evacuate.

And that he says he's, quote, not really in the mood to negotiate with Iran.

Like, we're moving tankers and aircraft and additional warplanes to the region.

So we have been assured by this man that he is never going to take us into war.

Also, that he was going to end the war in Ukraine and the war against Gaza in day one.

What the hell is going on?

Is that a real risk that we will become part of this war?

So as of late last week, we were firmly committed on negotiation.

And Donald Trump was behind that.

Republicans were behind that.

Democrats were behind that in the Senate, in the House, and pretty much across the country.

So there was a path here.

And then Prime Minister Netanyahu,

basically, right in the middle of these negotiations,

frankly, and

just threw the elbow at Trump and threw aside the negotiations, decided to go ahead and bomb Iran.

And Trump now seems to be

doing cheerleading for that, but understand

two things.

First one is good old Constitutional Law 101.

Only Congress can declare war.

And Congress funds war.

That is where you get the money for all of the activities.

So

he's got to come back to Congress.

Now,

that's how it is on paper.

There are also, that's part two.

There are actions he can take to try to drag our country into a war in the Middle East.

But here's a place

where

in the House, in the Senate, and in the country,

we don't have a lot of difference between Democrats and Republicans on this.

There are a lot of Republicans who are saying, I don't want to do this.

And a whole lot of Democrats saying, I don't want to do this.

And so

this is the moment.

for pushing back, for saying no, no, no, no, no.

And doing it by phone, doing it by email, doing it by text doing it by showing up at a town hall and asking a question doing it by holding a sign because this is the moment now you and i as we sit here right now where it's kind of the ball is up in the air

and trump needs to be with the rest of america on this with people in congress with people around the country.

And I think Democrats are really strong on this, but I really want to say again, again there are a lot of republicans who think it would be a mistake look

that election everybody wants to talk about what was the election all about last november but one thing i guarantee

it was not about was how do we get america entangled in another endless war in the middle east and that's the reminder we need to give donald trump right now

Okay.

Do you feel like, and there's so many domestic things we need to talk about, but do you feel like, like, because his MO has always been

foment or manufacture or pretend there is a crisis, pretend there is an emergency, and then act upon some kind of emergency powers?

We know that Israel cannot take out

Iran's nuclear capabilities unless they use our capabilities.

It's only our bunker busters that will do it.

Is there a world in which he uses, because we know he goes beyond the scope and wherever he wants to,

to do that without congressional power?

Well,

look,

he is commander in chief.

That's the consequence of the election last November.

But there's going to be a lot of pushback on that and a lot of people in place to push back.

But let me offer you one more thought here about part of what's going on.

Notice where you started this.

You said we're all worried about this.

It's classic Donald Trump.

He's losing in other places.

He faces terrible problems.

So let's swing everybody's attention over here.

Where were we just before this?

We were all talking about what happened in Los Angeles, right?

And violence and political violence.

Where were we before that?

The bill.

Yes.

And what's happening right now, I mean, literally right now, in the United States Senate is this, what he calls big, beautiful bill, this big, ugly bill is rolling forward.

And this is the bill to try to reshape a key part of America and who we are.

This is the bill that says, take away health care.

from

more than 16 million people.

Take away one of the programs that helps make groceries more affordable.

Drive Drive up the cost of your utilities.

Why do all those things?

To try to gather some resources so that

he can give giant tax giveaways to a handful of billionaires.

And so this is a moment where Americans are starting to tumble to what this big, beautiful bill is all about.

And here's the deal.

When people hear about it, they are very much opposed to it.

And that's true.

Democrats, Independents, and Republicans say, oh, nope, nope.

Americans do not want to say that newborn babies will be denied access to health care so that Jeff Bezos can buy a third yacht.

Was it half of American babies, half of the babies born in America rely on Medicare?

Half.

Half of those babies and their mamas, and then as their little toddlers, taking that away.

So Jeff Bezos can buy a third yacht.

Are you kidding me?

Those are not American values.

That is not who we are.

And that's pushing back right now.

And by the way, I want to make sure, because I want to make sure everybody understands just how personal this is.

It's about little babies and their healthcare.

Anybody listening to us have have a neighbor who needs a wheelchair to get around?

