Even MoveOn.org could not paper over the obvious.
Joe Biden did very badly in the debate!
Dear MoveOn member,
This is Rahna Epting, MoveOn's executive director. I want to level with you. Thursday's debate was very tough—and we still have an election that we absolutely must win, together. More could not be on the line—freedom, democracy, justice, our shared humanity, dignity, and hope.
And just four months before the most important election of our lifetime, MoveOn's fundraising is also hundreds of thousands of dollars behind our target.
But here's the good news: With just ONE day left until the end of this quarter, MoveOn's fundraising is finally starting to surge—in response to our plan to scale up a team of social media influencers to respond to Trump's dominating lead on TikTok and help combat Trump's surge with young voters.
When Trump joined TikTok in June, he amassed 5 million followers within three days—14 times as many as President Joe Biden has.1 This is a huge problem because about one-third of people younger than 30 regularly get their news from TikTok.2 And now, the most recent polling shows that support for President Biden among young voters is low and trending in the wrong direction.3
To reach young voters where they are, MoveOn has big plans to build our presence on TikTok and other social media platforms. We're scaling up a team of social media influencers to spread the word to young people about Trump's terrifying plans. We're partnering with influencers to flood social media with compelling, persuasive content to combat the right. These influencers have hundreds of millions of followers on social media sites where young people get their news and are already engaging on these issues.
But we can go all-in on this only if we can raise the funds.
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, one of the few progressives with a large following on TikTok, has warned that "progressives need many more voices with many more followers on TikTok, Discord, Instagram, and other social media." And that's exactly what we are doing.
This is crucial now, especially as we sound the alarm about Project 2025—the right's nearly 1,000-page blueprint for turning America into a fascist police state, by executive order and without an act of Congress, if Trump is reelected.
After a difficult first half of the year, MoveOn just received a burst of donations from members like you—so many of your fellow MoveOn members are excited about this campaign. I want to go all-in on this new micro-influencer program without making cuts to our other critical work, which includes phone-banking, canvassing, postcards, and other efforts to reach voters. But to do that, I need to know that we can start the third quarter of the year strong.
Will you start a donation of $5 a month by midnight tonight, so that we can start the third quarter strong?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Your donation will help MoveOn inform young people about Project 2025 and Trump's agenda on social media, via SMS, through digital ads, and more.
We need to do so much, and quickly. Your support couldn't be more critical.
Election Day feels far away, but the reality is that it'll soon be too late to launch new major initiatives, to book online advertising inventory, to build up our infrastructure … And too late to go all-in on our efforts to effectively combat the unprecedented pro-Trump propaganda that's poisoning the minds of Generation Z on TikTok and other social media outlets.
Our end-of-quarter deadline is this Sunday, at midnight! And the third quarter will be the last full quarter before Election Day.
Please start a $5 monthly donation, TODAY! Help MoveOn end the quarter strong, to fight back against Trump and the MAGA influencers who are spewing propaganda and hate to young voters.
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
We can't do it without you, Arthur. It's not about what you give, but that if you can afford to, you give right now, today, so that we can start the third quarter of the year strong.
I hope that you have a great summer, and thanks so much for all you do.
–Rahna Epting, Executive Director
Sources:
1. "Trump quickly surpasses the Biden campaign on TikTok," NBC News, June 4, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194139?t=6&akid=396089%2E29788095%2ElQhEXh
2. "More Americans are getting news on TikTok, bucking the trend seen on most other social media sites," Pew Research Center, November 15, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/194140?t=8&akid=396089%2E29788095%2ElQhEXh
3. "The Voters Who Don't Really Know Donald Trump," The Atlantic, May 21, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194195?t=10&akid=396089%2E29788095%2ElQhEXh
