Morning all. Got an uplifting one for you today. Sharing my new discussion with Susan Crawford, our terrific candidate running for an open Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin. The video is above. What makes this discussion so energizing is that we also get a great cameo from our friend Ben Wikler, who gives us an update on the race and thanks the Hopium community for our now two years of our investment in the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
This Wisconsin Supreme Court election is arguably the most important election test we will have in the next few months. So watch our discussion. Share it with others. Consider donating today. Volunteer. Learn more about Susan and the race from her website. I know many of you are already working on this critical race. Thank you all for what you are doing now, and will do to help bring this one home for us on April 1st!
Given the events of the past few weeks we all have a greater appreciation for how important judges will be in countering Trump’s assault on the rule of law in America. It is another reason why this election matters so much. We just need to do everything we can to win here.
Our very first electoral project after Hopium was launched in on March 7, 2023 was helping Janet Protasiewicz win her Wisconsin Supreme Court race that April. Our very first guest here was Ben Wikler, who came to speak to us about the importance of what may have seemed an obscure election in our very earliest days. That win flipped control of the WI Supreme Court to the Democrats. That allowed the unraveling of the one of the worst gerrymanders in the country and the implementation of fair maps state legislative maps. With our community’s help, WisDems then went on to flip 10 state house and 4 state senate seats last November under these new fair maps, giving us a legitimate shot at winning back both chambers next year. In the video Ben reviews all the progress we’ve made together in Wisconsin over the past few years and offers his thoughts on the many, tough battles ahead.
So take your time to learn about this important race, watch our terrific discussion, and do what you can to support Susan Crawford and Ben Wikler’s Wisconsin Democratic Party today!
Hopium Weekend Reading, Viewing - three top things to review this weekend:
My new video presentation and post, Standing Up For Our Democracy, Every Day - Notes on Building An Effective and Ferocious Opposition
My new comprehensive essay on the Trump/Musk assault on the US government and what I call the “America of the Four Freedoms,” Republicans Are Now The Party of Appeasement, Chaos and Betrayal
Inflation Spikes, Trump Is Not Winning - my latest take on why Trump is much weaker and more vulnerable then he appears right now, and why understanding Trump as weak not strong is essential
In my essay yesterday I make the case that Trump and Musk are not cutting the US government, or reforming it - they are breaking it, purposefully, illegally, recklessly, fanatically; and are doing extraordinary harm to our security, our health, our prosperity and our future. Here are a few excerpts from the lead story in this morning’s Washington Post, Trump’s federal employee firing imperil government services from cities to farm towns. Be ready to get mad, very mad, at what they are doing to this country right now:
The Trump administration’s move to fire thousands of federal employees could have a swift and severe impact on public services, staffers warned Friday, making it harder for veterans to get mental health care and hampering electric service to some rural residents as a beleaguered workforce struggles to cover for lost colleagues.
The full impact of the terminations will not be fully known for weeks or months, and some job losses may be reversed or challenged by law. At least one agency, the Department of Energy, paused some cuts to assess their effect on nuclear defense programs, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Still, workers said basic functions at many agencies are slowing almost immediately and could break down as critical colleagues are shown the door.
On Friday, dozens of federal workers in interviews said they were scrambling to understand the scale of the firings, which targeted probationary employees — one- or two-year hires with fewer protections — and numbered at least 14,000, according to a Washington Post analysis. The workers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said the abrupt dismissal of their colleagues is sowing chaos both personal and professional, inspiring fear about the future of the systems serving the country.
The widespread firings imperiled services across the country, from farm towns to city centers.
In an Energy Department subagency that helps provide power, staff who handled homeowners’ electricity bills were fired, employees said, potentially leaving no one to take the money that keeps their lights on. In one state, all but two of the employees who helmed an Agriculture Department program assisting poor rural communities were fired. And in a tiny Wyoming town, a Forest Service office that has spent decades providing support to hikers, Christmas tree permits to residents and firewood for the elderly has been forced to shutter, a staffer said.
And….
The firings on Thursday and Friday came after the Trump administration directed agency heads to terminate most trial and probationary staff, The Post previously reported. The nearly 200,000 employees in that category started work within the past two years and have little protection from being fired without cause. It is unclear how many will actually be let go.
The terminations mark a significant acceleration in Trump’s campaign to shrink the federal government, a top goal for Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, which stands for the Department of Government Efficiency. The group has spent the past three weeks targeting agency after agency in a bid to slash staff and stop the flow of federal cash. Cutting government personnel by one-fourth would reduce federal spending by about 1 percent….
At the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,269 staffers detailed on a probationary list will be terminated, according to three federal health officials. Those cuts are part of 5,200 to be terminated across its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services. At the National Institutes of Health, another HHS agency, an unknown number of key staff are being let go, posing a potential threat to patient safety, said a person familiar with the matter. NIH probationary employees include doctors, nurses, pharmacists and respiratory therapists — people who have spent years earning multiple degrees and qualifications.
and….
The dismissals swept in veterans, disabled employees, mothers, fathers, grandparents and young interns. It swept in people who’d spent years in other federal agencies before transferring and those who’d just landed their dream jobs in civil service. Adding to employees’ pain, the speed of the layoffs produced what many described as a bungled, impersonal and error-filled process.
