MARCH 4, 2026
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THIS WEEK:
- No War
- Be Ready for NO KINGS III on March 28
- Mark Your Calendar
- Good Reads / Good Watches / Good Listens
- This Week’s TO-DO List for Good Trouble In Helena
“He assumed a war would be helpful to him. It would justify emergency measures at home. It would deflect attention from his multiple failures. It would make him seem larger.
“But it is already making him smaller, more hostage to what’s occurring than leader, more Netanyahu’s patsy than senior partner, another American president sucked into the giant maw of the Middle East.”
— Robert Reich
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NO WAR!
Excerpt from the latest Indivisible National Email
Trump has launched a deadly war of choice — in his own words, another potential forever war — against Iran.
And ‘war of choice’ here means more than the absence of an imminent threat. It means that Trump brought our country into this war without congressional authorization or buy-in from the American people. Ignoring the Constitution, public sentiment, and the warnings of his own advisors, he made the choice to plunge an entire region into war, to send young Americans to their deaths, to sacrifice the lives of Iranian civilians.
We’ve spoken at length about the strategic logic of protest and the various audiences we intend to reach with mass mobilizations: those we are protesting, those in positions of power who can block Trump’s authoritarian breakthrough if they have the courage to do so, and the millions on sidelines we can pull into our pro-democracy movement.
But today, we’re also thinking about the billions around the globe who are watching Trump turn our nation into a rogue state as he threatens our allies, abandons the vulnerable, and unleashes chaos that impacts their families directly and indirectly. We’re thinking about the Iranian civilians who’ve gone from a brave struggle against their own tyrannical government to fleeing bombs from ours.
On March 28, we need to show up in world-historic numbers to send a message: Not in our name. The people of the US reject Trump’s brutality at home and abroad and we say in one voice: No wars of aggression. No terrorizing our communities or yours. No tyrants, no conquests, no kings.
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The NO KINGS rally is right around the corner. Get ready for some serious community and resistance muscle-building. Music, poetry from a former Montana Poet Laureate, chanting, and cheering will fire us up to answer the calls to answer the calls to action — to oppose imperial wars, protect our community, defend our right to vote, and renew our commitment to “liberty and justice for all.”
We need to make NO KINGS III big, bold, and beautiful. We need to show up in historic numbers. We need all of us to bring family, friends, co-workers, and strangers (soon to be friends) to make the peoples’ voice loud, clear, and unwavering. Our strength will not be denied.
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Mark Your Calendar
Wednesday, March 11, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. — Pop-Up Protest
Join Indivisible Helena members for a pop-up protest at the Costco corner (Custer and Washington) in the NW corner of the Costco parking lot. Please arrive by 4:15 for a crowd-support briefing.
Saturday, March 28, Noon – 1 p.m. — NO KINGS Protest Rally
Mark your calendars and plan to join us at the Capitol, 6th and Montana Ave.
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Good Reads / Good Watches / Good Listens
1
Doug James
Another war, Another President. And Rankin would still say,”no.”
Daily Montanan
March 3, 2026
“Do not cheer because the map is far away. Do not outsource conscience to party loyalty. Read beyond the headline. Ask who benefits. Ask who bleeds … Dissent is not treason. It is citizenship …
War centralizes power. It trims civil liberties in the name of urgency. It fattens defense contracts. It lingers. The battlefield may be in Iran. The aftershocks land in Washington — and eventually in Helena.”
Doug James poetically but brutally reminds us that the war in Iran will sooner rather than later, land here on Montana’s doorstep—could be the dreaded knock on the door, or the shock at gas prices that allows for only a few gallons in your tank instead of a fill-up, or the bile that will rise in throats when the tiny coffins or the bombings of schools, hospitals, aid stations are shown on tv. “Ask who benefits. Ask who bleeds.”
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2
Marc Cooper
“Regime Change” is a bloodless euphemism for death and destruction.
Substack
March 02, 2026
Marc Cooper’s article starts with the perversion of language that is the term “regime change.” A phrase that prettifies what that action really is: a violent overthrow of a government. When it means “wholesale bloodletting, bombing, destruction and terror, usually failing and leaving things worse than before.” He continues with some scenarios of how this war could play out, reminding us at the end that regime change has never changed a thing.
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3
Jason Sattler
SHOCKER: Democrats accidentally discover how to drown out Fox News
thefarce.org
February 26, 2026
A long but satisfying read: “But we can find new ways to make use of what turns out to be America’s greatest natural resource: Good neighbors.”
