Morning all. Before we get to my video and discussion from last night note that the dangerous extremist Robert Kennedy is testifying this morning in the Senate.
Everyone reading this should call their Senators immediately and demand that Kennedy be removed from office. We need be very, very loud here my friends.
To prep for the hearing watch my new interview with Senator Angela Alsobrooks of the Free State of Maryland who is leading the charge against Kennedy and the Trump regime’s multi-pronged and dangerous assault on science, higher education and our public health. It is a timely and informative interview, and will help you get ready for the big hearing today.
To understand how far Kennedy is operating outside both science and public opinion got some data for you.
Americans believe the COVID vaccine is safe, 60%-33% (Economist/YouGov)
80% of Americans support school vaccine mandates.
Kennedy is increasingly unpopular. This was 40%-40% a few months ago.
Here’s our candidate for Governor in Florida, David Jolly, responding to the outrageous decision by the DeSantis Administration to drop vaccine requirements for public schools. Yes, we need to fight:
According to The Washington Post 82% of Floridians believe in vaccine mandates for polio and measles.
We should acknowledge that a federal judge ruled in Harvard’s favor yesterday in their courageous lawsuit against the Trump regime. It was an important win in our fight for science, higher education and public health. From The NYT:
Harvard University won a crucial legal victory in its clash with the Trump administration on Wednesday, when a federal judge said that the government had broken the law by freezing billions of dollars in research funds in the name of stamping out antisemitism.
The ruling may not be the final word on the matter, but the decision by Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court in Boston was an interim rebuff of the Trump administration’s campaign to remake elite higher education by force.
Harvard’s case centered on its research funding, and the university contended that the administration had compromised its First Amendment and due process rights when it sought to strip it away. The judge’s decision could give Harvard new leverage in its settlement talks with the White House.
Although the ruling was a milestone for Harvard, the only university to sue over the administration’s targeted assault on its research funding, President Trump had vowed to appeal any decision that went against him. His administration has spent months seeking to pressure Harvard in ways beyond research money, and while Judge Burroughs’s ruling may not put an end to that campaign, her opinion was a bracing rebuke.
“We must fight against antisemitism, but we equally need to protect our rights, including our right to free speech, and neither goal should nor needs to be sacrificed on the altar of the other,” Judge Burroughs wrote in an 84-page ruling. “Harvard is currently, even if belatedly, taking steps it needs to take to combat antisemitism and seems willing to do even more if need be.”
She added, “Now it is the job of the courts to similarly step up, to act to safeguard academic freedom and freedom of speech as required by the Constitution, and to ensure that important research is not improperly subjected to arbitrary and procedurally infirm grant terminations, even if doing so risks the wrath of a government committed to its agenda no matter the cost.”
Now, make your calls everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We need to get rid of this dangerous extremist as we got rid of Elon Musk.
Winning The Fall (my new video, above) - So I got together with our plucky, proud and patriotic paid subscribers last night, and offered my take on where we are now in the battle against Trump and for democracy, freedoms and our future. Watch the video when you can and please share it with others you think might be interested.
A few toplines from my talk……
1 - Trump remains unpopular, his powers are ebbing and our opposition is growing more ambitious, aggressive - While he continues to do enormous harm to the country I believe Trump is in meaningful physical, cognitive and political decline, and a much weaker political figure today. After almost 8 months of his agenda of sabotage, plunder and betrayal, it is becoming harder and harder to for any responsible person to dismiss the clear harm he is doing to America; his descent into authoritarianism; or his decline. Spurred by the leadership of Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker and the Texas Dems, and this growing understanding of the dangerous nature of his regime, our movement is finding a higher gear and is perhaps entering a new phase.
We are seeing more ambitious efforts at coordination - Govs, AGs, mayors, regional health and vaccine alliances, former CDC directors. It’s encouraging and necessary.
We are seeing far more aggressive and ambitious rulings from federal judges. In the past few days we’ve seen rulings against Trump’s tariffs, his violation of the Posse Comitatus act, his illegal use of the Alien Enemies Act, against their extraordinary assault on Harvard and this weekend a judge stopped planes from taking hundreds of children from the US to Guatemala in the middle of the night. In many cases the language and the actions of the judges were far more aggressive than we’ve seen, as if they have had it this historic assault on the rule of law here in America. And had it they have. NBC News just published an astonishing and encouraging story - In rare interviews, federal judges criticize Supreme Court's handling of Trump cases. It begins:
WASHINGTON — Federal judges are frustrated with the Supreme Court for increasingly overturning lower court rulings involving the Trump administration with little or no explanation, with some worried the practice is undermining the judiciary at a sensitive time.
Some judges believe the Supreme Court, and in particular Chief Justice John Roberts, could be doing more to defend the integrity of their work as President Donald Trump and his allies harshly criticize those who rule against him and as violent threats against judges are on the rise.
In rare interviews with NBC News, a dozen federal judges — appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents, including Trump, and serving around the country — pointed to a pattern they say has recently emerged:
Lower court judges are handed contentious cases involving the Trump administration. They painstakingly research the law to reach their rulings. When they go against Trump, administration officials and allies criticize the judges in harsh terms. The government appeals to the Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority.
And then the Supreme Court, in emergency rulings, swiftly rejects the judges’ decisions with little to no explanation.
Emergency rulings used to be rare. But their number has dramatically increased in recent years.
Ten of the 12 judges who spoke to NBC News said the Supreme Court should better explain those rulings, noting that the terse decisions leave lower court judges with little guidance for how to proceed. But they also have a new and concerning effect, the judges said, validating the Trump administration’s criticisms. A short rebuttal from the Supreme Court, they argue, makes it seem like they did shoddy work and are biased against Trump.
