After His Electoral and Epstein Humiliations, Trump Takes Putin's Side In Ukraine, Threatens To Hang Democrats In Congress, Preps For War With Venezuela

As he grows weaker and his many manifest failures impossible to ignore, our malevolent and desperate leader is becoming more dangerous

Morning all. This post on Bluesky says it all:

Here’s how the NYT described Trump’s calls for the hanging of Democratic lawmakers:

President Trump accused a group of Democratic lawmakers of sedition in an outburst on social media Thursday morning and said their behavior was “punishable by death.”

Their crime? Recording a video that reminded members of the military that they are not supposed to obey illegal orders.

“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Mr. Trump wrote in one post. He shared a different post, written by another person, that said: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”

The video that enraged the president had been put out online two days ago by six Democratic lawmakers, all of whom had served in either the military or intelligence community themselves.

Here’s the video from Senators Kelly and Slotkin, and House Members Crow, Deluzio, Goodlander and Houlihan, that reminded service members that it was their duty to refuse to follow illegal orders:

We are also all less safe for Trump has formally sided with Russia against Ukraine and our former European allies. Watch this 4 minute video from Timothy Snyder for a terrific explanation of what our traitorous leader is attempting to do.

Stories of Trump’s weakening are now everywhere in our discourse. Some examples:

• Congressional Republicans Begin To Look Beyond Trump - NYT front page

• Behind the Curtain: Republicans see dire 2026 warning signs in these 5 polls - Axios

• Donald Trump’s No-Good November - Washington Post

• In Culture War Backlash, Democrats Sweep School Boards - Politico

• Donald Trump Is A Lame Duck Now - New Republic

• Democrats Expand Lead In US House Polls This Week - Strength In Numbers

As I wrote yesterday I think Republicans, and the Capital, are waking up to the gravity of the damage Trump has done and continues to do the country, his unprecedented corruption and venality, and to his extraordinary unpopularity and political decline. For Republicans keep seeing headlines like this:

And as Rep. Robert Garcia explained to us yesterday the Epstein files are going to come out, one way or another, and this already devastating Trumpian scandal is almost certainly going to get much, much worse for Republicans. This morning, Rep. Garcia, the Ranking Member Of The House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to the Attorney General reminding her that the DOJ was legally obligated to turn over all the Epstein files and end their rancid cover up. From his release:

Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to emphasize to Attorney General Bondi that the subpoena from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform requires the full, unredacted Epstein files to be turned over to the Committee, including any classified materials and information tied to ongoing investigations, while still protecting the identities of survivors and potential victims. The letter comes following a statement by Donald Trump that “the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to,” and amid concerns that President Trump will exploit a provision of the recently-passed Epstein Files Transparency Act, which allows the DOJ to withhold information relevant to ongoing investigations. After Donald Trump failed to defeat the bill, he launched politically motivated investigations of political opponents.

“Despite signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, it’s crystal clear that Donald Trump and Pam Bondi may use language in the law to slow or stop release of the files by launching a new bogus Epstein investigation. The Oversight Committee subpoena does not allow the Administration to hold back the Epstein files for any reason. Oversight Democrats will continue to apply pressure and make it clear there is no justification for any cover up,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.

Republicans are waking up to how bad this really all is; how it is likely to get worse, much more worse; and how hard - if not impossible - it will be to run with Trump in 2026. For Trump is the worst President in our history. He has done enormous harm to the country. He is cartoonishly corrupt and lawless. The Epstein scandal is shaping up to be the most consequential in our history. He tore down the East Wing of the White House to build himself a gilded ballroom for fuck’s sake. I am sure talk of jettisoning him will grow. But as the stories of his selling out of Ukraine, his threats to hang lawmakers, and illegally invade another country also tell us he is not just a lame duck, a failure, and a fuck up, he is also desperate and dangerous, an out of control sundowning madman of the world’s most powerful nation.

