#ConvictTrump: How to Fax a Letter to Your Senator Without a Fax Machine

Be Clear and Be Firm: They won’t get your vote or campaign contributions if they don’t hold Trump accountable for inciting an insurrection that left six dead.

Fax technology is weirdly thriving in an era where folks like myself have learned how to fax a Senator’s office using only an email address. This now means that rather than sending an email or a letter that will probably never get opened — a hard paper copy of my demands shows up in my elected representatives’ office, hot off the press, envelope-less and naked for all staffers to see. In an era where lobbying is more about volume, trend, and public opinion — contacting Congressional representatives is a more of a numbers game, and that piece of paper transforms my requests into a real tangible object that someone can touch, and sometimes that’s just what it takes to change hearts and minds: millions of pieces of paper (I mean, when it comes down to it, that’s all that votes & money are anyways too, right? Little pieces of paper that control the world, ugh.) Regardless, streamlining the process so as many people as possible can participate is generally critical to democratic proceedings, which is why I wanted to get this information out to as many folks as possible as we head into another week of Impeachment trials. Please share everywhere you can.

There are a few ways to go about faxing without a fax machine: Fax Zero has gathered all of congress’s fax information into one simple interface that allows you send a free fax directly to your Senator (or House Representative) by filling out a short form.

Efax seems to have a more simple approach, should you be willing to pay for a premium account ($10 activation fee, followed by $17/month) that will also allow you to send and receive up to 150 faxes a month using a phone number from almost anywhere in the world. Then, all you need do is enter the recipient’s fax number followed by @efaxsend.com into the “To” field of your email program, put your fax in the body of the email, press send, and it’s done! (For example, since Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s fax number is 202–224–2499, you can fax his office by sending an email to 2022242499@efaxsend.com once you have a premium account set up.)

Remarkable.

So, with the future of democracy still in question as the United States Senate moves forward with a second impeachment trial for Donald J. Trump, it’s definitely time to start flooding our Senators’ fax machines.

If convicted, Trump will never again be able to hold public office in the United States, and as I understand it, he will also not receive the financial benefits of a pension, or the protection of the Secret Service that former Presidents normally get. However, this is no normal president or presidency — this was four years of fascist authoritarian terrorism and full on treason.

The Constitution requires a two thirds majority in the Senate to convict the former President, who rallied an angry mob of his supporters to storm our Nation’s Capitol building on January 6th, resulting in six deaths and countless injuries, yet only a handful of Republicans voted in favor of the trial’s constitutionality on Tuesday.

Seventeen Republican votes will still be needed if every Democrat votes in favor of conviction. It’s a long haul, but as of right now there are fifteen Republican Senators who have not made statements confirming or denying whether or not they will vote to convict.

That means there is still hope.

So, I ask you if you are reading this, take 3 minutes to fax your senator from your email address — I even wrote a generic letter, below, that you can use so it’s on their desk first thing in the morning (just be sure to fill it in with your own information.)

Find your Senator’s Fax number here.

Honorable Senator [Name],

Thank you for your hard work and continued service to our state and to this country.

I now ask you to do the right thing, and protect our democracy from further terror and harm.

As your constituent, I implore you to convict our former President, Donald J. Trump now for the many high crimes and misdemeanors he has committed, namely inciting an angry mob to storm our nation’s Capitol building, with the intent to do harm to our Congressional representatives.
Six people lost their lives, including a Capitol police officer who was beaten to death.
This is inexcusable.
Should you not vote to convict Mr. Trump, that blood will continue to be on your hands.

Mr. Trump must never hold public office again, and I do not want a penny of my tax dollars going to support him or his family.

He must be held accountable, and you are charged with the job of defending and protecting this nation’s democracy and its people.

I will leave you with the words from the brave, young Capitol staffers who addressed you in an open letter last week:

“Our Constitution only works when we believe in it and defend it. It’s a shared commitment to equal justice, the rule of law, and the peaceful resolution of our differences. Any person who doesn’t share these beliefs has no place representing the American people, now or in the future. The use of violence and lies to overturn an election is not worthy of debate. Either you stand with the republic or against it.”

Respectfully, please understand that should you not vote to convict Donald J. Trump, I shall not be supporting you as a candidate financially, or with my vote, in any further elections.

Thank you for your service, and
Bless the United States of America,

Your Constituent, [Name]

Siouxsie Q, author of Truth, Justice, and the American Whore, is an activist, performer, and media strategist based in Los Angeles. She is a former Policy Director, advocate, and organizer for the Free Speech Coalition, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, as well as a former Board of Directors member for the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee and the (late, great) Lusty Lady Theater in San Francisco. Her work has been published in Rolling Stone, Wired, The Sacramento Bee, The Face Magazine, and her popular San Francisco Weekly column, “The Whore Next Door” ran for nearly five years. Her acclaimed podcasts, The WhoreCast and Ill Repute, cover the histories and political struggles of marginalized workers and historic figures with bad reputations. She is a graduate of the University of Oregon, plays ukulele, and loves her cats way too much.