The Nazi regime is hard at work on voter suppression as Nazi’s Hitler talks about a third term There is no need to stop future elections just rig them so voter ballots are disqualified or disenfranchise existing voters through state vigilante voter challenges https://bit.ly/4hVFyeC
The US Nazi leader just announced by an executive order(EO) that mirrors the SAVE act that the Nazis are currently pushing through the House The SAVE ACT will require people who register or re-register to vote (31m do that every year….for various reasons change address/change county, change name with marriage) that they prove they are citizens in order to vote This can be done in 2 ways: 1) proof of birth either by original birth certificate(who has that?) or 2 passport (12% have passports and are usually white and wealthy) What about women who have different last names now? Try to register if you do not have your original birth certificate because marriage licenses, military ID’s will not count Estimates for 2026: 7million voters will be disqualified or not counted
The result of the SAVE ACT and Hitler’s EO is : Massive drain and purge of the voter rolls
What to do?? 1 Call your congressperson to vote against the SAVE ACT 202 224 3121
2 Check voter registration 80d ahead of election and don’t use a provisional ballot…nearly 50% don’t get counted
3 Most of the voter suppression laws on the books are to disqualify or disenfranchise Black voters, women voters, Hispanic voters ….good old fashioned Jim Crow 2.0….talk to your minority voting friends about the dangers of the Nazis coming after their votes
4 Protest the USPS being brought under the Commerce Dept because this is the step to privatize and then control mail in voting(if this happens 1 in 7 votes will be lost….MIT doubles that to 1 in 4)
I am loving the 5 calls app. I do it with my coffee in the mornings. Brilliant and easy. (I'm also getting more comfortable over time actually talking to Congresspeople when I get the staffers live - they are super nice and just there to record the position, not evaluate my speechifying)
Please address the insurrection Act and Trump's intension to declare 📜 it and deploy military 🪖 against Americans, destroying all our freedoms (what's left) and our democracy.
Simon addressed that during our Zoom call for Paid Subscribers today. You can hear it when posted tomorrow. Spoiler alert: it is not a current Hopium priority.
Read the last link in Tobias’ newsletter about April 20. I have thought exactly the same thing as this author writes. The more people who realize this is a possibility and was in Project 2035, the more chance we have for it not to happen.
I am in ruby red South Carolina and will start writing and calling. I write emails to tell a story related to whatever I am writing about. Everyone says the stories are powerful. So I write from my own experiences as a Nurse Practitioner working in a rural health clinic in Jasper County, and my daughters struggle with Autism, and how special education, and intervention saved her, ect.
There's no way I can see to register for tonight's subscriber fest with Simon. Under events, when I click on the link to register it takes me to a page where I can't register. What am I missing, besides tonight's call so far?
In your email feed “search for Simon Rosenberg. All his emails should come up. Look for the one where he posts the get together tonight. It’s in the body of the email. Or go to his substack web page and you should find it in a post. I’ll see if I can find it for you.
Thanks, Kate. It wasn't emailed to me until a half hour before go-time and I didn't catch it in time. Thanks for your kind help. I'll see it in his replay.
In 90 days time, Trump will be just that much more demented. He's on the down ramp. He will be even less likely to respond to reason the next time around.
I suppose he might just forget about tariffs, but that seems unlikely.
Thanks Simon. It's so great to see Senator Kaine take a leading role in taking back Congress' power. With Schiff, Raskin, Warren, Sanders, Durbin, et al. now taking charge and kicking over the card table, I am mostly feeing more hope. These are smart dedicated people who must be working on the opposition practically 24/7. One step at a time.
Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive. No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A thread to explain his plan and how we fight back.
2/ This week you will read many confused economists and political pundits who won’t understand how the tariffs make economic sense.
That’s because they don’t. They aren’t designed as economic policy. The tariffs are simply a new, super dangerous political tool.
3/ You see, our founders created a President with limited and checked powers. They specifically put the power of spending and taxation in the hands of the legislature.
Why? Because they watched how kings and despots used spending and taxes to control their subjects.
4/ British kings used taxation to reward loyalty and punish dissent.