A neighbor who relies on meals on wheels, a neighbor who relies on having a home health aide come by so that they're get some help so that they're able to live independently.

That's another group that gets targeted.

Taking away that help.

from people with significant disabilities so that Mark Zuckerberg can buy another Hawaiian island.

That's the trade-off.

This is a transfer, a transfer from people that we've tried to help so they can grow up, these little babies, so that people with disabilities can live independently.

Same kind of thing going on with nursing homes.

About half the people who live in nursing homes across this country, they rely on the Medicaid program.

to pay their nursing home bills.

Why?

Because they got nothing else.

That's it.

They got their Social Security.

It's not enough to pay for the nursing home.

Medicaid comes in and helps pay.

They want to cut that.

And what that will mean for these folks is where are they going to go?

Are you going to set them out on the street corner?

Is your grandma going to have to move into the dining room in your house because there's no more space for her in the nursing home?

That's the direct impact we're talking about on millions of people.

And now I want to add another layer to it.

Once you take away that support for the health care, once you take away across the board this support, the rest of the system starts to crumble.

So for anybody who's listening to us who relies on a rural hospital or a community hospital,

boy,

this is the bill.

that's going to force a whole lot of those hospitals to close.

And when they close, they don't just close for Medicaid patients, they close for everyone.

Those little hospitals are running on profit margins that are that wide right now.

So if Medicaid gets taken away, so when that baby comes in to be delivered, when the mama comes in to deliver a baby,

when the baby comes in with the ear infection, If there's no compensation for Medicaid, that's just known as uncompensated care for the hospital.

Hospitals, they don't have the space to offer uncompensated care.

So those hospitals close up, and that means maybe you had to drive 14 minutes to get to the closest hospital from where you live.

Now it moves to what, 52 minutes.

And for some people, that's going to be the difference between life and death.

This is about where people go when they have chest pains, where you take someone when the child on the playground fell and looks like needs 126 stitches where someone is having a stroke.

These are our frontline delivery of medical care to people all across this country.

And all of that is now at risk for just breaking and falling apart.

Just close it all up.

Is it going to pass?

Ah,

so I know, I know you.

Let's go back where we started.

We have a plan.

Okay.

This bill has not passed.

It passed the House by one vote.

One vote.

That means, and by the way, not a single Democrat voted for it.

Okay.

So you got all these Republicans who voted for it.

One vote.

You persuade one Republican to flip from a yes to a no on that bill and it stops dead.

Right now, the bill is over here in the the Senate, but understand it'll have to go back to the House because the two are not going to match.

But we're in the Senate, and it's even more up in the air in the Senate right now.

We've got multiple senators on the Republican, Democrats are easy.

We say

we are not taking away health care from people to help Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.

We're just not doing that.

But even Republicans are saying, whoa,

this bill is a real problem.

Taking away health care is a real problem.

There are already some Republicans who said, I can't vote for this.

So what we're down to now is this is the moment.

This is the moment for us to make those phone calls, to send those texts while it's all still up in the air.

It's this week, next week.

maybe the week after, but now is the period of time.

And for anybody who's listening to us and says, oh, but I already did that

do it again and then do it again and then do it again and then do it again because here's a story i want to remind everybody of 2017 it was summer just like this and the republicans came after the affordable care act taking away health care for millions of people.

You remember this?

The House passed it.

And then, I don't know if you remember, they go over to the White House.

Donald Trump is president.

The Republicans are in charge.

They pass around the Brewskies, right, and celebrate, because what's not to celebrate about taking away health care from millions of Americans?

Bill comes to the Senate, and the Republicans had an even bigger majority in the Senate then than they have now, right?

Everybody says it's going to pass, but here's the deal.

People made those phone calls.

People sent those texts.

People showed up here in Washington.

My personal favorite were the littlest lobbyists, little babies with complex medical needs whose mamas pushed them through the halls here in Congress.

Some of them were pulling wagons, I still remember, with the special breathing equipment and the special feeding equipment, because these were babies who have real challenges and who rely on Medicaid.

There were wheelchair brigades here who showed up in Congress.

Lots of people showed up to say,

Healthcare for all of us is worth fighting for.

And you may remember, came down to the floor of the Senate.

A lot of people remember John McCain famously holding up his thumb, and nobody knew how it was going to go.

