This Twitter storm just happened and I’ve been meaning to start making blog posts from relevant Twitter Storms for a while…
1. Tonight, something kinda magical happened on the steps of the Capitol. It started like this: pic.twitter.com/9HDvz4K4W6
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
2. Those two guys on the Capitol steps: NJ Sen @CoryBooker and civil rights hero @repjohnlewis. Another shot of the beginning: pic.twitter.com/lvYdbnFkGU
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
3. Booker and Lewis started a Facebook Live to talk about Trumpcare and what this moment means for America.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
4. I didn't know that it was happening when I walked up to the Capitol. I work with @MoveOn and was there for something else. Snapped this. pic.twitter.com/b1gV49tzDF
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
5. When I took that picture, I was going to tweet: "something vile is brewing in that building. #Trumpcare." But I got a text—
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
6. The person I was trying to meet up with told me he was on the East Capitol steps on the Senate side. I found him, and saw this: pic.twitter.com/WkXG5vIWas
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
7. @CoryBooker @SenJeffMerkley @ChrisMurphyCT @SenGillibrand & @brianschatz, five fighters, passing around an iPhone. Whoa! Hi, Senators! pic.twitter.com/QYguygJaGJ
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
8. Maybe 20 people were sitting around them. They were telling stories about health care, laughing, answering questions. Felt like a picnic.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
9. I sat down. Realized I was sitting on the jacket of @SenBobCasey, who I realized was sitting next to me. Oops! Hi! Wow! Is this real?
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
10. Totally real. Organic, spontaneous. Senators kept drifting out. Passers-by kept wandering over and sitting down.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
11. This, I thought, must be what democracy is like in very tiny countries, or Ancient Greece. Senators & citizens kibbitzing about issues.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
12 The funniest thing to me was seeing people you normally see on TV passing @CoryBooker's phone back and forth to shoot video. @SenSchumer! pic.twitter.com/JQyn1s4otL
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
13. And then @CoryBooker asked me to speak. And he said, stand up so the crowd can hear you!
And I realized it had grown.
A lot.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
14. Suddenly everyone was on their feet—and roaring. Hundreds of people. There spontaneously. Ready to fight for health care.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
15. It was hard to get a shot of thr while crowd, but here's a piece of it. That's @ChrisMurphyCT holding the phone, videoing @CoryBooker. pic.twitter.com/gLzds3mIQf
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
16. This was a rally now. Part of my job is speaking at rallies. Some are great. Some are fine. This one? Everyone was *on fire.*
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
17. A bunch of groups have been planning a People's Filibuster—three days of Capitol protests to stop Trumpcare, starting 2pm tomorrow.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
18. The People's Filibuster started early.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
19. People told their stories. A refugee diagnosed with cancer weeks before her graduation, alive now thanks to Medicaid.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
20. A child of immigrants, born with a rare disease, now healthy and an organizer fighting for justice for all—preexisting conditions or no.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
21. People asked how they could fight. We shared ways to do it. Come protest at the Capitol this week. Protest at local offices. Make calls.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
22. @CoryBooker's phone was running out of juice. I had a battery! Very proud that that's my iPhone cable in the photo. Keep it going! pic.twitter.com/NCs4tCDHiS
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
23. Where did these people come from? Honest question. If you were there, how did you find out about it? pic.twitter.com/nQreEbOHUY
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
24. Here's why this matters. The whole question in this health care fight is whether the public—which HATES the bill—is going to show up.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
25. There are 52 Republican Senators. This is their top priority. By rights, it should be done already. Smart insiders still say they'll win
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
26. And yet they might be cracking up. And there's just one reason for that: you. Me. All of us. A public that thinks this bill is hideous.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
27. One way or another, this week is probably going to be historic. One of the most morally bankrupt bills in US history could pass.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
28. OR: the resistance could come of age. The public could rise up. Backroom deals could fall apart. Our values could beat their cynicism.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
29. The whole question is whether GOP senators come to the conclusion that they can't get away with this. That the public is too outraged.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
30. Look, I can't predict what will happen this week. Very strong chance it will end tragically. But tonight—a spontaneous, joyous protest?
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
31. Hundreds of people outside the US Capitol at 11pm on a Monday, thunderously promising to show up every day this week to fight Trumpcare?
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
32. People texting their friends then and there, asking them to show up for the human chain protest this Wednesday? (5pm! You should come!)
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
33. This is what it's supposed to feel like at the beginning of something big. This is what movements are supposed to feel like.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017
34. I don't know if we beat Trumpcare. But I know that tonight gave me hope for a movement that believes health care is a right.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 27, 2017