Our own revolution was spurred by the King’s use of heavy taxation of the colonies to punish our push for self governance.
The King’s message was simple: stop protesting and I’ll stop taxing.
5/ Trump knows that he can weaken (and maybe destroy) democracy by using spending and taxation in the same way.
He is using access to government funds to bully universities, law firms and state and local governments into loyalty pledges.
6/ Healthy democracies rely on an independent legal profession to maintain the rule of law, independent universities to guard objective truth and provide forums for dissent to authority, and independent state/local government to counterbalance a powerful federal government.
7/ But the private sector also plays a role to protect democracy. Independent industry has power.
The tariffs are Trump’s tool to erode that independence. Now, one by one, every industry or company will need to pledge loyalty to Trump in order to get sanctions relief.
8/ What could Trump demand as part of a quiet loyalty pledge?
Public shows of support from executives for all his economic policy. Contributions to his political efforts. Promises to police employees’ support for his political opposition.
9/ The tariffs are DESIGNED to create economic hardship. Why? So that Trump has a straight face rationale for releasing them, business by business or industry by industry.
As he adjusts or grants relief, it’s a win-win: the economy improves and dissent disappears.
10/ And once Trump has the lawyers, colleges and industry under his thumb, it becomes very hard for the opposition to have any viable space to maneuver.
Trump didn’t invent this strategy. It’s the playbook for democratically elected leaders who want to stay in power forever.
11/ The tariffs aren’t economic policy. They are political weapons. But as long as we see this clearly, we can stop him. Public mobilization is working. Today, a few Republicans joined Democrats to vote against one set of tariffs.
While I agree with most of this the idea that there is not also an economic dimension to that matters to the public is not something I really agree with.
I posted this because it seems to me that many people don’t understand the tactic Trump is using to scare organizations into acquiescence (e.g., Columbia University, large DC law firms, Wall Street). I agree that, in his post, Murphy has not addressed the tariff issue that concerns the public: high inflation. In Item 11 he does say, “The tariffs aren’t economic policy.” (Well, for Trump, maybe they are.) But Murphy goes on to say, “Public mobilization is working”, so I think he understands that growing numbers of voters are figuring out that tariffs threaten their financial wellbeing. And this has some Republicans fearing a backlash from voters.
The Trump tactic as described in a meme Murphy posted on Bluesky, shows images of Trump in a circular loop, saying:
1. I make a stupid & corrupt decision
2. Something really bad happens
3. I convince my followers the problem is now magically solved
Bad timing for yet another vacation for Congress!!!! Senator Kaine referenced a House vote for his new tariff legislation will not happen until AFTER recess sometime in May.
Our nation is in a state of emergency. Deeply disappointing & disheartening. Constituents out there on the front line including myself everyday have not taken a vacation since the Harris-Waltz campaign. Lost for words.
Congress will be working in their Districts during recess, not on vacation. Members will be meeting with their constituents at home, speaking at town halls, and responding to concerns of the people who elected them. It is a great time to demand support for the resolutions of Senator Kaine. Here's more info to help you make that case.
Here are plans of my Rep. Stansbury during the District Work Period (recess). She provides a newsletter and email announcements of ongoing activities.
"Dear Friends—
As you know it’s been a crazy and turbulent several months in Washington DC, and I am so grateful to be home in New Mexico for a couple of weeks for the District Work period. We’ll be holding (five) Town Halls across the state, visiting the Social Security Administration, and continuing our work on behavioral health, housing, tribal and other issues.
While we’re home, we’re trying to maximize our time across our communities and gear up for the next election cycle—which is not only right around the corner—but literally the backstop to preserving our democracy... I look forward to catching up and giving the low down on what’s going on! We’ll talk all things DC, DOGE, saving our democracy, upcoming elections, and what comes next."
I called Senators Ossoff & Warnock and my House Rep. Loudermilk today, as I try to do every day (except weekends!) I loved how many other calls I could hear in the background when I spoke with a member of Ossoff’s staff. I begged them to use their power to push back on tariffs. It’s always hardest to call Loudermilk and I wonder if it could possibly matter because I’m a lifelong Democratic voter. But I’ll keep on calling. Thank you for this interview with Senator Kaine!