“It is inexcusable,” a judge said of the Supreme Court justices. “They don’t have our backs.”
All 12 judges spoke on condition that they not be identifiable, some because it is considered unwise to publicly criticize the justices who ultimately decide whether to uphold their rulings and others because of the risk of threats.
On Monday, a prominent and widely respected American investor, Ray Dalio, gave a brave interview to the Financial Times where he warned of our descent into authoritarianism and the dangers of Trump’s economic policies. This is remarkable stuff:
Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio has warned Donald Trump’s America is drifting into 1930s-style autocratic politics — and said other investors are too scared of the president to speak up.
The Bridgewater Associates founder told the Financial Times that “gaps in wealth”, “gaps in values” and a collapse in trust were driving “more extreme” policies in the US. “I think that what is happening now politically and socially is analogous to what happened around the world in the 1930-40 period,” Dalio said.
State intervention in the private sector, such as Trump’s decision to take a 10 per cent stake in chipmaker Intel, was the sort of “strong autocratic leadership that sprang out of the desire to take control of the financial and economic situation”, Dalio said.
His comments to the FT mark a rare criticism of Trump by a prominent financial figure, despite mounting private alarm at the president’s policies among some Wall Street investors. “I am just describing the cause and effect relationships that are driving what is happening,” he said. “And by the way, during such times most people are silent because they are afraid of retaliation
Look at this screaming headline:
We’ve called this process of more and more people speaking out and fighting growing the circle of defiance. Courage can become contagious. And it is why we have to build on his weakness, and this sense that it is time now to speak out, to organize more effectively, to find a higher gear, to win the fall and send a clear signal to America and the world that the tide has begun to turn against Trump and his rancid regime.
2 - Some of the data we discussed…..
Latest Economist/YouGov breakout of what was the 2024 Trump coalition:
Trump continues to lose every argument that matters to voters. The country does not support the DC occupation, as it did not support the LA occupation.
He is not at 50% on any issue that matters. This is weakness, not strength.
3 - I believe Trump knows his powers are ebbing and is growing desperate and scared. We should read his efforts to steal Congressional seats, rebrand the big ugly bill, undermine the integrity of next year’s elections all as signs that they know the country has turned against them, nothing they’ve done in the past 3 months has been able to get his polling numbers up and if the 2026 election were held today they would lose. They see our success in the special and local elections and in our recruiting top tier recruits, and know what it means when retirements begin to mount. His refusal to take a vacation this August and the wild escalation we saw - while dangerous - was another manic, desperate and ultimately unsuccessful effort to somehow break the current negative dynamic for him and the Rs.
They are doing all this not because they believe there will not be elections next year. They are doing it because they believe there will be elections next year and they will lose.
And finally, there is the Trump-Epstein affair. I do believe he’s now being haunted by the ghosts of his abusive and criminal past, and that he is acting as if this whole affair is dangerous for him. Inside, after reading the Epstein files, they must know the truth of what he did which is why they are so clumsily, recklessly and ineffectively trying to make it all go away. He has started calling the scandal a “hoax” which in Trumpspeak is an admission of guilt.
Yesterday new and important players entered the scene - the Epstein survivors. The press conference was emotional, powerful, persuasive. Listen to this clip of Lisa Phillips. Time may be up for Trump and many others:
I don’t know where all this goes but we should be heartened by our progress, by the increasing boldness of our opposition, the escalating desperation and madness he is exhibiting and re-commit ourselves to doing everything we can to win the fall, together.
Ways You Can Make A Difference This Week
Our “Must Win/Everyone In” Races
Mikie Sherrill NJ Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $62k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Rep. Sherrill
Abigail Spanberger VA Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $179k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Abigail Spanberger
Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $31,000 raised- Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interviews with Gov. Cooper and NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton.
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $56k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer
Hopium House 7 (2026) - $250,000 goal, $191k raised - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer | Watch My Interviews With Our Intrepid Incumbents
Our updated fundraising goals are now for the end of the year, December 31st, except for the 2025 races, which are now for Election Day, 2025.
Our Recommended Actions - We are prioritizing two actions today. You can get our full list of recommended actions here. Let’s get to it:
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 our emerging four part agenda. Demand that your reps work to
Roll back Trump’s terrible and 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, and alienating governments and people throughout the world
Block the expansion of ICE and the use of the military on our streets including DC
End Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; stop the cuts to the ACA and Medicaid; demand the removal of extremist Robert Kennedy from HHS - yes we need to FIRE HIM
Stand with Ukraine and block Trump’s ongoing efforts to sell out the US
2 - Bring “Resolutions Of Condemnation” To Your Community - Inspired by the tactics of our Founders learn about how Hopium members are advancing “Resolutions of Condemnation” in their communities across the country and consider bringing this initiative to your state, country or city/town. Be sure to check out our new discussion with Deborah Potter and Rachel Poliner who have passed resolutions in New Mexico and Boston, and offer advice on how to get a resolution passed in your own community.
Remarkably, members of this community are now advancing 75 (!!!!) resolutions projects in 23 states +DC. Can we get to all 50 states by the fall election?
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! Been impressive to see how many of you remain involved in local, in person protests of all kinds in your communities. Keep it up!!!
As we get ready for what is going to be a very intense fall of politics let’s take inspiration from those famous words from Robert Frost that “the best way out is always through.”
Means we just have to put our heads down and do the work everyone! - Simon