I couldn't even sit down.

I was so nervous.

And he ended up voting no on the bill.

And that saved health care for tens of millions of Americans.

But understand this.

It wasn't just John McCain thought this up in his head.

It's that we created the weather together that put him in a place to make that decision.

That is exactly where we are today.

So yeah, I got a plan.

And the plan is now is the time to put the full court press on your senators.

I don't care if they're Democrats, Republicans, or Independents, make sure they're hearing from you.

And get your friends to do that, particularly your friends that you went to school with who now live in states that are represented by Republicans.

Get them to call, get them to text, get them to show up at the senator's office.

Now is the moment when you could have not only a dramatic effect on whether or not millions of people keep their health care,

you could be the one to create the crack in this Republican wall.

The crack that lets us save our democracy, the crack that shows we are still government by the people and that the people's power ultimately matters.

So at the end of this, we're going to put who to call, what to say, is what we're going to do.

We're going to use our agency, put the pressure on.

Have you noticed that your family wants dinner every single God-given night?

It doesn't matter that you've served it the last 12 nights.

Here we are at 6.30 and they're asking for it once again.

It's unrelenting and it's unforgivable.

You've probably heard of HelloFresh, but if you haven't tried it lately, you're missing out.

It is the answer to our problems.

I used it a while back and liked it, but this summer I came back and they've leveled up.

They've doubled their menu.

You can choose from 100 recipes each week.

I just made the chickpea tikka masala the other night so easy, and the flavors were next level.

Also, did you know that they have ready-to-eat meals now?

I'm talking zero labor.

The best way to cook just got better.

Go to hellofresh.com/slash hardthings 10 FM now to get 10 free meals plus a free item for life.

One per box with active subscriptions.

Free meals applied as a discount on the first box.

New subscribers only varies by plan.

That's hellofresh.com slash hardthings 10 FM to get 10 free meals plus a free item for life.

I think that I know more than anyone on this entire planet having the right therapist to talk to can make a life-changing difference.

That's why I think ALMA is so cool.

Alma connects you with real therapists who understand your unique experience.

You can use their directory to search for someone who specializes in the areas that matter most to you, whether that's anxiety, relationships, or anything else.

And what stands out to me about ALMA is that 97% of people seeing a therapist through Alma say their therapist made them feel seen and heard.

You know, I love that.

That level of connection isn't something you can get from scrolling through online advice or following social media.

It's about finding someone who truly understands your journey and is dedicated to helping you make progress.

Better with people, better with Alma.

Visit helloalma.com/slash hardthings to get started and schedule a free consultation today.

That's hello A L M A dot com/slash hardthings.

So if my dogs had a credit card, I'm 100%

sure that they would use it to order Ollie.

After switching to Ollie, I've never seen them this excited for mealtime.

They drool, they're jumping up and down.

In fact, Hattie is now like getting onto the counter.

She's put her paws onto the counter looking for Ollie.

That's the Ollie effect.

Ollie's fresh turkey with blueberries.

This has been our dog's instant favorite.

And the fact that it's made with human-grade ingredients and zero fillers or preservatives, that matters to me.

They're family.

Dogs deserve the best, and that means fresh, healthy food.

Head to ollie.com slash hardthings.

Tell them all about your dog and use code hardthings to get 60% off your welcome kit when you subscribe today.

Plus, they offer a happiness guarantee on the first box.

So if you're not completely satisfied, you'll get your money back.

That's o-l-l-i-e.com hardthings and enter code hardthings to get 60% off your first box.

I want to ask you a question that is in so many of our hearts and minds right now.

This is a question that came to us from Julie.

She says, what can be done about cutting U.S.

military aid to Israel?

I'm a Jewish Massachusetts resident and love Elizabeth Warren, but I'm heartbroken we are funding and enabling the war against Palestinians.

Julie uses the word war.

I respect that.

I use the word genocide based on what so many humanitarians are saying right now.

How many innocent people have to die before we hold our government accountable?

Many thanks, Julie.

What's the plan for that?

Julie, let me start by saying

I'm grateful to Julie.

Even in the midst of everything else that's going on to continue, we've got to not let this slip out of our line of sight.

