By Claire Davenport
Early this month, members of IndivisibleWeStand UWS got a pep talk and a call to action from the group’s organizer, lawyer and longtime Upper West Sider Andrea Flink.
“We survived the first 19 days of Trump 2.0,” Flink wrote in her email. “By my calculation that leaves 1,441 days left.”
With that, IndivisibleWeStand UWS, a local chapter of a national organization, got to work, organizing protests and resistance to President Trump’s ambitious agenda.
Most recently, the group’s state chapter co-hosted a Zoom call Wednesday night to discuss strategies for fighting back against potential cuts to health care. Over 2,500 people joined the call, which featured New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader.
“All of you watching this call tonight are the unsung heroes of our democracy,” Schumer told them. “You’re the labor activists, the Indivisible members, the community organizers.”
IndivisibleWeStand, one of the advocacy groups Schumer singled out, also joined a rally this month at the New York offices of Schumer and fellow Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. For that event, the group said, hundreds came out, holding signs with messages like “hands off our data” and “block, delay, obstruct, no excuses.”
According to Flink, the goal of that rally was to pressure Democratic leadership to use every tool at their disposal to try to block Trump’s actions, including his appointees for the cabinet and other top government posts. In an interview with the Rag, Flink said she believes the rally had an impact.
“A day after Indivisible took on this mess, they [the Democrats] held the [Senate] floor to protest the confirmation of Russell Vought,” Flink said. (Vought, Trump’s choice to head the federal Office of Management and Budget, is the architect of Project 2025, a right-wing policy agenda circulated during the 2024 presidential campaign. Though Democratic speeches delayed the proceedings, Vought was ultimately approved on a party-line vote.)
IndivisibleWeStand UWS is a local chapter of a national, grassroots project started by two former Obama staffers, Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin, after Trump’s win in 2016. The movement began to grow after Greenberg and Levin wrote a Google document with advice for progressives on how to prod their elected representatives to push back against the administration.
In 2025, Flink said Indivisible has resumed that effort, to encourage Democrats to resist Trump’s agenda, even though they aren’t in the majority in Congress.
“In short, it’s saying, ‘no more business as usual.’ If we keep all the Democrats united, then we have a pretty decent shot to get some things to go our way,” she said.
Flink, an attorney and senior fellow at Fordham Law School who has lived on the Upper West Side for over 35 years (and has been an occasional contributor to West Side Rag), started the local Indivisible chapter in 2017 after Trump’s first election win. Flink said she had no background in activism before Trump’s first term.
This time around, as she listened to other Democrats mourning Trump’s reelection, Flink said she felt “crushed.” But at the same time, she felt better prepared; she quickly joined a call, along with 30,000 others across the country, when the national Indivisible organization announced it was regrouping and issuing a Trump 2.0 guide.
Flink said Indivisible’s strategy now is similar to 2016 but with a greater focus on local politics. “We have to make sure that we have a strong local government and make sure they’re a bulwark against the Trump administration,” she said.
On the ground, that means calling elected officials, conducting outreach to constituents in key races, and distributing background information on everything from immigration to voting rights.
Right now, Flink said, the group is focusing these efforts on key upcoming races, like the special election to fill Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik’s seat in New York’s 21st Congressional district (Trump wants Stefanik to represent the U.S. at the United Nations).
Current membership in the UWS group is a little more than 125, according to Flink.
“It’s been a huge influx. People are coming out of the woodwork,” she said. “I’m getting emails every day now from people wanting to join, which is fabulous.”
Ellen Martin, the group’s advocacy leader, described the neighborhood as politically engaged. “I think that’s just something about Upper West Siders — for one, election turnouts here are huge,” she said.
Martin, who is a retired attorney, described her work as an advocacy leader for IndivisibleWeStand UWS as “scrolling through my iPad in the morning to see what’s been going on and what votes might be coming up.” She then works with the rest of Indivisible’s leadership to figure out priorities for the week.
The next priority this week is joining a 24-hour economic boycott called for Friday, February 28, by People’s Union USA. Boycott leaders have asked people to not make any purchases at big, name-brand stores and to avoid using their credit or debit cards for non-essential spending.
The Indivisible leaders hope actions like these bring more folks to their group.
“People are realizing that our democracy is on the line,” said Flink. “And you can either sit back and see what happens, or you can do whatever you can to help.”
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Looks like the same out of touch, indoctrinated, old people that brought us our current crop of loser city and state representatives. Ending war, ending waste fraud and abuse in government spending, enforcing the law, stopping illegal immigration are policies most people can get behind.
