Good morning everyone. It’s the first good morning, truly good morning, we’ve had in many, many months.
Let’s start with a powerful moment from Susan Crawford’s raucous victory speech last night:
Susan Crawford and all of us beat Trump, Musk and their madness, corruption and selling out of America 55%-45% last night. We dramatically overperformed in the two Florida House races as we’ve been doing in special elections across the country this year. Senator Cory Booker lifted us up and showed the American people and the people of the world that there are leaders here still fighting - powerfully, courageously, patriotically - for this great democracy. The Speaker was rolled by his own Members yesterday, losing 9 of them on a critical vote to advance their legislative package, and then spitefully adjourned the House for the week. In recent days we’ve seen Republican Senators mount meaningful challenges to Trump on tariffs, Russia, Signalgate and his ongoing illegal, unconstitutional attack on the government of the United States. Trump’s job approval rating has taken a rapid nosedive. Consumer confidence has plummeted to some of the lowest levels in the past 45 years. With new revisions The Atlanta Fed’s GDP estimate for the 1st quarter has now fallen almost 8 points in the last two months, making Trump without questions one of the greatest fuck-ups in American history.
As we say here little cracks can become big cracks, little wins can become big ones and courage can become contagious. As I discussed with the great Stuart Stevens last night on his Lincoln Square Strategy Session podcast (above, here), in politics you can never know when the damn will break, a deal will get done, a bill will pass or an ad or message will break through. You just have to keep at it, relentlessly, until it does. I feel like something has shifted in our politics in the past few weeks. Trump’s invincibility, his “strong man” persona, has been pierced. More are seeing that he isn’t wearing any clothes, more are in their own mind and understanding pulling the curtain back on the Wizard. The reason Trump has begun floating a third term is that he is feeling his influence wane, and he doesn’t want to be a struggling leader who is both losing his grip on Washington AND a lame duck. Trump is a much weaker leader today than he was a few weeks ago.
Pulling the Stefanik nomination last week is a sign of weakness. Having the Speaker lose the vote on his leg package yesterday is a sign of weakness. Losing in Wisconsin by 10 points on an all-in race is a sign of weakness. Having Republican Senators now far more aggressively challenge Trump is a sign of weakness. Dems running 10-15 points above 2024 in special election after special election is a sign of weakness. Watching Putin throw Trump around like a ragdoll in their “peace negotiations” is a sign of extraordinary, potentially world-altering weakness. Getting their ass kicked in court again and again again is a sign of weakness. Tesla’s stock losing half its value is a sign of weakness. Attacking law firms so they will not sue or challenge you is a sign of weakness. The stock market having its worst run in years is a sign of weakness. Plummeting poll numbers is a sign of weakness. Appointing unqualified buffoons to run our government is a sign of weakness. Disappearing child development graduate students into the ICE gulag is a sign of weakness. This is a sign of weakness:
Donald Trump is a weak man, not a strong man. And today he is also a loser, not a winner.
We beat and outperformed Trump and MAGA in 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and downballot races in 2024. We have stared down Trump and his rancid politics again and again and triumphied. We stumbled in 2024. But now as he stumbles, fucks up, wildly overreaches and betrays America we are standing back up, finding a higher gear, reaching deep into the greatness and goodness of this exceptional country and summoning the courage to once again defeat his horrible man and his anything-but-America-first politics.
We can do this people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you haven’t watched Cory Booker’s interview with Rachel Maddow last night do it now. Here’s the note he sent out last night to all of us:
I may be tired and a little hoarse, but as I said again and again, this is a moment where we cannot afford to be silent. We must speak up.
I am filled with hope. My team just told me that tens of thousands of you have voiced your support for my remarks on the Senate floor.
It will be a while before I can fully get through all your messages and powerful stories, but what’s clear to me tonight is this is just the beginning. Americans across this country, no matter their title or party, are ready to be heard.
I believe that history will show we rose to meet this moment.
It will show we did not let the chaos and division go unanswered.
It will show that when our president chose to spread lies and sow fear, we chose to come together, to work together, and to rise together.
With love and gratitude,
Cory
We will be talking about my good friend Cory Booker’s historic speech in the coming days but for those who want to support his re-election I’ve set up a special Hopium ActBlue page to support this wonderful patriot.
Hopium Paid Subscriber Gathering Tonight at 7pm ET - Register here. Going to be a good one tonight all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Recommended Hopium Actions and Campaigns - Let’s get to work everyone. We have a country to save and a future to reclaim!