Look, I have voted repeatedly for what's called the joint resolution of disapproval for sending offensive weapons to Israel that Israel can then turn around and use in Gaza.

We don't have a majority.

And so we've lost those resolutions, but we keep fighting and we keep bringing them up with the armed shipments.

Overall, we know where we need to go.

We need to stop the violence.

It needs to stop.

We need to get humanitarian relief into Gaza.

And we need to push the parties toward the negotiating table.

I know that sounds like it's so far off, but we've got to remind people there is a way to resolve this.

We need to get the parties to the negotiating table and

to work out a solution where people can live, different people can live side by side with respect, with security, with self-determination.

Those have to be the key goals.

And I repeat this every chance I get

because I worry that we just slip into a there's nothing we can do.

I get that we don't have as much power as we want.

But that's not the same as having no power at all.

So I'm going to stay with the joint resolution of disapproval on the arms sales, but I'm also going to stay with the very specific things we need, and that is to call on Prime Minister Netanyahu every chance I get to open up humanitarian aid.

How can we let it go forward?

That there are people who are not getting food, clean water, medical care.

Open up and let the humanitarian aid flow and then sit down and negotiate with the Palestinians who are in Gaza, with all of the Palestinians.

And the United States, our best role here would be to keep pushing, pushing, pushing toward negotiation.

So thank you, Julie, for the question.

And we stay in the fight.

I heard you on the first one, but we can do.

We can call, we can say no to the big, beautiful bill.

We can say no to the war in Iran.

We can push so much pressure on those Republican Congress people that they feel more pressure from us that they might lose their jobs than they do from MAGA.

That's the whole ballgame here.

That's the idea.

Okay, what do we do?

I heard all the things that you said, but what do we do as citizens who are outraged by what is happening to innocent Palestinian people on the ground?

What do we do?

What do we say to our congresspeople when we say no to the bill, no to war in Iran?

Yeah, I think it's, this is why I try to talk in very specific things like joint resolution of disapproval or humanitarian aid that the general, I hate what's happening there.

It's deep felt.

I understand that.

But asking for something specific in all of these cases, in all three of the things we've talked about today, saying specifically, do not go to war in Iran.

That's not what anybody.

in this country wants.

Saying specifically, vote no on Trump's big beautiful bill, do not cut health care so that billionaires can get a handout.

And asking people specifically to vote against sending offensive weapons that are used in Gaza and open up for humanitarian aid.

We have not forgotten.

I think asking for the specific at least puts some muscle behind what we're trying to do.

Senator, we had so many questions, and I would say that a majority of them stemmed around this idea that and I'll read you a couple flavors from some of them, but this perception that

we are hearing a lot of

Trump is bad and we hate what he's doing from Democratic leadership, but we don't have the sense that there is a plan.

We don't have the sense that there is other than

this is a real shame, he's crazy.

that the Dems are united with an actionable plan to fight fascism.

So I'm actually just wondering, you know, Kelly says, we just want to know what is happening that possibly we can't see because these are horrendous times for everyone.

How are we supposed to stand it for the next three years?

Jill from DC says, my members of Congress are all Democrats.

They say they're doing all that they can do to fight back, but we don't ever hear or see evidence of that.

outside of their newsletters.

What can I do to encourage more action and accountability?

Ana from Denver, what is the party doing to regain lost ground?

Why does it feel like there's no unified strategy among the left to fight fascism?

Okay.

There are two answers simultaneously.

Okay.

One answer is it's all hands on deck, thing by thing,

in exactly the things we've been talking about, right?

Thing by thing.

So right now, it's all hands on deck on this tax bill.

And the reason for that, this big, beautiful bill, is because people are going to lose their health care, right?

Millions of people are going to lose their health care.

Groceries are going to be more expensive, and that means there are going to be some people are going to go hungry, some kids.

So it's an all hands on deck.

Democrats are completely united on this.

And our plan here, here we go, our plan here, the best way to describe this is when people learn about what the Republicans are up to,

they hate it.

That's what I was talking about earlier.

It's very unpopular.

The problem, only one out of every four has heard about it.

So what is our plan?

Our plan is to make it two out of four.

And if we can get to two out of four, it's to make it three out of four and four out of four, because that's...

It's like a weather system.

You make it stronger, you make it bigger, you make the wind blow harder.

