Anti-Trump activists plan to invade Congressional town halls this week - or shame members with cardboard cut-outs who won't attend

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[h=1]Anti-Trump activists plan to invade Congressional town halls this week - or shame members with cardboard cut-outs who won't attend[/h]

• A number of liberal groups, including President Barack Obama's Organizing for Action, are turning to training manuals created by Indivisible Guide
• Indivisible is a newer group, launched in December by former Congressional staffers, and is training activists using Tea Party tactics
• This week, while members of Congress are in their home districts, progressives plan to attend town halls and protest the repeal of Obamacare

By NIKKI SCHWAB, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 18:48, 19 February 2017 | UPDATED: 21:48, 19 February 2017

 

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Progressive activists continue to take a cue from the Tea Party movement with plans to funnel into town hall meetings this week while members of Congress are at home and make a ruckus.
Groups, including President Barack Obama's Organizing for Action, are turning to a newer organization, Indivisible Guide, to coordinate tactics.
Launched in December by former Congressional staffers, Indivisible is providing activists with training manuals, such as one that explains how to have a 'successful' town hall.

 

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More members of Congress are likely to face progressive activists this week, as the group Indivisible has provided training manuals on how to have a 'successful' town hall

 

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Earlier this month, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, faced a number of angry constituents at a town hall he held in Cottonwood Heights, Utah

 

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This week, they tapped President Bill Clinton's Labor Secretary Robert Reich to record a PSA for the group.
'This is your chance to show Trump's agenda faces a powerful resistance,' Reich said in the spot, which was filmed to remind activists that members of Congress will be back in their home districts this week.
'The resistance has already begun and has serious momentum,' he added.
The group is using the hashtag #ReclaimRecess and is instructing activists to find their member of congress' town hall.
Another just-launched website, the Town Hall Project, is keeping track of when and where lawmakers plan to be.
The guide suggests attendees come up with questions in advance – with the main focus on protesting any moves to repeal Obamacare – and to cozy up to local reporters who cover that particular member of Congress.

 

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Activists are to spread out throughout an audience, the group Indivisible advises, as 'this will help reinforce the impressions of broad consensus'

 

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'Find and follow those reporters on Twitter, and build relationships,' the manual suggests.
Organizing for Action outlines immigration reform as a top key issue.
Indivisible advises that constituents also express their opposition for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch and for his seven-country travel ban.
Additionally, the topic of Trump's tax returns, and his failure to release them, should also be brought up with lawmakers.
Indivisible tells activists to be 'respectful, polite, and non-confrontational' with the member of Congress and his or her staff.
'Get seated and spread out,' the guide says, telling activists not to sit together in one clump. 'Sit by yourself or in groups of two, and spread out throughout the room.'
'This will help reinforce the impressions of broad consensus,' the guide adds.

 

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Reich and the training manual both note that the town halls should be recorded and those recordings should be given to local media.
The former labor secretary pointed out that while a member of Congress can snub a constituent to two, 'they can't ignore the local nightly news,' Reich pointed out.
The activists are also being told to hold members of Congress accountable for not facing their constituents.
There's a whole Indivisible training manual on how to deal with a 'missing' member of Congress.
In Indivisible's PSA, Reich tells liberals to hold their own town halls and invite those lawmakers in question.
'If they refuse to hold a town hall, hold your own and invite them,' he said. 'If your representative doesn't attend, bring a cardboard cut-out or an empty chair and let your local media know that your member of Congress didn't have the courage to show up and face constituents.'

 

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