They’re enabling much more fraud and abuse than they’re getting rid of. You have to be very very naive to think otherwise.
I’m assuming you are in touch, no indoctrinated, and young. I’m assuming that you believe Mr. Trump knows what he is doing. That Mr. Trump understands history, and that you believe Mr. Trump has not abused the tax system and it is not currently abusing his position in government. I’m also assuming that you believe that Mr. Trump has never abused the law or taken advantage of people, or that Mr. Trump his wives and his in-laws have never benefited from the immigration laws that protect them.
Like someone else said it here – good luck big bill – dream on !
Aside from the fact that I probably qualify as one of the old people I agree with you. There are a bunch of people who are just talking to ourselves. Someone has got to talk to people who voted the other way and they ain’t in the Upper West Side. The questions I have are nationally, how many federal employees voted Republican and now think they’re in danger of losing their jobs. How many disabled veterans voted Republican and are in danger of losing benefits. How many FBI agents voted Republican and are losing their jobs. How many Americans who voted for Trump will have their kids face serious and scary illness from being unvaccinated? Those are all not people the Upper West Siders routinely deal with. And they don’t watch MSNBC. Someone has got to get information and reach out so that when then Congressional 2 vote majority faces re-elecion in less than two years the people who voted for them and for Trump have to seriously consider voting for more moderate Republicans or even cross tickets and vote for Dems. That’s not going to happen if we talk to ourselves in Zoom calls.
Dear “Bill Williams”: Thanks for letting us know you have no problem supporting an alt-right Nazi-inspired regime. Everybody wants to end government spending waste fraud and abuse. Perhaps we should start with the BILLIONS that Elon Musk just skimmed over to himself while cutting every job that regulated things–you know, like overspending, waste, fraud and abuse. Apparently, you’re ok with seniors and children no longer getting health care. Or do you think that the only people who “deserve” health care are rich white men? I’m a life-long Republican and I did NOT vote for this. Wake up.
This is Project 2025. You’ve been fooled by Fox, Trump, and Elon’s propaganda. They are destroying important agencies and services that protect Americans and they are firing hard-working veterans and other Americans and taking other steps to make our country worse all for more money for the rich. They are in alliance with Putin. Please turn Fox off for good. Experts who help keep us safe are being fired. Trump’s team is pushing anti-vaccine propaganda which is causing outbreaks of measles. Trump keeps taking about a third term and about being king. You all have to know that is not okay at all. Biden may have been bad but Trump is much worse.
The Fox reference is so dated—there’s now an entire new world of media built out like Real America’s Voice etc and numerous podcasts of which Joe Rogan is the most famous—much more new media available than ‘Fox’
Down vote.
You would think.
my life under Biden was much worse than under Trump. cost of living has become suffocating everywhere — and leftist city council makes it much worse than nyc prices already are. Trump was far from my first choice by a long shot but if you’re a middle class person trying to survive on the UWS… and you see what the left has done to it the past few years… it’s hard to believe they have the average citizen’s best interests in mind. This city is a cesspool of corruption and I’d welcome a “DOGE” for nyc any day of the week. I remember what life what like in this neighborhood under republican and independent leadership. Do you?
Not going to live in fear of Trump this time. It’s been 1 month and if he actually does what he says he’d do during the election, we should root for his success bc it was a pretty non ideological agenda that republicans I know were not particularly supportive of. Policy wise Trump is not far right on the American political scale. He’s Bill Clinton without the likability.
His ability to clearly state that the morons taking over our streets, essentially supporting Hamas , are evil is an easy and important thing. Yet the number of those in leadership on the left I can name who do this are far and few between.
In the meantime, the city is probably about to elect Andrew Cuomo as mayor… it can spare me the Trump outrage. There are no good guys here — but one seems to care about voters far more than the other, despite the constant media spin.
If you’re gathering opinions on these ppl from any cable news network, you’re lost. Judge them by their actual policies and then the results. For trump’s 2nd term, it’s too soon to tell but I won’t be rooting against my country bc I dislike his personality and the way he speaks.
Trump ending waste? Are you joking? Do you live in NYC?
Nor has Trump stopped undocumented immigration.
Abuse in government spending? Like the DoD and the NYPD?
Hundreds of thousands of men and women are in the process of losing their jobs because of your vote, Bill.
Sleep well, big guy. You’re getting all of the cruelty and social disorder you’ve always wanted.
we were their employer and we elected the person firing them. We will sleep well and we welcome them to the private sector where there is a labor shortage and they will be far more useful if they want to be. They are also getting severance packages that are unheard of in the private sector. Going to sleep like a baby and I hope bill does too.