That's how we're most likely to have impact.

And what's Donald Trump's countermeasure is, let me see if I can get you off on something else.

Of course.

And look, some of it is outrageous.

Of course, we've got to stop and pay attention to what's happening in Iran.

Of course, we do.

But the point is, we've got this thing we need to drive.

And we've got to also cover what's happening in Iran.

And we've got to cover what's happening in Gaza and, right?

And.

Right.

So that makes it hard to see the plan, but it really is.

We We are fighting the biggest battle, the legislative battle right here in Washington, because this is the one where the ball is up in the air and Donald Trump doesn't get to decide it all by himself.

And if we can peel off some Republicans here, I think that's a huge crack in the dam.

And that has profound impact.

So that's the most immediate.

But I said there were two answers simultaneously.

The other answer is November of next year.

Yeah, mid.

So we are a year and a half out, right?

Well, from the election, less than that now.

We

are pushing these issues now.

We're trying to have everybody organized on accountability so that it's completely seamless as we roll in to the election.

This is it.

This is not a drill.

This is the moment.

You want to save your democracy.

Let's work on the legislative part right now because we can.

But by golly, we got to make these Republicans understand

that they cannot follow Donald Trump and the voters will just vote for them again and again.

Remember, everybody in the House of Representatives will be up for reelection and more than a third of the Republican senators will be up for re-election.

And that is, I'm not doing my math fast in my head, what will that be 15 months from now?

Yeah.

So the work starts today.

That's how I would describe it.

Hello, friends.

As you know, back to school season, meaning back to crazy bananas life season, is officially here.

And speaking of bananas and overscheduling, I've been leaning hard on my Whole Foods Market runs right about now to keep everything on track.

Between packing lunches, planning quick dinners in the 13 minutes we have together, and just trying to stay sane during busy weeks, they've seriously come through.

One thing that's been a total game changer is the 365 by Whole Foods Market brand.

I started picking up their frozen waffles and breakfast sausage and all kinds of things like that for the hectic mornings.

And this is like magic because the kids get a good breakfast.

We all get out the door on time.

It's a win-win-win.

And for lunches, they have organic granola bar multi-packs and they have reduced sugar juice boxes, bagged apples, all the things that are fast, easy, and you feel good for them to be eating.

Explore so many ways to save on Back to School Finds at Whole Foods Market.

On this show, we talk a lot about resilience and what it really means to support one another.

For healthcare and wellness professionals, that's the job.

Day in, day out.

Doctors, nurses, dentists, chiropractors, therapists, they're the ones who show up for us.

So it's just as important that they feel supported too.

That's why we partnered with Figs.

For too long, scrubs were just an afterthought, not anymore.

Figs scrubs are thoughtfully designed in innovative fabrics, made to meet the demands of the job and look good doing it.

There's a full range of styles and go-to colors, plus limited edition drops that bring a little joy into the everyday.

With back to school season upon us, it's the perfect time to stock up with some fresh outfits for the year.

And Figs just dropped a brand new collection of limited edition styles and accessories.

If you're in healthcare or shopping for someone who is, you can get 15% off your first order at wherefigs.com with the code FIGSRX.

That's wherefigs.com, code FIGSRX.

How would you like to feel calmer, think clearer, and sleep better, all in just two minutes?

Meet Truvega Plus, a handheld device that uses gentle vagus nerve stimulation to help calm your body's stress response.

In just two minutes a session, TrueVega helps shift you out of fight or flight and into a more relaxed, balanced state.

By naturally supporting your body's nervous system, you can quiet mental chatter, ease anxious feelings, and promote deeper, more restful sleep.

So you wake up feeling refreshed and clear-headed.

There are no pills, no side effects, just safe, clinically backed technology developed from decades of neuromodulation research.

Ready to try it out?

Visit Truevega.com and use code WCDHT25 at checkout to receive $25 off your purchase.

Take action today and upgrade to feeling better every day with TrueVega.

Visit Truevega.com and use my code WCDHT25 to receive $25 off your purchase.

Feel calmer calmer and sleep better with True Vega.

Senator Ward, what is different about the work?

This is just from me.

It's not from a writer.

But as I'm listening to you, I'm thinking the definition of insanity is doing things the same way over and over again.