Thank you, Senator Kaine. I was so proud to be represented by you when I lived in Virginia. Keep up the great work. I will advocate for your proposal by writing to Mr. Tuberville and my representative and will recommend that my friends on social media contact their senators and representatives.
I am posting this here for all to read and I hope that it reaches Simon as well. It is something that came to my attention that CANNOT be ignored. Please read.
I don't pay for this. I just subscribe so I'm not sure how to do what you're asking... I use the share link from the substack post.. you should be able to see it..
Please do and pls encourage others to read it as well. I am hoping Simon will read and comment. It seems pretty clear that Trump is a Russian operative.
Great Hopium chat tonight, Simon. I have some thoughts for you...
It occurs to me frequently that "Simon probably didn't have being a leader for The Resistance on his bingo card for 2025." I am sincerely impressed at how seriously and wholeheartedly you have taken on this role. It's a very different dimension for your career - championing Democratic candidates and crafting policies is one thing, fighting tooth and nail to save democracy is a task of another order of magnitude! Thank you so much for all the passion, expertise, and patience that you bring to this group.
I love your idea of interviewing more people who have firsthand experience resisting authoritarianism in other countries. That interview with your Mexican journalist friend was one of your most compelling interviews. I agree with you 100% that we need to know more about this fight we are in from eye witnesses.
Ariella Elm posts on Bluesky every single day. She does "Three Wins Today," which features three things that have happened in the US that have been uplifting, positive, and have helped the pro-democracy movement. She also curates "Daily Dems Doing the Work, Making Noise, and Fighting Back," which focuses on the activity of Dem electeds. Each week, she tirelessly gathers info from all over the country and alerts folks when there's an election in their state. She attends Indivisible Zoom meetings and provides summaries of them. She reposts videos from Congressional reps and highlights a different rep every week. The sheer amount of work she does to collate all of this info into an easily digestible format for us is extraordinary. She is the biggest and best booster for the Democratic MOC that I have found. If you could do an interview with her, I think it would help to lay to rest forever the notion that the Dems aren't doing enough.
Self Report. I was inspired by this video to draft a script for calls to Congress tomorrow.
The Honorable Senator Martin Heinrich and Representative Melanie Stansbury,
Please support the resolutions of Senator Tim Kaine to end trump’s unconstitutional tariffs that are an assault to the global economy.
Please do all that you can to demand that the unjust tariffs be stopped and rescinded immediately! We demand NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION! Our Country’s Founders deemed that federal tax policy should never be the actions of one person, and We The People must protect the Separation of Powers guaranteed by our US Constitution.
Thank you for all you are doing for our State of New Mexico and for We The People.
Will your vote count in the upcoming election?
The Nazi regime is hard at work on voter suppression as Nazi’s Hitler talks about a third term There is no need to stop future elections just rig them so voter ballots are disqualified or disenfranchise existing voters through state vigilante voter challenges https://bit.ly/4hVFyeC
The US Nazi leader just announced by an executive order(EO) that mirrors the SAVE act that the Nazis are currently pushing through the House The SAVE ACT will require people who register or re-register to vote (31m do that every year….for various reasons change address/change county, change name with marriage) that they prove they are citizens in order to vote This can be done in 2 ways: 1) proof of birth either by original birth certificate(who has that?) or 2 passport (12% have passports and are usually white and wealthy) What about women who have different last names now? Try to register if you do not have your original birth certificate because marriage licenses, military ID’s will not count Estimates for 2026: 7million voters will be disqualified or not counted
The result of the SAVE ACT and Hitler’s EO is : Massive drain and purge of the voter rolls
What to do?? 1 Call your congressperson to vote against the SAVE ACT 202 224 3121
2 Check voter registration 80d ahead of election and don’t use a provisional ballot…nearly 50% don’t get counted
3 Most of the voter suppression laws on the books are to disqualify or disenfranchise Black voters, women voters, Hispanic voters ….good old fashioned Jim Crow 2.0….talk to your minority voting friends about the dangers of the Nazis coming after their votes
4 Protest the USPS being brought under the Commerce Dept because this is the step to privatize and then control mail in voting(if this happens 1 in 7 votes will be lost….MIT doubles that to 1 in 4)
5 Join the Resistance movement at mobilize.us OR indivisible.org
6 Do NOT vote for Nazis or their policies aka Republicans and closely vet Independents who may be Nazis
That's the big one - thanks for writing about it and your advice. Whatever these people are, they aren't fools. Let's not let them fool us!
