Silicon Valley’s Trump Resistance Chapter, Orchard City Indivisible, Grows in Strength, Membership

Four weeks ago President Donald Trump took the oath of office, protesters marched across the nation and San Jose police snipers assumed their perch.

By then, the resistance was already in full swing.

Trump supporters, most notably the alt-right, have dismissed protesters and critics of the new administration as “snowflakes,” which may be why grassroots organizations such as Indivisible are seeing a snowball effect.

What started as a 25-page Google doc created by a group of former congressional staffers has led to Indivisible, a chain of regional groups that are rallying the nation’s anti-Trump resistance to slow down his agenda and rein in a Republican-majority Congress.

The Google doc, created in mid-December, served as a guide for specific tactics to fight President Trump’s agenda, which has included a number of unpopular appointees and executive orders. The document soon morphed into a website, resulting in more than 6,000 registered resistance groups.

Eric Victorino, a co-founder of Orchard City Indivisible, the South Bay’s only chapter, says the organization is using the same guidelines the conservative Tea Party movement carried out in opposing President Obama, who was far more popular at the time than Trump is currently, according to public opinion polls.

“We are operating with the advantage of being a much bigger group going up against a very unpopular president,” Victorino says.

Victorino and three friends decided to form the chapter, based in Campbell, just days after reading the guidelines. Meetings are centered around enacting change through planning events, voicing complaints, demanding meetings with elected officials and providing an open forum for ideas that can affect change. It’s similar to the Occupy movement from several years ago, except there seems to be far more structure.

“Getting people information about what they can do is what inspired us,” says Michael Clark, an Orchard City Indivisible co-founder.

Meetings, held every Tuesday, first took place in a coffee shop but greater numbers forced the group to move. The past two meeting have been hosted at Campbell United Church of Christ.

“When this started our first meeting had 12 people, our next had about 30, then 75 and today we had around 120,” Victorino says.

Orchard City Indivisible operates through a private Facebook group, where events, links and information are shared on a daily basis. The group now has more than 700 members who work on organizing events, designing protest signs and giving advice on where and when to deploy them.

A majority of Silicon Valley voters are registered Democrats, Clark says, which has helped the resistance group get on the radar with local, state and federal agencies.

David Weir, of San Jose, says the constant negative headlines forced him to do something rather than sit on the sidelines.

“(It’s) the feeling we got when we woke up every day and saw bad news of acts being overturned, executive orders being filed that were discriminatory, cabinet picks that were not draining the swamp but filling it up with more alligators, and just an overall feeling of this is not how the country should be run,” Weir says.

To counter these decisions, Weir and fellow Indivisible members have been calling and showing up at Congressional offices.

Joana Cardoso, who has led an effort to diversify Orchard City Indivisible’s membership after the first four meetings, says that the organization is open to anyone who feels the country is heading in the wrong direction under President Trump.

“There is no them—this is for everybody,” Cardoso says. “You are not alone in feeling frustrated over the craziness that’s happening.”

Orchard City Indivisible will host a #NotOurPresidentDay event 10am to 2pm Monday at San Jose City Hall. The goal is to encourage resistance locally and pressure members of Congress to stand, indivisibly, in opposition to the Trump administration.

13 Comments

  1. What a pointless organization.

    San Jose and Santa Clara County are Democrat Party swamps. Everybody here already belongs to the church. There are no more souls to be saved here.

    What are these people afraid of? DIversity?

  2. Oh good, I think I’ll join up and record all your conversation send them to the IRS, and you will be audited to death.
    Remember BIG BROTHER will be watching you !

  3. Let me get this straight; The group calling itself “Indivisible” is hosting a #NotOurPresidentDay?

    Paradoxically comical!

  4. Quite often President Trump will say or do something that has me questioning whether I should have voted for him. But then all I have to do is turn on KGO or read an SJI column like this one or hear Lick-a-rod or Chief Eddie utter a few words and I’m instantly reminded of what I voted against and am reassured that I made the right choice.

    • John I am very glad that you are paying attention to President Trumps choices and commentary. Your comment also reminds me how important it is for us to try and educate those who do not prioritize human rights and dignity above all else. Here is some love ❤️ John from a great big beautiful snowflake!

      • Love and respect to you too Kathleen. But we may be at odds here.
        You’re right. Human rights and dignity should certainly be a priority. But personal responsibility and the rule of law should also be priorities. And in disrespecting the rule of law- as we have been doing and as local politicians advocate- we are disrespecting the human rights and dignity of law abiding American citizens. (even if they don’t realize it)
        Trump may be a loose cannon and that’s scary for sure. But the Democrat party is a precisely aimed cannon with personal responsibility and the rule of law right in it’s crosshairs and that’s guaranteed self destruction.
        So I’m with Trump.

    • JG,

      Don’t forget what might have been: ‘Obama 2.0’. That alone was an excellent reason to vote for DJT.

      And from what I’ve seen so far, President Trump is turning out to be even better than expected. He’s certainly not paying any attention to the impotent chihuahuas trying to bite his ankles. Instead, he’s doing what’s best for the country—and they just HATE that!

  5. I used to larf at the folks infected with Bush Derangement Syndrome.

    But TDS is way funnier, and it’s infected just about the entire Liberal contingent. Unfortunately, it’s more incurable than AIDS.

    Interestingly, the number of different complaints about DJT exactly equals the number of complainers—whatever each one is unhappy about in their miserable life is all the fault of our new President. It’s all Trump’s fault, see? Everything! Just ask ’em.

    I’d tell them, ‘Get a grip!’ But they’re already off the deep end…

  6. Once again, I thank God I don’t live in California. What a bunch of useless idiots these “resisters” are. They should put their resources together to figure out how to deal with massive problems in California. Massive traffic problems… thank God I am not there

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