Democrats now must force a big conversation about reining him in; about Congress asserting itself now far more aggressively to not just fix what he’s broken but to limit future damage; about forcing out the fools and extremists like Hegseth and Kennedy. We are stronger now. We have more power. And we must be more ambitious with it now for as bad as Trump has been - and he has been very, very bad - what he is on the cusp of doing, in this moment of profound 427 to 1 repudiation and undeniable failure, is some of the most dangerous things he has ever contemplated. And we must become more ambitious and imaginative now in finding ways to stop him.

Yes, We Have A Lot Of Work To Do, Everyone. Let’s Get To It……

In a new essay I talk about how one of the ways we win the 2026 midterms is by providing early support to our candidates and parties to allow them to staff up now, be loud now, define the terms of the debate now, before the inevitable onslaught on AI slop, Russian disinfo, and Trumpian lies funded through bribes and corruption wash across the land. The midterms could be won or lost in these next few months - not in the fall of 2026 - and we need be fighting now with everything we got.

Winning The Midterms - Support Our 2026 Candidates

• Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $53k raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Gov. Cooper

• Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $96k raised, $250,000 goal, - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my inspiring interview with Senator Ossoff

• Hopium Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $6,500 raised, $50,000 goal - Donate to all four endorsed House challengers with one click | Learn More | Watch our new interviews with Christina Bohannan (IA-01) and Jo Mendoza (AZ-06)

• Hopium House 7 - Our Top House Incumbents Running For Re-election (2026) - $243k raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer | Watch My Interviews With Our Intrepid Incumbents | Keeping these newly elected Members in Congress is the first step in winning the House in 2026

Expanding The Senate and Electoral College Maps (2026-2032)

• Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $198,000 raised, $250,000 goal - Join our new campaign to expand our map by investing in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas | Donate to all five state parties in a single contribution | Watch my interviews with Alaska Chair Eric Croft, Florida Chair Nikki Fried, Iowa Chair Rita Hart and Texas Chair Kendall Scudder | Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $10,000 to each of our five state parties!

• North Carolina and Ohio - Learn more about our 2026 opportunities in Ohio in this conversation with David Pepper, and in North Carolina in this new interview Anderson Clayton

Defending America, Winning The Big Arguments With Trump - We have two recommended actions today:

1 - Call Your Senators and Member Of The House And Demand They Act Upon Our Four-Part Agenda - We need to be loud people, very, very loud and make the case for our four part agenda:

1. Roll back Trump’s terrible, illegal tariffs that are re-igniting inflation, driving up prices, shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to working people, hurting small businesses and farmers, reviving tyrannical “taxation without representation,” and alienating governments and people throughout the world

2. Defend our democracy, rule of law, and our liberties by blocking the expansion of ICE, restoring due process for immigrants across the country, vigorously defending the 1st Amendment, warring against his outrageous targeting of his domestic political opponents, and ending the use of the military on our streets and the unlawful occupation of our cities

3. Fight Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; reverse - not delay - the cuts to the ACA and Medicaid; support and co-sponsor Rep. Haley Stevens’ effort to Impeach and remove Robert Kennedy

4. Stand with Ukraine and our European allies, and far more forcefully challenge Trump’s traitorous efforts to sell out the US and the West to Russia and China

2 - Celebrate America, Our Constitution, Our 250th Birthday By Bringing Our Resolutions Project To Your Community - Next year, on July 4th, America celebrates it’s 250th birthday. We need to make this holiday, a celebration of our Declaration Of Independence from a mad king, our day, and not allow it to become his.

One way we can do this is by bringing our Resolutions Project to your community or state. Imagine if by July 4th of next year a large number of towns, counties and states had passed formal resolutions, in the spirit of our Declaration of Independence, defending our Constitution and condemning the “injuries,” “abuses,” and “usurpations” of our mad king. For as our Founders wrote in the Declaration:

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

So far Hopium members have introduced or passed resolutions in 85 communities in 23 states. In the coming days we will be convening to discuss how to bring this campaign to more places and start planning to Own The Fourth next year.

Finally, please self-report your activities to our daily paid subscriber chat. These reports help inspire all of us to do more and fight harder!

Keep working hard all, and remember Hopium is hope with a plan. We don’t just hope tomorrow will be better than today.

We do the work to make it so.

- Simon