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4
Aidan McLaughlin
“He Could Be Impeached.” Donald Trump’s Base Revolts Over War With Iran
Vanity Fair
March 1, 2026
Note: This is Rebecca Solnit’s summary of Vanity Fair’s paywalled article.
Vanity Fair reports: Curt Mills, the executive director of The American Conservative magazine, has described Trump’s rule as an “imperial presidency.” In an interview with Vanity Fair, he said Trump’s “core appeal” in the 2024 campaign was an “anti-globalist, anti-imperial” message.
“Now it just seems overt. The administration serves rich people and does wars for foreign countries. It plays so ruthlessly into the Democrats’ oligarchy messaging. It’s kind of astonishing that they’re not more anti this. It seems served up on a fucking platter. It’s a two-to-one unpopular war, and it’s weirdly associated with the administration’s potential corruption.”
Now, prominent voices who supported Trump in the 2024 campaign are once again condemning his administration publicly.
“By launching this illegal war of aggression against Iran, Donald Trump has betrayed the American people and his own base, none of whom wanted this,” said Dave Smith, a comedian and political commentator who endorsed Trump in 2024 after accusing the Democratic Party of becoming “war hawks.”
Rich Baris, a pro-Trump pollster, wrote on X, “No, sorry, I don’t think regime change suddenly became good policy or politics just because Donald Trump did it.” And Andrew Tate, who has received support from the Trump administration, reacted: “NOBODY WANTS THIS WAR.” Blake Neff, a producer for Charlie Kirk, said his “right-leaning” friends were expressing outrage at the attacks. He posted a few: “F*** this.” “This is extremely depressing.” “Never voting in a national election again.”
“This is highly demotivating,” Mills said. “Look at the poll numbers since the 12-day war. That is when the vibe shifted. The media narrative on 2024 is that this was the podcast bro election. If you accept that it was a podcast bro election, it is relevant that the podcast bros hate this. And if you say that Trump built this enormous new coalition that’s going to govern for a thousand years, and then you look at political independents and they hate it more than Democrats. And the way it’s going to matter is that no one’s going to show up to the polls in 2026. Republicans can legitimately lose the Senate, which is political malpractice. He could be impeached for any of these things.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former congresswoman who is perhaps the most acute example of a Trump diehard who became disillusioned by his betrayal of MAGA ideals was unsparing in her response. Greene called the administration “sick fucking liars” in one of many posts condemning the attacks. She shared a clip comparing Trump to Lord Farquaad, the villainous tyrant from Shrek, who told his subjects: “Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I am willing to make.”
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This Week’s To-Do List
Make Good Trouble in Helena!
1. CONTINUE CALLING OUR FEDERAL DELEGATION
Senator Steve Daines: (202) 224-2651
Senator Tim Sheehy: (202) 224-2644
Representative Ryan Zinke: (202) 225-5628
Representative Troy Downing: (202) 225-3211
NO WAR!
Americans do not want war — with Iran or any other country. Can you explain the war plan? Are you prepared to increase the Veterans Affairs budget? Are you going to tax the rich to pay for increased VA health care costs? Are you going to explain to the parents of dead soldiers why their sons and daughters died in an illegal, immoral war? Are you going to talk to them — or to us?
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2. IH Pop-Up Sign Action
Wednesday, March 11
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Costco Corner
Indivisible Helena members will hold another Freedom and Democracy Pop-Up Sign Action at the Costco corner. Meet at the northwest corner of Costco parking lot — closest to the intersection of Custer and Montana Avenues. Please arrive by 4:15 for a short training on how to handle hecklers. Signs will be available.
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3. HONK & WAVE
Saturdays, noon to 1 p.m.
11th and Montana Ave.
In true Montana fashion, the Honk & Wave continues weekly.
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Get Your No Kings Yard Signs!
We’ve got ‘em, you want ‘em
Request by email, and we’ll get them to you. The No Kings sign campaign is here until we are sure there will be NO KINGS, EVER!
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Support Indivisible Helena
If you’d like to support Indivisible Helena in pushing back against fascism, please consider a donation via this link to the Indivisible Helena ActBlue donation portal or use the QR code below. Your information will remain private — neither IH nor ActBlue shares or sells personal data.
Together, we’ll make sure the U.S. has NO KING.
