Battling Fires And Disinfo In California, Fighting The Unacceptable 4, Trump Is Already Raising Prices Here And Around The World

President Biden Addresses The Nation Wednesday Night

Good morning all. A reminder that on Friday our next President officially became a criminal and a felon.

Hearings on his nominees start tomorrow. I hope everyone here will call their Senators and House Members today to insist they work to block Trump’s Unacceptable 4 - Gabbard, Hegseth, Kennedy and Patel. You don’t need a long script. Simply say that all 4 are unqualified and extremists. The incoming President erred in all 4 cases and we must find better nominees. At least 100,000 people are going to read this post today and I hope a large percentage makes these calls. We must make our voices heard.

Today Joe Biden will travel to the State Department and give a major address reviewing his foreign policy achievements. On Wednesday he gives a live televised farewell address to the nation at 8pm ET.

Friday’s strong jobs report reminded us of what a strong economy Trump is inheriting from President Biden, and how successful Trump and Republicans were in convincing people otherwise last year. Here are three good new articles on why this strong economy is a very big political problem for Trump - Rob Shapiro in Washington Monthly, Paul Krugman in his new Substack, and Howard Schneider in Reuters.

On Friday the International Monetary Fund warned that Trump’s banana-nuts economic agenda is already driving up long-term interest rates - and thus prices on many things - here and around the world. From The Financial Times

The IMF has warned that jitters surrounding Donald Trump’s threat to impose trade tariffs were driving up longer-term borrowing costs and would add to pressures facing the global economy in 2025. Speaking to reporters in Washington on Friday, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said global economic policy faced “quite a lot of uncertainty” in 2025, particularly around the trade policy of the world’s largest economy. “That uncertainty is actually expressed globally through higher long-term interest rates,” Georgieva said

Yesterday the candidates for the various DNC offices, including Chair, gathered for a live streamed forum. It began with lesser offices and finished with the Chair forum at the end. You can watch whatever part of it interests you, below.

There are two more DNC candidate forums this week:

Tues, 8pm ET - Chorus Forum. Chorus is proud to host a first-of-its-kind, creator-led forum for the Democratic Party Chair candidates. RSVP here.

Hosted by online personalities Brian Tyler Cohen, Elizabeth Booker Houston, Leigh McGowan (Politics Girl), Adam Mockler, and Zackory Kirk, the Chorus DNC Chair Forum will be a conversation that bypasses traditional media gatekeepers, allowing you to hear directly from the candidates about their plans to revitalize the Democratic Party, achieve electoral victories, and advocate for issues that improve the lives of all Americans.

Thurs, 130pm ET - DNC and Politico Officer’s Forum, Detroit, Michigan. On Thursday, January 16, the DNC and POLITICO will co-host an in-person candidate forum for DNC officer elections in Detroit, Michigan focused on the Midwest region. The forum will be moderated by POLITICO journalists Eugene Daniels, Dasha Burns, Jonathan Martin, Elena Schneider, and Holly Otterbein.

The forum will begin at 1:30 pm ET and feature candidates for Chair, Vice Chair, Vice Chair of Civic Engagement and Voter Participation, Secretary, Treasurer, and National Finance Chair. The forum will also be livestreamed on the DNC’s YouTube Channel, on POLITICO.com, and on POLITICO’s YouTube Channel.

Catch 3 key Hopium contributions to the “what happened, what comes next” discussion in our family now:

• My new video and post - Raising Our Game, Building The Next Thing, Going 24/7/365

• A recent post that talks about ways of modernizing the DNC - Dem Party and Electeds - Getting Louder and Going 24/7/365

• Our 9 interviews with elected officials, party and thought leaders including Ben Wikler, Ken Martin, Ruben Gallego and Abigail Spanberger

Catherine Rampell in The Washington Post and Greg Sargent in The New Republic both do a good job at explaining the very real problems with the “Laken Riley Act” immigration bill moving through Congress. Democrats would be wise to use their leverage to make significant improvements in the bill before providing the 60 votes needed for Senate passage.

Los Angeles. Tragedy. Heartbreak. Devastation. Resilience. Love……

One thing we’ve learned from the train derailment and toxic spill in East Palestine, the fall storms in North Carolina and now these fires in Southern California is that our leaders, or perhaps only Democratic leaders, now have to not just manage devastating disasters and begin rebuilding but also manage a tornado of dis/misinformation from the Trump/Musk, the right and foreign governments. Governor Newsom is working diligently not just to fight the fires now but also to fight the information war. He’s aggressively putting out videos and information across all social media channels and has launched a site to dubunk the lies. I have been regularly amplifying his posts on Bluesky. I hope you will join me in working to put out good information in the coming days however you can, and help the people of California to focus on tackling the fires and beginning a long and painful process of recovery.

Here’s one of those updates from Governor Newsom, released yesterday:

I will be speaking about the current political moment to the California based group, Commit To Democracy, this Wednesday, January 15th at 5pm ET/2pm PT. Register here - all are welcome. I will also be traveling to Los Angeles in two weeks to speak at a major conference on US politics at USC. My panel begins at 215pm PT on Thursday, January 30th. The event is open to the public (come join us!) and it can also be watched live. Learn more here.

A few more things:

• The most powerful person in Washington this week is Jayden Daniels, the incredible quarterback of the Washington Commanders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• The next Hopium live paid subscriber get together will be Wednesday, January 22nd at 7pm ET.

• Jen Rubin has left the Washington Post and started a new venture, The Contrarian. More innovation in the pro-democracy media space!!!!!!!!!!

• We’ve endorsed Abigail Spanberger for Governor of Virginia. Watch my recent interview with her, learn more, volunteer and consider donating to her campaign. Our goal is to raise $100,000 for her by March 31st. We’ve already raised $15,000 - thank you all!

• For those coming up for renewal for your paid Hopium subscription please make sure your payment info is current. Paid subscribers keep this place going and the Hopium flowing!

• Follow me on Bluesky.

Keep working hard all. We have a lot of work to do - Simon