We've been told get to work.

We've been working.

We've put our jobs aside.

We have been in the streets.

We have been knocking on doors.

We have been doing everything that the Democratic Party has told us to do, and it has not been working.

So what do we do?

We trust you.

What do we do differently this time as we prepare for midterms that might bring us a different outcome?

And we don't see clear leaders emerging.

Who are those people?

What do we do differently now?

So let me give you a couple of parts to this.

Don't say it's not working.

I get.

It hasn't worked as well as we would like, but don't say it's not working.

What the Republicans want us to to do, Donald Trump wants us to do, is to say, none of this works.

I'm putting a blanket over my head.

I'm turning off the news.

I'm doing nothing but just my little corner of the world.

I let him do whatever he wants to do with my country.

That's what not working looks like.

And

then Katie bar the door.

I mean, he's off and running.

We have put up resistance over and over and over and over.

And again, I don't want to overstate here.

No, we have not won all these, but you know what?

Watch what's happened in the courts.

Just start there.

In the first month, we lost what, a little over half the suits.

In the second month, we won around half.

I read that in the month of May, we won more than 90% of our suits in the court.

And

that matters.

It matters a lot.

Doge came through with the chainsaw, right?

Look, we organized and they were going to close down a bunch of social security offices.

Remember that?

They were going to fire half the people at the Social Security Administration.

They claim Social Security is riddled with fraud and they were going to cut off a bunch of Social Security payments.

We pushed back and proved that that was all just lies, that it was not true.

They haven't closed those Social Social Security offices.

Indeed, right now, they're trying to hire people back to Social Security to get it functioning again.

It's not a giant headline.

It's not saving everything in our democracy.

But boy, you're a senior who relies on Social Security.

That's a big damn deal.

And you got a problem and you need some help getting it fixed.

The fact that they didn't shut down the phone lines and they didn't shut down the office near you, that is a big deal.

and it's piece at a time we got our toes on the line to win in the veterans administration to keep them from privatizing the va we're not quite all the way there but i'm liking our chances right so i want to remind us i'm trying to think it's like following somebody who's running through a giant department store we're on the first floor where all that breakable stuff is and he's just breaking stuff right and left and we're picking stuff up as we go along behind.

And it feels like, gee, we haven't stopped him from breaking stuff.

It's true.

We haven't.

He finds new things to break that hadn't occurred to us he was going to break.

This is why we can't have nice things.

Exactly.

Taylor told us.

We can't have nice things.

Because he breaks them.

We have to take them away.

Exactly.

But that's what we're doing right now.

We are doing this at different places.

And sometimes we have better tools to land it.

And social security was nothing but the people who listen to this podcast and other people around the country we have no separate tools va is nothing but the vets and people who care about vets who've gotten out and organized to push back public schools thank you for doing that yes our schools our public school teachers on this so i get it oh man do i get it i live it every single day this is hard but do not tell me do not tell me that what you've done hasn't mattered and hasn't had any effect or any impact.

By golly, you've had a lot of effect.

And that means we got to build on this and keep ramping up.

Let me tell you one other quick story to remind you.

In 2017, Donald Trump tried two legislative initiatives.

The first one was the ACA that I was telling you about.

And we stopped him on that.

The second one was the tax battle.

There, the tax battle was separate from the health care battle.

Second was the tax battle.

We lost that fight.

We mobilized, we raised hell, we, you know,

set off fireworks, did everything we could, and we lost the battle.

But

we made the Republicans pay for it.

We made them own it.

We made them have to admit that, yeah, they had given what was then about $2 trillion in tax breaks, mostly sucked up by millionaires, billionaires, and giant corporations.

And what happened?

When they ran for office 15 months later, not a single Republican around the country ran on,

and I got tax breaks.

In fact, they all ran against it.

The tax ads were run by Democrats who said that's what that jerk did.

And do you remember what happened?

We took back control of the House.

We improved our position in the Senate and put ourselves in a place where in 2020, we had the House, the Senate, and we knocked Donald Trump out of office.

So

the winning battles and the losing, I don't want to lose any, but I'm just saying, even the losing battles can give us the muscle memory, the jet fuel to mix my metaphors here, so that we are ready to go in the midterms.