3 ongoing actions and 4 campaigns/party committees today:
1 - Fight The Trump-Musk Attack On Our Government, Our Privacy And Our Constitutional Order - Encourage your Senators and Representatives to follow Senator Booker’s lead and let Facts be be submitted to a candid world in a joint Senate-House Letter to America; to hold their own hearings; to file criminal referrals for Musk and his malicious posse to DOJ/FBI and amicus briefs in the court cases regarding the usurpation of their Constitutional authorities or file suits of their own (House Dems began doing this several weeks ago). Encourage them to hold a daily morning press conference to more aggressively challenge Musk’s ransacking of the USG that is making America less prosperous, less healthy, less safe and far less respected in the world.
2 - Loudly Protest Trump’s Embrace of Russia and Abandonment of NATO and Europe - Let your electeds know you are outraged by traitorous Trump’s selling out of Zelenskyy, abandonment of Europe and embrace of Putin; and that we cannot accept this level of appeasement of someone who is a clear enemy of America and the West, and certainly not an ally. Demand that Trump not let his Saudi meeting w/Putin become our Munich; demand that he not become our Neville Chamberlain; demand that we rejoin our European and NATO allies in support of Zelenskyy and democracy here and everywhere. The country is not with Trump’s embrace of Putin and we must be very loud, very, very loud now. See my new essay on the need to support our allies and not surrender to Putin, and my new interview with Rep. Adam Smith, the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, one of the most important foreign policy voices in our party.
3 - Our Work In The States, The Spring Offensive - I am going to rework this section as so much has happened since we called on our community members to organize in the 17 most vulnerable Republican House seats. Rallies and protests have exploded across the country. The DNC/House Dems/State Parties have kicked off People’s Town Halls in all 50 states. I have come to believe that we should be leaning on our state and local electeds to pursue these organized “condemnations” of the Trump regime and their betrayal of America. Let’s start talking now about what we are going to do on July 4th, a day with all of a sudden much more importance.
Paid subscribers should self-report their actions today in our daily chat. So inspired by how hard so many of you are working. I want to make a special plea to all Hopium readers in states with Republican Senators - please make your calls, every day. Even 50 to 100 people calling every day in every red state can make a difference. We have hundreds of Hopium subscribers in every state in the country and it’s critical that we all do our part now.
Next, for those wanting to do more traditional political/campaign work we have four Hopium-backed efforts we're rallying behind:
Help Abigail Spanberger Win Virginia - Virginia will be one of the big battlegrounds of the November, 2025 elections and we have a great candidate for Governor, Abigail Spanberger. Watch my interview with Abigail, donate, volunteer, and learn more here. Given how many federal employees live in Virginia, this race is also now on the front lines of the Trump/Musk assault on the federal government.
We’ve raised more than $72,000 so far towards our March 31st goal of $100,000 - thank you all. Let’s keep working it for Abigail!
Support The Hopium House 7 - We’ve begun our work to help flip the House next year by supporting and shoring up the 7 newly-elected battleground House Dems we helped elect last year. Catch our interviews with Derek Tran and Janelle Bynum and give to all 7 through a single donation on our new ActBlue page. Learn more about this important effort here.
We’ve already raised over $54,000 towards our $50,000 March 31st goal - thank you all!
Get Anderson Clayton And The NC Dems Fight The GOP’s Attempt To Steal A Supreme Court Seat - Last week we began a campaign to raise $50,000 for Anderson Clayton and the NC Dems. These funds will help the NC Dems get off to a great start in 2025 and help cover the costs of their fight to prevent the Republicans from stealing a Supreme Court seat we won together in 2024. Watch my new interview with Chair Clayton from last week to get an update on the fight over the Supreme Court seat and her plans to win elections and counter Trump this year.
We’ve raised $29,000 so far - thank you all!
Help Get Ken Martin Off To A Strong Start - In this time of extraordinary challenge we need a strong DNC. Two weeks ago we set a goal of raising $100,000 by March 31st for our new Chair. Incredibly, over 1,400 of you have donated over $105,000 so far. Watch my interview with Ken about what he wants to do with the DNC, and chip in whatever you can to help Ken and the new exciting team at the DNC get off to a strong start!
Keep working hard all. So incredibly proud to be in this fight with all of you. Here at Hopium we take and celebrate the wins when they come and today we have a lot to celebrate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!- Simon
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