Thanks for your comment Just trying to alert us to the rottenness of the regime and corruption to the core There is no good end to this
I am loving the 5 calls app. I do it with my coffee in the mornings. Brilliant and easy. (I'm also getting more comfortable over time actually talking to Congresspeople when I get the staffers live - they are super nice and just there to record the position, not evaluate my speechifying)
https://5calls.org/
Great idea thanks
Never thought I'd agree with Rand Paul about anything! But I did tell my reps that Congress must take back its authority regarding tariffs.
Please address the insurrection Act and Trump's intension to declare 📜 it and deploy military 🪖 against Americans, destroying all our freedoms (what's left) and our democracy.
Simon addressed that during our Zoom call for Paid Subscribers today. You can hear it when posted tomorrow. Spoiler alert: it is not a current Hopium priority.
https://andrewtobias.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ac6596c37311f68abdaf76ab7&id=51495154b9&e=d3d20d930e
Read the last link in Tobias’ newsletter about April 20. I have thought exactly the same thing as this author writes. The more people who realize this is a possibility and was in Project 2035, the more chance we have for it not to happen.
I am in ruby red South Carolina and will start writing and calling. I write emails to tell a story related to whatever I am writing about. Everyone says the stories are powerful. So I write from my own experiences as a Nurse Practitioner working in a rural health clinic in Jasper County, and my daughters struggle with Autism, and how special education, and intervention saved her, ect.
Thank you so much for staying active in a very difficult situation!!
It fires me up.
There's no way I can see to register for tonight's subscriber fest with Simon. Under events, when I click on the link to register it takes me to a page where I can't register. What am I missing, besides tonight's call so far?
In your email feed “search for Simon Rosenberg. All his emails should come up. Look for the one where he posts the get together tonight. It’s in the body of the email. Or go to his substack web page and you should find it in a post. I’ll see if I can find it for you.
Barbara the link is in Simon’s post yesterday morning April 8.
Thanks, Kate. It wasn't emailed to me until a half hour before go-time and I didn't catch it in time. Thanks for your kind help. I'll see it in his replay.
In 90 days time, Trump will be just that much more demented. He's on the down ramp. He will be even less likely to respond to reason the next time around.
I suppose he might just forget about tariffs, but that seems unlikely.
Thanks Simon. It's so great to see Senator Kaine take a leading role in taking back Congress' power. With Schiff, Raskin, Warren, Sanders, Durbin, et al. now taking charge and kicking over the card table, I am mostly feeing more hope. These are smart dedicated people who must be working on the opposition practically 24/7. One step at a time.
Senator Chris Murphy posted the following about Trump’s tariffs on Bluesky on April 2, 2025.
https://bsky.app/profile/chrismurphyct.bsky.social/post/3lluxkmx7wc2m
Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social
Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive. No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A thread to explain his plan and how we fight back.
2/ This week you will read many confused economists and political pundits who won’t understand how the tariffs make economic sense.
That’s because they don’t. They aren’t designed as economic policy. The tariffs are simply a new, super dangerous political tool.
3/ You see, our founders created a President with limited and checked powers. They specifically put the power of spending and taxation in the hands of the legislature.
Why? Because they watched how kings and despots used spending and taxes to control their subjects.
4/ British kings used taxation to reward loyalty and punish dissent.
Our own revolution was spurred by the King’s use of heavy taxation of the colonies to punish our push for self governance.
The King’s message was simple: stop protesting and I’ll stop taxing.