At the Education Department, dozens of workers in the Federal Student Aid office received termination letters filled with incorrect information about start dates and job titles, according to several copies reviewed by The Post. The letters said recipients had started work on Jan. 12, 2025, but some of the employees had been on the job since 2023. Because the letters all show only one month of employment, staff who received them may be ineligible for unemployment benefits.
The Education Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Across the government, those fired were told poor performance motivated their terminations — in some cases, without evidence.
One disabled veteran who worked at Veterans Affairs overseeing patient care said he learned of his firing by email Thursday. He was one month shy of graduating from his probationary period, he said. The email cited “performance” as the reason. “This is ironic,” he said, “because my most recent — and granted, only — performance evaluation was the highest you could possibly achieve at my agency.”
In a pattern that repeated itself again and again, fired employees’ supervisors and bosses up the chain of command said they had no idea this was coming. In a high-level meeting early Friday, the undersecretary for health at Veterans Affairs acknowledged that the agency had just suffered a “tough 24 hours,” according to notes taken by one participant and shared with The Post. “It is a dark day when veterans and disabled veterans are losing their jobs,” the official said. A personnel official helping to lead the meeting admitted they’d made “errors” in determining who should be terminated but said it was unclear if they’d be able to reverse those firings.
“It is hard not to feel this personally,” said Gerard Braun, 30, a soil conservation technician who was hired to the Agriculture Department in November and notified of his dismissal in an email at 9:35 p.m. Thursday. His role, paying in the mid $40,000 range, was to help farmers in northwest Ohio implement conservation practices on their land.
Another Agriculture employee said she was fired without cause by email at 10:30 p.m. She noted she has a daughter in day care and bills to pay. “People need to know that we are humans with children who depend on us,” she said.
I am going to wager that this is the most profound, structured mistreatment of workers by an employer in all of American history. Trump as champion of the working class was always one of the biggest of all the big Trumpian lies. He is a betrayer of working Americans, not a champion.
We just need to keep fighting everyone.
Let’s Get To Work - Our Daily Hopium Reminder:
Trump 2.0 is a profound, ongoing betrayal of America, and everything that has made this remarkable nation the most powerful and prosperous in the world. It is why we must fight. As dark as all this is, we cannot for one moment forget that what Trump is doing is wrong; he and his project remain deeply unstable and his coalition fractious; he is doing deeply unpopular things, going far beyond his narrow “mandate;” he is old, impulsive, reckless and clearly in decline; and extremists and ideologues are often far better at bread and circuses than governing.
Here are my current working recommendations for calls/contacts this week. Four today, and thanks to all of you who are busting your ass right now:
Keep calling to stop Musk’s crime spree and assault on the US government. Encourage your Senators and Reps to file a criminal referral for him and his malicious posse to DOJ/FBI. Feel free to add that you would like funding for USAID fully restored so our government does not kill millions and millions of people this year in our name.
Keep calling Attorneys General in the states. Ask them to protect you and your data/privacy, and to keep federally mandated monies flowing to your states and communities. For those in the 19 states that brought the successful Treasury suit last weekend thank them and encourage them to keep going. I still believe these 19 states should make criminal referrals of Musk/his posse to DOJ/FBI this week, and raise the stakes.
Insist they fight to challenge and rollback Trump’s tariffs which will raise prices here, strain our alliances, undermine the rules-based global order and make us a rogue, pariah nation. This is all particularly true as new data tells us the American economy is slowing, inflation is rising and consumer sentiment is dropping. There is perhaps no greater Trumpian betrayal of America than these tariffs. For more background, see this post which includes my recent interview with leading economist Dr. Rob Shapiro.
Lets 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, not an ally. Demand that Trump not let his Saudi meeting w/Putin become our Munich; demand that he not become our Neville Chamberlain.
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.
A note - while physical protests and rallies are a vital part of how we build our new opposition movement, make sure you only attend or promote events by organizations you know and trust. In general please do not support any action - boycott, protest, rally - etc unless you know and trust the organizers. This is really important my friends.
For those wanting to do more traditional political/campaign work, we have three Hopium-backed efforts we're rallying behind right now:
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 1,000 of you have donated over $84,000 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. We now have a new stretch goal of $150,000 by March 31st after our very strong start for this effort (note that we did have some money clawed back due to an error in the amount someone gave!)
Note that two other good friends of Hopium - David Hogg and Jane Kleeb - were elected Vice Chairs of the DNC this weekend (Jane was elected head of the ASDC which also makes her a DNC Vice Chair). You can watch my inspiring interviews with David here, and with Jane here and learn more about where they want to take the party in the days ahead.
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 $35,000 so far towards our March 31st goal of $100,000 - thank you all. Let’s keep working it for Abigail!
Help Susan Crawford and Ben Wikler in Wisconsin - As a way of honoring our good friend Ben Wikler and supporting this critical April Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, I’m asking our community to donate to the Wisconsin Democratic Party today. The money raised here will make sure Ben has the resources he needs to keep his team in place so they can support this critical statewide race. I know many of you are already deeply involved here - thank you all. More on this critical election in the coming days. Our goal is to raise $50,000 by April 1st. We’ve raised $29,000 so far. Watch our new discussion with Susan and Ben above, and thank you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
More Things To Do - Dive into my recent interviews with folks who are making a difference. Check out our upcoming events. Come see me in Bethesda, Maryland on Tuesday. Review my 7 Initial Takeaways From The 2024 Elections and my watch my new video on the political moment, Standing Up For Our Democracy, Every Day.
Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
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