Morning all. Been an extraordinary week. Tried to make sense of it all last night in our regular Wednesday night gathering. A recording and transcript are above. Get to it when you can. If you find it helpful please hit like here and share it with others you think might be interested……
Here’s a summary of my main points from last night:
Trump Is In Deep Trouble - This is the big story in our politics now.
Trump is wildly unpopular, his agenda even more so. His government has utterly failed, and made the lives of the American people worse, not better. His gluttonous corruption and traitorous monarchical ambitions have crashed in our daily discourse. His imperial and heartless management of the shutdown confirmed our central indictment against him - “more for me, less for all of you” and further damaged his already deeply damaged standing with the public. He got blown out - I mean blown out - in the election last week. Significant cracks have begun to appear in his Congressional support. His health is failing, and his public performances are becoming even more unhinged and delusional. And then the Epstein bombshell dropped yesterday, and we learned from Epstein himself that Trump had been part of it all and “knew about the girls.” We also learned that Epstein believed he had compromising photos of Trump, and talked to the Kremlin about ways of managing Trump. I mean, holy shit…..
Here’s Congressman Robert Garcia, Ranking Member on the House Oversight Committee (the committee that got these Epstein materials released), last night. Watch this:
Due to the work of Robert Garcia, Hakeen Jeffries, and other Democratic leaders there will now be a vote on releasing the Epstein files in the House next week. It is expected to pass with dozens of Republicans on board. It will be the most significant rebuke of Donald Trump by Congressional Republicans this year. It’s a big f-ing deal.
There is a lot going on right now, and we will be unpacking the momentous events of the past week for some time, but let’s look at some fresh data that confirms that Trump is now in an even weaker state:
Yesterday’s University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey came with its lowest reading in its 65 year history:
The national polls released since the Blue Wave election last week are the worst of Trump’s Presidency; his job approval is now regularly dipping into the 30s; and even his red wave pollsters are starting to show him weakening:
AP NORC - 36% approve, 62% disapprove (-26)
Navigator - 40%-58% (-18)
Econ/YouGov - 39%-56%
Morning Consult 44%-54% (-10) - a 5 point drop in the last two weeks
I am now going to share some new polling from Navigator Research that shows much damage the shutdown did to Trump and the Republicans:
One out of every six people who voted for Trump now regret their vote:
People are not fucking happy with Let Them Eat Cake:
The public is blaming the Republicans for the bad economy and rising costs (though we need to do better here):
While I am profoundly disappointed in what the Senate Democrats did on Sunday, we also have to recognize that we won the shutdown, and achieved a great deal in these last few weeks. My hope is that our success will give our leaders the confidence to fight with greater ambition as we enter this next and deeply consequential phase of the budget negotiations, and work to bolster our parties and candidates for what can be a very good election for us in 2026.
Visualizing and Socializing The End Of The Trump Presidency - This is a new concept I’ve begun to workshop. I talked about it last night for the first time. Here’s an initial thread I did on Bluesky yesterday, and a screenshot summary to get this conversation going……
Our Path Back Will Not Be A Linear One. There Will Be Good Days And Bad Days. Days Of Celebration, and Days of Disappointment - I know many are frustrated, angry, disappointed right now. I am with you. I think what the Senate Democrats did on Sunday was a mistake, a misjudgement, and it was also badly handled and poorly sold to us. Yes, it raises legitimate questions about our collective understanding of what is required now to defeat Trump, for as often say here, there are no easy paths available to us any more. Only hard ones, and we might as well get on with the hard, difficult fights that are come. The best way out is always through, as Robert Frost told us. People are pissed, and we have to keep fighting.
Having been in politics a long time I am aware that our leaders are people, and they make mistakes. My counsel to you is that we have to anticipate that we will err and not get rattled by it. The analogy many have used is that yes in a football game a quarterback can fumble, or throw an interception. But the game goes on. And you have to keep fighting.
We also need to make sure, through our direct engagement with our political leaders, that they learn from their mistakes and get better, stronger and more effective for the many battles to come. Asking them to demonstrate growth, make adjustments and fight with greater ambition is a reasonable - and necessary - ask now.
I realize that many may take some time away to make sense of what has happened this past week. I encourage that. But at some point we all need to come back together and get realigned on the core mission - mitigating the damage he is doing to the country, advance our agenda, and win back power.
If we allow other Democrats to become our opponents, and not Trump, we will be doing MAGA’s work for them. For the way autocrats stay in power for decades is by keeping their opposition divided, factious, and weak. We can debate and disagree but we cannot fight with one another. It would be a disastrous response to the opportunity that lies in front of us.
Perhaps the central message from my talk last night and my post this morning is that to look at everything that has happened in the past few weeks, to see how weakened Trump is now - something we’ve all been working towards every day since the election last year - and to choose to spend your time in disappointment and anger towards fellow Democrats is a choice. Many will make that choice. I am not going to. What I see now in front of us is opportunity, and I am going to stay focused on seizing it every day. I hope you will join me, but understand if you can’t, or need some time away. But my fellow proud, plucky, patriots, if you do take some time away I want you to know that you will always be welcome back here, whenever you are ready to get back into the fight. For we have a country to save and a future to secure for our kids and grandkids, and the kids and grandkids of all the world.
Thank you all for what you do, for the progress we’ve made in recent months. We have achieved more than we perhaps understand, and let’s keep our civil, respectful, and passionate debate about all this going in our daily chat….
For, we are all in this together and winning is the only option in front us….
Now, Let’s Get To Work People!
Friends, I’ll be doing a lot of live and in-person events recapping in the coming days, and will be hosting many guests here as well. Check our Events page for the latest schedule and links. Recordings of these events can always be found under the Podcast tab on the main Hopium site and on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify too.
Winning The Midterms - Support Our 2026 Candidates
Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $51k raised- Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Gov. Cooper
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $93k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my inspiring interview with Senator Ossoff
Hopium House 7 (2026) - $250,000 goal, $237k raised - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer | Watch My Interviews With Our Intrepid Incumbents
Expanding The Map - Support Our Audacious Expansion Fund (2026-2032)
Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $250,000 goal, $191,000 raised - Join our new campaign to invest in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas and watch interviews with the state Party Chairs of all 5 states | Donate to all five state parties | Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $10,000 to each of our five state parties!
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 emerging four part agenda.
Contact your Senators and House Member and urge them to:
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
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
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
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 - 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. They offer practical advice on how to get a resolution passed in your own community.
Remarkably, members of this community have passed or are advancing 85 (!!!!) resolution projects in 23 states + DC. Can we get to all 50 states by the end of the 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