5/ Trump knows that he can weaken (and maybe destroy) democracy by using spending and taxation in the same way.
He is using access to government funds to bully universities, law firms and state and local governments into loyalty pledges.
6/ Healthy democracies rely on an independent legal profession to maintain the rule of law, independent universities to guard objective truth and provide forums for dissent to authority, and independent state/local government to counterbalance a powerful federal government.
7/ But the private sector also plays a role to protect democracy. Independent industry has power.
The tariffs are Trump’s tool to erode that independence. Now, one by one, every industry or company will need to pledge loyalty to Trump in order to get sanctions relief.
8/ What could Trump demand as part of a quiet loyalty pledge?
Public shows of support from executives for all his economic policy. Contributions to his political efforts. Promises to police employees’ support for his political opposition.
9/ The tariffs are DESIGNED to create economic hardship. Why? So that Trump has a straight face rationale for releasing them, business by business or industry by industry.
As he adjusts or grants relief, it’s a win-win: the economy improves and dissent disappears.
10/ And once Trump has the lawyers, colleges and industry under his thumb, it becomes very hard for the opposition to have any viable space to maneuver.
Trump didn’t invent this strategy. It’s the playbook for democratically elected leaders who want to stay in power forever.
11/ The tariffs aren’t economic policy. They are political weapons. But as long as we see this clearly, we can stop him. Public mobilization is working. Today, a few Republicans joined Democrats to vote against one set of tariffs.
The people still have the power.
While I agree with most of this the idea that there is not also an economic dimension to that matters to the public is not something I really agree with.
I posted this because it seems to me that many people don’t understand the tactic Trump is using to scare organizations into acquiescence (e.g., Columbia University, large DC law firms, Wall Street). I agree that, in his post, Murphy has not addressed the tariff issue that concerns the public: high inflation. In Item 11 he does say, “The tariffs aren’t economic policy.” (Well, for Trump, maybe they are.) But Murphy goes on to say, “Public mobilization is working”, so I think he understands that growing numbers of voters are figuring out that tariffs threaten their financial wellbeing. And this has some Republicans fearing a backlash from voters.
The Trump tactic as described in a meme Murphy posted on Bluesky, shows images of Trump in a circular loop, saying:
1. I make a stupid & corrupt decision
2. Something really bad happens
3. I convince my followers the problem is now magically solved
4. I reverse my stupid decision.
This is akin to Robert Reich’s post that Trump is not a mad man. There is a clear strategy, which Reich thinks is making millions for Trump. There may also be a strategy here that is the heart of Project 2025. https://andrewtobias.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ac6596c37311f68abdaf76ab7&id=51495154b9&e=d3d20d930e
Bad timing for yet another vacation for Congress!!!! Senator Kaine referenced a House vote for his new tariff legislation will not happen until AFTER recess sometime in May.
Our nation is in a state of emergency. Deeply disappointing & disheartening. Constituents out there on the front line including myself everyday have not taken a vacation since the Harris-Waltz campaign. Lost for words.
Congress will be working in their Districts during recess, not on vacation. Members will be meeting with their constituents at home, speaking at town halls, and responding to concerns of the people who elected them. It is a great time to demand support for the resolutions of Senator Kaine. Here's more info to help you make that case.
https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-paul-schumer-and-kaine-release-bipartisan-resolution-to-repeal-global-tariffs-and-restore-congressional-authority-over-trade#:~:text=The%20resolution%20will%20formally%20be,Americans%20buy%20from%20other%20countries.
Here are plans of my Rep. Stansbury during the District Work Period (recess). She provides a newsletter and email announcements of ongoing activities.
"Dear Friends—
As you know it’s been a crazy and turbulent several months in Washington DC, and I am so grateful to be home in New Mexico for a couple of weeks for the District Work period. We’ll be holding (five) Town Halls across the state, visiting the Social Security Administration, and continuing our work on behavioral health, housing, tribal and other issues.
While we’re home, we’re trying to maximize our time across our communities and gear up for the next election cycle—which is not only right around the corner—but literally the backstop to preserving our democracy... I look forward to catching up and giving the low down on what’s going on! We’ll talk all things DC, DOGE, saving our democracy, upcoming elections, and what comes next."
