The BOMBSHELL Plan To SAVE Democracy
The first episode of THE RISING takes on the idea of a SHADOW GOVERNMENT.
Can Blue States, Institutions and Citizens Join Together to Form A Shadow Government? WATCH:
America is facing the greatest democratic crisis since World War II — and we can’t wait for institutions that have already failed us to magically save the day. On the premiere episode of The Rising, we cut through the noise of daily outrage to ask a bigger question: what if we had to build a parallel safety net to keep democracy alive while the federal government is hijacked by MAGA authoritarians? From FEMA and Social Security to education and press freedom, we explore the radical but necessary idea of a “shadow government” - a coalition of blue states, private partners, and ordinary citizens stepping up to protect the American people when Washington won’t.
This conversation isn’t about doomscrolling, it’s about agency. Marshall lays out how history shows states that act boldly usually win, and Nick pushes on the practical questions: how do we fund it, who does it serve, and how do we make sure it inspires trust instead of fear? Together we sketch out a blueprint for resilience. Listen to Episode One now, and join us in building the future where democracy doesn’t just survive - it rises.
After Watching, Take Action
In the episode, we promised to offer things YOU could DO to help save democracy.
This week, our suggested actions are rooted in the idea that blue trifecta states are CRITICAL to the project of rescuing America. States have a lot of power in our federal system, and Democrat-run, non-MAGA states should maximally flex their muscles.
ACTION #1: Tell Your Elected Leaders to Stand Up to the Federal Government
As we mentioned on the show, we highly recommend subscribing to
’s Substack, The Existential Republic. In particular, we call on you to read his recent article, “5 Phone Calls That Can Stop American Fascism”, and follow his call scripts to your state-level officials.
ACTION #2: Help Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill win the Governorships in Virginia and New Jersey this November
There aren’t that many blue trifecta states, and given how important they might be to rescuing America, we need every one of them that we can get.
New Jersey is already a blue trifecta state, but term-limited Governor Phil Murphy is deeply unpopular, which is making Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s run to replace him difficult. The election is this November and polls show a dead heat with her Republican opponent.
Virginia is not currently a blue trifecta state, but Rep. Abigail Spanberger could replace outgoing Governor Glenn Youngkin this November. Along with a few flips in the state legislature, Virginia - which is packed with disgruntled former federal employees and their families - could flip completely blue!
So, if you’re looking for ways to get involved in the 2025 elections, we highly recommend starting with these two races.
You can also help spread word about the importance of these races online (over 50% of Americans now get their news in their social feeds). In case you didn’t know, Nick runs an organization called that spreads pro-democracy messaging online. DemCast has a great social media toolkit packed with content you can spread about these two races and other huge 2025 elections (like California’s Prop 50)!
Help The Rising Grow
We are so excited to build this community. If you’d like to support us, consider becoming a paid subscriber to this Substack!
If you’d prefer to make a one-time or recurring donation on ActBlue, that helps us out a lot too. HERE IS OUR ACTBLUE PAGE.
Another great way to help support this show is to share this post with your friends and family!
Remember: If we think big, meet fear with courage, and build community - we can all rise together!
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 | A guest post by
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So many great points here! Starting with - we are the ones we've been waiting for - We the People have enormous power. And we have to start doing things differently!
A year ago, after 10 years of doing canvassing, phone-banking, text-banking, post-carding, fundraising, endless social media posts of facts, my GenZ daughter and I decided there had to be a better way to reach young voters.
🍩🗳️ So we launched a program called Donuts + Democracy across the US to mobilize young voters. In one month, we hosted 200+ events across more than 20 states and 75+ college campuses, engaging 55,000+ students with our youth GOTV partners. We accomplished this with no staff, no website and no social media. We repeated the success with the Wisconsin Supreme Ct election in April 2025.
👉After the election though, we weren’t sure we wanted to keep going, but what we heard from student organizers changed our minds: our support increased their voter engagement by 10X on average and they all immediately went back to work - committed as every to mobilizing young voters! So we could not abandon them.
💫 For anyone needs inspiration and hope - check out our latest newsletter with links to our website, socials and house party recording! (We hosted our first house party last Sunday with Rep. Jamie Raskin and three of our amazing student organizers and we were flooded with "This is the first time I've felt hopeful and inspired in 9 months!) Recording link: https://youtu.be/145loxqDom0?feature=shared
https://donutsanddemocracy.substack.com/p/stop-fearing-the-apocalypse-start
@Marc Elias this is soooo good.