And now we're talking about real accountability.

so we have power our only mistake here would be the failure to pick it up and use it damn you're good senator warren you're so good the goodest we are so thankful for you thank you for using your life in this way it's a deep honor to be with you and we continue to just send you all of our energy thank you for using your life in this way in our phone calls in our phone calls and our texts.

We're going to send them to you like the kids send energy to their little video game things.

We're going to send them to you.

thank you senator warren

i'm so thankful that elizabeth warren exists

that's all i you have no response for that okay i bet you're pausing dramatically i do do that a lot you do that a lot of dramatic pauses i don't know when the hell i'm supposed to jump in or just honor the pause

Honor the pause.

No time for pausing.

Clearly, you heard the woman.

How about blink twice if it's a dramatic pause?

Okay, so So, you know, what's so wild about this is that I get all the anger at the Democrats because it's like, what the hell are you all doing?

I have a job and I wake up every day and I do it.

And I can't just be like, well, damn, my boss sucks.

So,

because there's nothing I can do, I can be like, my boss sucks and I still do my fucking job.

So I get that anger.

And also, I think what I am hearing from the senator is that they are doing things

that

even the things that don't come out the way that we need them to, our job is to use that as accountability for the future to not let people forget or rewrite the future.

And that it really is

as much as we want it to be someone else's job,

it is our job.

as citizens to reach out and to put the pressure on.

And it really sounds like beyond these

calls that we need to make and need to continue to make and need to encourage our people to make, which we will give you scripts for in just a moment, that the whole ball game is on midterm elections in November.

If we don't win those, I don't know,

honestly, that we're going to be able to withstand

two more years after that with

unchecked power.

So we need to to start getting a plan together for that.

Yeah.

And it makes sense, you know, I understand the feeling of there's a deep fear beneath that call to action in even, because many of us feel like that is predicated upon that there will be free and fair elections.

And what a big fear is, is that they are dismantling that as well.

And yet.

It feels that what I heard Senator Warren saying is

all of these people who, if you think they represent us, or you think that they represent their own interests and their own desire to stay in power, either way,

what works is them feeling like there are more people who want one thing of them than people who want the other thing of them, right?

Whether they're trying just to stay in power or they actually believe in their duty to represent the people and to honor the Constitution.

Either way, what

will work is so much pressure that they feel like if they don't do what we, the people, want, they will lose their job.

Exactly.

Even if they're utterly self-interested and that's their only interest, we have to make it work for us.

Well, if you're worried about free and fair elections, which I understand and we all should be, that is all the more reason that we need to get super mobilized behind shutting down the so-called big, beautiful bill, because we didn't talk about this with the senator.

But what is further terrifying about that bill is that when it was passed by the House of Representatives, it included a provision that, you know, this is supposed to be all about spending, right?

It included a provision that limits judges' ability

to hold the administration in contempt for violating court orders.

It's unconstitutional, the provision of the bill, right?

And then when it went into the Senate, the Senate Judiciary Committee changed it to not only say not holding them in contempt, the Senate Republicans revised the language to limit the judges' authority to even issue injunctions and restraining orders against the government.

So there is a constitutional redraft in this bill.

And the courts have been the only ones who have been able to hold the line and keep

the administration from doing patently illegal things thus far during the second term.

So they are using this bill to basically say that the courts don't have the power to stop the administration from doing whatever the administration wants to do.

Okay, so what I'm hearing you say is.

In addition to all the reasons that Senator Warren just told us to call our congresspeople and oppose this, quote, big, beautiful bill.

If what we are concerned about is also the chance

to elect different officials who will undo all of what they are breaking, we also must oppose the big beautiful bill.

Well, if you're concerned about any check on power

of this administration, the courts have been the only effective check.

So if you're concerned about if you're concerned about upholding the Constitution and the balance of power and

lawfulness, which is all that the courts are doing is enforcing laws and enforcing what the Constitution says, if you're interested in any of those things, this bill needs to be destroyed because it is an end route around

the constitutional balance of power and the idea that an administration is subject to the laws of the United States.

Okay.

Do you have any idea when this vote is?

When is the big beautiful bill decided upon?

Well, it has to go through like all the reconciliations.

So there's not firm date.

So far as I know, it's going to take a couple of weeks for it to go through these processes.