Some of the Senators are heading to red states during the recess. Bernie is heading out west with AOC starting this weekend.
Way to go Senator Kaine. We have to thank him, people.
Also he gave the clear TO DO: just call everyone and say NO TARIFFS!
Simon will you please address the manic pause for 90 days. Will Rs go soft? We can’t let them.
I called Senators Ossoff & Warnock and my House Rep. Loudermilk today, as I try to do every day (except weekends!) I loved how many other calls I could hear in the background when I spoke with a member of Ossoff’s staff. I begged them to use their power to push back on tariffs. It’s always hardest to call Loudermilk and I wonder if it could possibly matter because I’m a lifelong Democratic voter. But I’ll keep on calling. Thank you for this interview with Senator Kaine!
Thank you, Senator Kaine. I was so proud to be represented by you when I lived in Virginia. Keep up the great work. I will advocate for your proposal by writing to Mr. Tuberville and my representative and will recommend that my friends on social media contact their senators and representatives.
I am posting this here for all to read and I hope that it reaches Simon as well. It is something that came to my attention that CANNOT be ignored. Please read.
https://open.substack.com/pub/closertotheedge/p/when-a-former-kgb-chief-shares-your?r=a2mxd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Any chance you can give us a paywall free share? When i click, it asks for a subscription. Thx. It sounds essential.
I don't pay for this. I just subscribe so I'm not sure how to do what you're asking... I use the share link from the substack post.. you should be able to see it..
I tried again this morning and got it! Thank you. No idea why i couldn't make it work last night. Will read later today.
Please do and pls encourage others to read it as well. I am hoping Simon will read and comment. It seems pretty clear that Trump is a Russian operative.
https://open.substack.com/pub/closertotheedge/p/when-a-former-kgb-chief-shares-your?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=a2mxd
Great Hopium chat tonight, Simon. I have some thoughts for you...
It occurs to me frequently that "Simon probably didn't have being a leader for The Resistance on his bingo card for 2025." I am sincerely impressed at how seriously and wholeheartedly you have taken on this role. It's a very different dimension for your career - championing Democratic candidates and crafting policies is one thing, fighting tooth and nail to save democracy is a task of another order of magnitude! Thank you so much for all the passion, expertise, and patience that you bring to this group.
I love your idea of interviewing more people who have firsthand experience resisting authoritarianism in other countries. That interview with your Mexican journalist friend was one of your most compelling interviews. I agree with you 100% that we need to know more about this fight we are in from eye witnesses.
Ariella Elm posts on Bluesky every single day. She does "Three Wins Today," which features three things that have happened in the US that have been uplifting, positive, and have helped the pro-democracy movement. She also curates "Daily Dems Doing the Work, Making Noise, and Fighting Back," which focuses on the activity of Dem electeds. Each week, she tirelessly gathers info from all over the country and alerts folks when there's an election in their state. She attends Indivisible Zoom meetings and provides summaries of them. She reposts videos from Congressional reps and highlights a different rep every week. The sheer amount of work she does to collate all of this info into an easily digestible format for us is extraordinary. She is the biggest and best booster for the Democratic MOC that I have found. If you could do an interview with her, I think it would help to lay to rest forever the notion that the Dems aren't doing enough.
Awesome statements by Sen Kaine. Short, sweet, to the pith and marrow.
Self Report. I was inspired by this video to draft a script for calls to Congress tomorrow.
The Honorable Senator Martin Heinrich and Representative Melanie Stansbury,
Please support the resolutions of Senator Tim Kaine to end trump’s unconstitutional tariffs that are an assault to the global economy.
Please do all that you can to demand that the unjust tariffs be stopped and rescinded immediately! We demand NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION! Our Country’s Founders deemed that federal tax policy should never be the actions of one person, and We The People must protect the Separation of Powers guaranteed by our US Constitution.
Thank you for all you are doing for our State of New Mexico and for We The People.
Thank you Deborah. I will borrow from your skillful wording!