Down vote.
No Jack, Hundreds of thousands of men and women are losing their jobs because of the millions of democrats who did not bother to vote. The government we have is the one we deserve unfortunately.
When hundreds of thousands of people were losing their entire livelihood during leftist lockdowns, you were cheering on!
You don’t care about people, you care solely about political ideology.
PS- federal workers are like any other workers, they are not gods. When their boss’ boss (trump, being the boss of the government) wants them gone, they are gone. Just like with our own jobs.
We do have freedom of speech in this country, so do feel free continuing to cry and scream. God bless the USA!
I’m sleeping like a baby knowing that the bloated, wasteful & wholly inefficient federal government is being rightsized. Hopefully this same process happens at the state and local level too. As for losing jobs…this happens all the time in the private sector in response to societal & economic changes.
You don’t get it. These super left woke activists are a rallying cry for MAGA. They are tone deaf and unwilling to compromise. Criticizing them does not make one a Trump supporter.
I despise Trump more than anyone I know. But I am practical and I am trying to figure out how to slow him down. These virtue-signaling activities just give content to Fox News so they are more motivated to “own the libs.”
These people are exhausting. They always need a cause so badly to play social justice warriors.
Let them squirm. Nothing exhausting about democracy, this is how it’s made and they need to be part of it. Doesn’t mean one needs to pay attention to them, or let them exhaust you. They lost for (many) a reason nationally.
Who voted for Elon? Elon was appointed by the President to do a job. A better question is who the hell was running the country for the last 4 years? Because is sure wasn’t Joe and nobody voted for whoever it was. The cracks in that wall are crumbling and I believe it will be exposed soon. The books are coming out. The Biden coverup is the biggest scandal in US history it put the world in danger and killed hundreds of thousands of people.
I never voted for the over 2 million people in the federal bureaucracy who are unknown, unelected and unaccountable to US taxpayers. Some people are needed in government, but not anywhere near the current number.
Agree with OPOD.
But I respect the rights of the protesters pictured in the article.
They are smiling without masks and looking like they are enjoying themselves.
Biden coverup? If you have any evidence about such a thing, you’re the only person who does. Year of Republican-led investigation found no evident of any wrongdoing by Biden. Can you share with us what you know (and any corroborating evidence)?
Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson just wrote a book about it called Original Sin.
go buy Jake Tapper’s book.
Hunter’s laptop? Why was Hunter paid $10MM by Ukraine?
Serious question – how much do you believe in multiple, simultaneous, highly lucrative coincidences then?
Jake Tapper apparently does; he is 1st of many to write tell all books about the coverup of Biden’s decline.
And Elon was NOT approved by any part of the Congress as other Dept. heads are.
Why not add an eating boycott to the 24-hour, highly logical, highly important, highly democracy defining boycott of your credit cards and big stores?
What a great idea, Thx
Great pic of the 5 remaining CNN viewers….
Good one.
The coup?
It is a coup…
Like in chicken…
I’m glad to see citizens want to resist, but this is not the way to do it. This is not a boycott.
Quitting spending for one day simply doubles spending the followign day. Nothing changes because no one has lost money. I’d rather these folks get rid of Donna Brazile and the rest of the Democratic Party old guard. That would be worth their time.
“ Boycott leaders have asked people to not make any at big, name-brand stores and to avoid using their credit or debit cards for non-essential spending.”
I’m guessing their housekeepers will be shopping with cash on Friday.
Friday will be a good day for eggs shopping.
what does an all day across the board boycott have to do with politics? If it’s effective at all seems like it will hurt a lot of small business owners—it looks like a giant temper tantrum and as ppl find out about it many will make a point of buying things that day to protest the protest
It’s not anti-shopping, it’s anti big-box shopping. Shop local small businesses and pay cash if possible.
Also, it seems like nastiness is back in style. Some of these mean comments are just sad.
You are supposed to shop at small businesses, just not big ones. And try and use cash. (though some businesses in the city are illegally only accepted digital payment- against NYC law).
Why so many MAGA trolls in the comments? Go back to your caves!
Why does having a different opinion make someone a “troll?” Doesn’t the liberal mindset support listening to other views and trying to understand where people are coming from? Isn’t that the point of this comment section?
Most of the “maga” comments come from ignorance. Do any of you people have loved ones, and children relying on Social Security and other food benefits? I hope you all can step in and fill that gap! All social programs will be gone! We are the Country! If we act together, like boycotting, we can take our country back!