So it'll be in the Senate.

Then, because the Senate bill will be different than the House bill, it has to go back to the House.

So it's it's like they've got to all agree on the same thing.

So it's going to take a minute.

So we have a couple weeks to put the pressure on and we need to.

Amanda, tell the pod squad, if they're with us on all we've talked about today, what should they do today?

So we have three calls to action.

We have three things

that

we can ask our representatives to do.

So our first thing that we are going to do, if you need to know your representatives' phone number, ways to contact them, you are going to go to Congress,

C-O-N-G-R-E-S-S dot gov slash members.

You're going to go to congress.gov slash members.

There you can type in where you live.

You can find your representatives.

You can find your senators and your congresspeople and their phone numbers.

When you have that,

there are three things that the senator talked about.

You want to tell your people that you want them to say no to war on Iran, to say, I expect you to vote to not bring America into war and in fact to do what you need to do to prevent American involvement in war.

Number two, I expect you to vote no

on the so-called big beautiful bill.

I'm going to walk you through a script on that one specifically in a moment.

Number three,

I need you to vote to stop sending weapons to Israel that are being used against civilians in Gaza.

I want you to vote to open humanitarian aid to Palestine.

Great.

Can I say this back to you?

Yes.

Okay.

I'm going to say the website again.

congress.gov slash members.

I'm going to find my congressperson.

I'm going to call the phone number.

I'm going to say my name is Glennon Doyle.

I'm a resident of blah, blah, blah.

I am a constituent of blah, blah, blah.

I am calling you to say, vote no on American involvement in the war with Iran.

Vote no on the big beautiful bill.

Vote no

on providing weapons to Israel.

And vote yes on opening all humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Correct.

Correct.

And if you want a more specific one on the big beautiful bill, and you can add the other two to that, I got this from Indivisible San Francisco.

I personally use Indivisible for a lot of things that I need to find out in my local chapter.

But you would say, hello, my name is Amanda.

I am a constituent of yours or of Representative so-and-so, Senator so-and-so.

My zip code is give your zip code.

I am calling today to urge the senator or the congressperson to vote no and to speak out and strongly condemn

the Republican reconciliation bill that will prevent court injunctions against this administration from being enforced.

You can say that.

You don't have to say that.

You can just say vote no on the Big Beautiful bill.

If you want to say the following, you can.

This bill will take health insurance and food assistance away from tens of millions of people, makes tax cuts for the rich, and includes clauses shielding Trump and his administration from the consequences of violating court orders.

I expect you to vote no.

Great.

So

that's what you can do.

I have an idea.

And I like to propose this to the pod squad.

We have been sold for a very long time these wellness projects or these routines.

Follow me on my morning routine as I put serum on my face and I hold plunge and I do my 12-minute meditation and all

these fucking individual wellness program.

So let let us add a collective wellness moment to our morning routines.

I recently saw this cool interview with Cheryl Crowe where she said that every single morning she calls her representatives.

That is part of her morning routine.

Let us add a moment of collective protection that will protect our wellness and safety, I might dare say.

even more than the serum.

Oh, don't be crazy, Clinter.

Let's just call our representatives every effing morning as part of our morning routine.

Oh,

God.

Okay, we love you, pod squad.

We're going to be bringing you lots more information and lots more things you can do with it.

Okay?

Thanks for doing hard things with us.

Thank you to Senator Warren.

Thank you to everybody who is showing up.

See you next time.

If this podcast means something to you, it would mean so much to us if you'd be willing to take 30 seconds to do these three things.

First, can you please follow or subscribe to We Can Do Hard Things?

Following the pod helps you because you'll never miss an episode and it helps us because you'll never miss an episode.

To do this, just go to the We Can Do Hard Things show page on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Odyssey, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and then just tap the plus sign in the upper right-hand corner or click on follow.

This is the most important thing for the pod.

While you're there, if you'd be willing to give us a five-star rating and review and share an episode you loved with a friend, we would be so grateful.

We appreciate you very much.

We Can Do Hard Things is created and hosted by Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, and Amanda Doyle in partnership with Odyssey.

Our executive producer is Jenna Wise-Berman, and the show is produced by Lauren Lograsso, Allison Schott, and Bill Schultz.