Harris Goes On Offense On The Economy, Trump Is A Traitor, Winning The House Thursday For Josh Riley (NY-19) - Join Us!

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Happy Tuesday all. Things feel good. National, state and Senate polling are good. Things are close, but I’d much rather be us than them. As we here at Hopium had longed hoped Democrats are closing the election out embracing love of country, patriotism, and good ole fashioned American optimism. Our party is unified, excited, and the torch has been passed to a dynamic new set of Democrats who are ready to lead. Trump, meanwhile is Trump. A rapist, fraudster, traitor, felon. An extremist, racist, and oligarch’s best friend. These endorsements from Kennedy and Gabbard, leaders of the Putinist wing of the GOP, feel desperate, weird, Star Wars-bar stuff. His visit to Arlington elementary yesterday was a deep insult to all who’ve served. And of course chicken Don is already looking for ways to get out of the September 10th debate, for cutting and running when times get tough is what the orange one does.

The Harris-Walz campaign, meanwhile, is focusing on the economy this week. On Saturday they released their first post-Convention ad, Opportunity. Since posting yesterday they’ve released two more, “Everyday” and “Full House:”

Everyday:

Full House (this is not yet on YouTube):

From the campaign:

The new spot, “Full House” will air across battleground states and puts a spotlight on Vice President Harris’ upbringing, being raised by a working mother who saved up for more than 10 years to finally buy a home. 

Her middle-class upbringing informs her approach to governing, which is why she has proposed an urgent and comprehensive four-year plan to end America’s housing shortage and lower housing costs for working families – including cracking down on exploitative landlords, building 3 million new homes, and offering tax incentives to first-time home buyers to make home ownership a reality for more Americans. 

For Kamala Harris doesn’t want people to just get by, she wants them to get ahead.

I am a big fan of where the Harris-Walz campaign is going on the economy, and their opportunity economy/get ahead frame. We’ve been winning elections all across the country for the last two plus years while trailing on the economy. Imagine what happens this November if get close or even pull ahead of the GOP on the economy. It’s another way we get to “checkmate,” and it’s great to see the campaign fighting so hard to once again get Democrats on the right side of opportunity. The language is clear and simple. The housing plan is powerful and necessary. The contrast with Trump, a fraudster who rips every day people off, an oligarch’s best friend, is effective and compelling. Our side is playing to win. He is doing whatever this is:

Trump Is A Traitor, More Republicans Endorse Harris - As Trump rallies the Putinists in his party - Vance, Kennedy, Gabbard, Tucker Carlson - watch Senator Coons talk about the threat Trump is to our security:

Hundreds more Republicans endorsed Vice President Harris yesterday. Here’s a release from the Harris-Walz campaign:

Yesterday, after a successful DNC that was the most bipartisan national political event in recent American history, more than 230 former Republican leaders and staffers endorsed Vice President Harris – joining a growing list of Republicans putting country over party in this election. Among the new endorsers are retired four-star general Larry Ellis, and 238 former McCain, Romney, and Bush staffers.

General Ellis is a highly decorated veteran and military leader with 45 years of service under 10 presidential administrations. As Ellis explains in his endorsement, he is choosing to get involved in politics for the first time in his storied career because of the severity of the threat Donald Trump poses to our nation, and the values General Ellis spent so many years fighting to defend.

Yesterday, 238 former staffers of McCain, Romney, and Bush also announced their endorsement in a letter where they call on fellow Republicans to join them in supporting the Harris-Walz ticket because the Vice President and Governor Walz are leaders “that will strive for consensus, not chaos; that will work to unite, not divide; that will make our country and our children proud.”