They are the people in the majority who voted and decided this election . Seems to me you should listen to their voices respectfully and stop calling them names. Maybe then you could understand what happened and why the tide turned.
Hate the truth?
Juvenile name calling…so typical. But sleep well knowing that there are Conservatives everywhere…even on the UWS.
MAGA is no longer an insult, Make America Great Again. We are not in caves. The extreme democratic party is done. Just because someone disagrees with you does not make someone a troll. People have different opinions embrace them don’t silence.
It’s nice for old people to have something to do I guess.
None of these protests help anything. Senator Schumer congratulating these people for being the justice warriors that they wanna be told that they are literally accomplishing nothing. If the Democrats wanna win elections, they need to start focusing on why they are good at governance. The American public is frustrated with what they see as a Democratic Party that is not focused on the issues they care about. And the virtue signaling that these folks are focused on and the attaboys they receive from their representatives seems to highlight the tone deafness of the party. Dems spent the last 10 years talking about how Trump is going to destroy democracy and the American public said they don’t care. The response from Democrats cannot be Oh wait you should really care. It’s literally the definition of insanity to continue to do this expecting different results. I need to find two or three key issues that resonate with the American public highlight why they are better at addressing those issues and the GOP, and focus on winning elections so they have political power to get things done. All of this other stuff is just nonsense.
Trump 👎 and Musk 👎 both behaves in a wildly uncontrolled and dangerous manner, often implying severe mental illness, characterized by erratic behavior, potentially violent actions, and a seeming lack of rational thought; essentially, Trump and Musk are both acting insane and extremely deranged. 🤪
It will surprise no thinking individual that Indivisible Civics, the 501(c)(3) behind the Indivisible movement, receives funding from organizations that rely heavily on USAID money. These lovely ladies are probably not aware of it, they’re just using their right to free speech and to support what they believe to be right, but in the end they’re doing Indivisible’a bidding to protect its existence. They’re protesting to protect this massively corrupt and fraudulent feudal ecosystem. Any private corporation run even 1/1000% as poorly as the government has been would have long gone under. Anyone against eliminating fraud and waste of our own tax dollars is just protecting their revenue stream. The rest of us are tired of working months out of the year just to pay our tax bill while the government continues to spiral at unsustainable debt levels. We want the spigot turned off.
Just stop buying Tesla products, after all it’s all about the money.
Problem solved.
Can they Uber Eats their lunch and dinner? Does spending money via an App still count?
This is an utter waste of time. Standing on an UWS sidewalk and holding a sign does nothing. Literally nothing. It makes YOU feel like a hero, but it’s performative nonsense.
What is the contact info for the local UWS group, to join?
Frightening—and baffling—to find anyone supporting the havoc Trump and the unelected Musk are wreaking on our constitution and our former democracy. Have you who support Trump and Musk taken into account how many children and how many elderly people will be decimated without Medicaid support, not to mention the hardships inflicted on the thousands of people who’ve been summarily fired for no cause as the oligarchs in this country get richer at the expense of the rest of us. I truly don’t understand you!
To summarize, you believe that the Federal government, one of the largest, longest-running, most-complex organizations in the world, with supervisory fonctionnaires who are not fiduciaries of our money in the legal sense and have ZERO incentive to strive for efficiency, an organization which has had zero-based budgeting precisely NEVER in its existence, an edifice of ancient and modern systems and protocols built on top of each other over decades in an insanely complex mesh, is also an organization that has exactly the precise number of high-[performing personnel and not a single person too many, has ZERO duplicative functions, agencies, organizations and efforts, and, despite not paying the highest salaries, not having all the right incentives, and not attracting the best of the best, is somehow also managing our TRILLIONS with the utmost efficiency?
It will literally be the first such case in the history of management. But yeah, let’s take the slow route and wait for the whole thing to go bankrupt while you try to “understand” us.
Thanks for the laugh!
I looked at the website for Invisible.org and it states they have a “mission to elect progressive leaders”.
I can’t stand Trump but I have no use for “progressive leaders” or their policies either.
In my opinion Trump’s victory was largely a backlash against the excesses of the progressive movement.
The more these “progressive” organizers rally against Trump, the stronger he will get.
IndivisibleWeStand UWS is a local chapter of a national, grassroots project started by two former Obama staffers, Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin, after Trump’s win in 2016. ”
Grassroots?? Funded and organized by Soros but your billionaire is better than our billionaire,so it’s ok.
Anyone who has time to protest anything in NYC needs to get a job!