Sunrise Movement Slides Reveal Multi-Phase Political Overhaul Plan
Could a campus protest become the hinge of a national shift? The phrase political revolution appears throughout a set of training slides from a March 2026 Sunrise Movement membership meeting, and the group’s ambitions are spelled out in precise phases.
The internal presentation, obtained by US News Hub Misryoum, lays out a vision to “structurally change the foundations of this country” in pursuit of “eco-socialism” and a “multi-racial democracy.” It describes a “grand objective” that includes passage of Green New Deal legislation and dismantling what the materials call the “billionaire 2 party system.” In a slide called “On the road to revolution,” the group lists the top three goals of “Phase 1,” which include: “‘Stop Trump’s grip on power,” “build up to mass noncooperation” with protests like May Day, and “use the 2026 midterms to to build toward electoral breakthrough — win big.”
The roadmap continues beyond 2026. Phase 2, slated for 2028, promises “MASS strikes,” a “Huge historic 2028 turnout for our candidate,” and plans for the “biggest tentpole of masses against Trump + his billionaires.” Phase 3 is proposed for 2029 to 2031. Phase 4, described as beginning in 2032 and beyond and titled “The New System,” even includes the line “Happiness (maybe).”
Specific tactics are sketched as well. Slides suggest pressuring corporations by disrupting business relationships, including a recommendation of “booking and cancelling reservations at Hilton Hotels.” Students are urged to push universities to sever ties with companies labeled as “ICE enablers like Hilton” to “topple the corporate pillar.” Those campus moves are framed as part of a broader national strategy to build pressure from local institutions to federal-level change.
If organizers follow this playbook, campuses could become sustained hubs of political action. That shift would make universities operational centers rather than episodic protest sites.
The materials also map out three possible political futures. One, called a “full dictatorship,” envisions Trump allegedly “steal[ing]” future elections, using the military to suppress opposition, and ending free speech. A second, termed a “seesaw democracy,” predicts Democrats might win but be stymied by institutional limits, producing shifting public opinion and eventual returns of “authoritarians.” The third, described as the preferred outcome in the slides, calls for “mass noncooperation and huge electoral turnout” to remove Trump and his allies, followed by broad public support to dismantle the current political system and enact sweeping economic and social reforms.
Rhyen Staley, director of research at Defending Education, commented in a statement to US News Hub Misryoum that coordinated plans to press economic and social pressure on universities to achieve a socialist “democracy” should raise concerns. “Our academic institutions should be places of higher learning, discovery, and robust debate around ideas and policies, not weaponized or punished to achieve a ‘structural change’ to the political foundations of this country,” Staley said. The slides’ mix of grassroots mobilization and institutional targeting underscores how organizers are blending street tactics with insider leverage; this approach could deepen political polarization even as it aims to reshape long-standing power structures into something akin to systemic upheaval.
The group’s ties to broader left-wing organizing — including anti-ICE protests and alleged links to Antifa — prompted scrutiny from the House Judiciary Committee chairman in November, a development reported by US News Hub Misryoum. Far-left groups associated with a call for nationwide action have pushed for a strike on May 1. At a No Kings Rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, in late March, Ezra Levin, the co-founder of Indivisible and a key organizer of
the event, urged preparation for economic disruption and invoked the traditional May Day call to action. “I want everyone here to put this on their calendar… It is a tactical goal, an escalation… It is an economic show of force, inspired by Minnesota’s own day of truth and action,” Levin told the crowd. He added, “On May 1, on May Day, we are saying, ‘No business as usual.’ No work, no school, no shopping. We’re
going to show up and say, ‘We’re putting workers over billionaires and kings.’”
US News Hub Misryoum reached out to the Sunrise Movement for comment. The materials, the public rhetoric around May Day, and the organizational emphasis on building toward a political revolution suggest an organizing strategy that aims to convert episodic protests into sustained pressure campaigns. Observers should watch whether those tactics scale as intended or provoke legal and political pushback that alters the group’s trajectory and public reception, creating a dynamic of political upheaval rather than straightforward policy wins.
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at US News Hub Misryoum. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@USNewsHubMisryoum.com.