These endorsements build on the existing strong support for Vice President Harris from moderate and independent voices, including:

A dozen Republican former White House lawyers

Dozens of Republican leaders who helped launch the Republicans for Harris program

The many GOP voices who spoke directly to their fellow Republicans during remarks at the Democratic National Convention last week

Beyond endorsements, countless former leaders who worked for Donald Trump have spoken out about his dangerous, erratic behavior:

Just this week, news broke that Trump’s National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster, is breaking his silence and sharing a “blistering account” of his time in the Trump White House and Trump’s embrace of authoritarians.

Many Trump admin national security and military officials have come forward to warn the nation about Trump’s unfitness for office, including John Bolton, Mark Esper, John Kelly, and countless other leaders.

Multiple GOP national security leaders have already endorsed the Vice President, including Adam Kinzinger and Olivia Troye.

As we’ve discussed here frequently, this rallying of Republicans for Harris is going to rally matter in this election, and help us Get to 55.

Paid Subscriber Event Tonight at 7pm ET - I’ll be hosting a political discussion and get together for Hopium paid subscribers tomorrow night at 7pm ET. Paid subscribers can register here and if you want to upgrade to a paid subscriber so you can join us you can do so here.

Thursday Night Postcarding and Phonebanking for Josh Riley (NY-19) - We are back at it this Thursday at 730pm ET for a night of work for a great House candidate from New York, Josh Riley. You can register here, and note when doing so you can now select which breakout room you want to join. We have trainings for both activities live each evening, and for those who are more experienced you can a select a breakout room without training and just get to work. Visit here to learn more about ordering postcards for these events. Each week we will be reaching our to core Democratic voters and encouraging them to Vote on Day 1 and letting them know when early in person and mail/drop box voting begins in their states.

Most weeks we will hear directly from the candidate at the beginning of our session, just a few minutes after 730pm so plan on joining us on time each week. At the end of each session, after we’ve done our work, I will be providing a 10 minute overview of the current national political landscape. So in addition to helping out on Thursdays you will be getting live political updates from the ground and from Washington, DC.

To prep for Thursday watch my interview with Josh. You can learn more about him, donate or volunteer too. If you want to make a single donation to all 11 of our courageous candidates working to flip the House this November you can do that here. In just a few months the Hopium community has raised almost $1m for these great candidates in the districts most likely to turn from red to blue.

In the spirit of not letting up, “doing something” as Michelle Obama said and leaving it all on the playing field as Gov Walz has encouraged, I again make my pitch for the candidates and state parties we’ve been working for this year. A week ago Saturday I offered an in-depth post on the strategy behind our candidate and state party endorsements, including our Presidential battleground “check” and “checkmate” strategy. 23 days to go before early in voting begins everybody - time to get to work!

• Harris-Walz!!!!!! - $890,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | The Harris-Walz YouTube Channel - Let’s make this a big week people!

• Winning The House - $907,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More. Watch our recent discussion with Leader Hakeem Jeffries. To go deeper catch one of our interviews with our great candidates - Janelle Bynum (OR-5), George Whitesides (CA-27), Kirsten Engel (AZ-06) Will Rollins (CA-41), Laura Gillen (NY-04), Rudy Salas (CA-22), Josh Riley (NY-19), Tony Vargas (NE-02) and Adam Gray (CA-13).

• North Carolina - $408,000 raised, $500,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton

• Arizona/Ruben Gallego - $334,000 raised, $400,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with Ruben Gallego

• Nebraska/Blue Dot - $151,000 raised, $175,000 goal- Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NE Dem Chair Jane Kleeb

Here are ways you can do even more:

• Commit to Vote on Day 1 and get everyone you know to join you. Early voting begins in three states on September 20th - just 26 days away!

• Watch my With Dems presentation on the greatness and goodness of the Democratic Party and this six minute video on the incredible stakes in this election.

• Help grow the Hopium community. Use this link to encourage others sign others up. You can gift a subscription to a friend or student here and get group rates too. If you have changed credit cards or moved you can you update your payment information or check your renewal status follow these instructions from Substack. Let’s keep our community growing the Hopium flowing!

Keep working hard all. It’s how we win - Simon