Afternoon all. If you haven’t yet make sure you click through to my morning post and watch the recording of Senator Elissa Slotkin’s powerful and patriotic speech from last night. It was for us the most important thing that happened yesterday. I hope everyone here will watch and paid subscribers should join our robust conversation about it on our daily subscriber chat from that post (if you want to weigh in on this post head back to this morning’s post so we can keep everything in one place).
There are two things in particular that I thought were important about Senator Slotkin’s speech:
She opened up that “second front” I’ve been talking about here these last few weeks (here, here, here). She expanded on the Democratic indictment of Trump from the core economic narrative we’ve already successfully developed to one that also indicted him for his ongoing betrayal of the country, illegal attack on the US government and undermining of America’s national security, alliances and democracy itself. While only ten minutes long this speech was expansive and comprehensive, and I think by so powerfully invoking love of country and patriotism, effective.
Her evocation of Ronald Reagan was strategic, and meaningful. The most significant public criticism of Trump from Republicans so far has come from his embrace of Putin and his abandonment of Zelenskky and Europe. This is where the most significant crack in Trump’s Congressional support has come so far, and we need to be aggressive about exploiting this growing discomfort. The greatest recent accomplishment of the pre-Trump Republican Party was Reagan’s defense of democracy and his vital work in helping us win the Cold War. Defeating Russia, not embracing it, is deep in the DNA of many Republicans and it is a smart area for us to be diving into if we are bring Republicans along in a coalition to counter Trump in the coming months. The hard cold reality of the moment is that we need to get 2024 Trump voters and current Republicans to break from Trump, and while the growing disappointment in this disastrous economic path is important so is getting Rs to break ranks on Trump’s rancid embrace of Putin. It is the premise of my “second front” argument that we can and must do both, and Senator Slotkin did a great job last night going hard into one of the most important fissures emerging in the Trump coalition.
I’m also excited to share Conan O’Brien’s brief, timely shot at Trump from the Oscars on Sunday night. The video is above. "I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian.” Was a welcome moment.
I am not going to write about Trump’s speech last night. Nothing changed what matters most - no one has betrayed America as Trump and his allies have in all our history, and there is great urgency in stopping him as they are breaking things that are going to be very, very hard to repair. I will let Senator Chris Van Hollen speak for me today. Here is his statement from last night:
“Tonight was another chapter in Donald Trump’s great betrayal of the American people, with lies, lies, and more lies – but no plan to lower costs for working families. The only takeaway from Trump’s rambling speech was his commitment to giving the keys of the government to Elon Musk to do the bidding of special interests, all while handing huge tax giveaways to the ultra-wealthy. And despite his lies tonight, the truth is clear: Trump’s illegal actions are hurting our communities, doing nothing to lower costs, and harming our federal workers and the critical services they provide to the American people. I’ll continue to stand up and speak out against his attacks and lies, and we will keep fighting back in Congress, in the courts, and in our communities.”
A few housekeeping and programming notes. My event with Heather Cox Richardson this afternoon is at capacity and for those signed up I would plan on logging on early to ensure you get on. Hopium paid subscribers gather tonight at 7pm ET - register here for that one. I am looking forward to seeing folks including our many new subscribers. DNC Chair Ken Martin and House Dem Leader Hakeem Jeffries are doing a joint live stream tonight at 9pm ET. You can watch on the DNC’s YouTube channel and do subscribe to the channel while there so you can catch future events like this one.
Catch me on new podcasts with the New Republic’s Greg Sargent and another with Leigh McGowan (PoliticsGirl). Remember we have a new Events page on the site which has a list of all upcoming Hopium events and my public appearances. Friday is Hopium’s 2nd Anniversary! To celebrate this critical milestone an annual paid subscription here is 10% off through the end of the month. Subscribe and support our vital work here today!
Breaking News - Supreme Court Rejects Trump’s Freezing of USAID Funding - From The NYTimes just now:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected President Trump’s emergency request to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid as part of his efforts to slash government spending.
The court’s brief order was unsigned, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. It said only that the trial judge, who had ordered the government to resume payments, “should clarify what obligations the government must fulfill.”
But the ruling represented one of the court’s first moves in response to the flurry of litigation filed in response to Mr. Trump’s efforts to dramatically reshape government. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining the three liberal members to form a majority.
Although the language of the order was mild, tentative and not a little confusing, its bottom line was that a bare majority of the court ruled against Mr. Trump on one of his signature projects. The president’s many programs and plans, the order suggested, will face close scrutiny from a deeply divided court.
Here at Hopium we take the wins when they come, and this one my friends, is a clear and important win. For remember:
Little cracks can become big cracks. Little wins can become wins - if we keep working hard.
Trump’s Job Approval Just Keep Falling - Trump’s job approval has now dropped 9 points since he came to office in 538’s polling average. This is an incredibly fast and meaningful decline. The country is turning on him.
Here is how Trump is doing on the big issues in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. Note the consistent GOP disapproval of 15-20% on these big issues. Estimates are that about 20-25% of 2024 Trump voters are weak supporters of his, and could break from him. So this kind of double digital disapproval from Republicans is an important sign this early in his Presidency. These the people Slotkin was speaking to last night, people we need to get to break from him in the coming months.
Look at how the WSJ is playing Trump’s tariffs. Voters are right to be worried and angry at Trump’s betrayal of his most important promise in the campaign - to lower costs and bring prosperity.
Musk To Meet With Concerned House Republicans Tonight, Rs Backing Away From In Person Town Halls - Our pressure is working everyone!!!!! From the WaPo:
Elon Musk is set to meet with House Republicans on Wednesday night to discuss the work of the U.S. DOGE Service that he oversees.
While supportive of DOGE’s cost-cutting mission, some Republican lawmakers have begun to express concern over Musk’s methods of laying off federal employees en masse and pursuing massive cuts without congressional input.
Republicans have been facing scenes of frustration and outrage in their districts, particularly over Musk’s efforts to fire federal employees and cut research funding. Rep. Richard Hudson (R-North Carolina), the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, on Tuesday encouraged Republicans to stop holding in-person town halls and hold them virtually instead.
Now, Let’s Get To Work - Let’s start with our current four recommended sets of actions:
1 - Fight The Trump/Musk Attack On Our Government And Our Privacy, End This Historic Crime Spree - Encourage your Senators and Representatives to let Facts be be submitted to a candid world in what I’m calling a joint Senate/House “Letter to America;” hold their own hearings; 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 on Friday). 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 - Protest, Loudly, Trump’s Embrace of Russia and Abandonment of 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 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.
3 - Organize Against The 17 Most Vulnerable Republican House Members - For those of you who live in AZ, CA, CO, IA, MI, NE, NJ, NY, PA, VA, WI please start talking to your local orgs - state and local Democratic parties, grassroots groups, traditional Dem allies - about mounting a campaign targeting the most vulnerable 17 Republican House Members to urge them to vote against whatever joint House-Senate reconciliation bill emerges in the coming weeks. We launched this new effort two weeks ago and while we should be urging all our Senators and Reps to vote against these emerging plans, those of you can work these 17 House Rs have a special role to play in this next phase of the battle over the budget. As we’ve discussed there is a lot of concern in the Republican House about the size of the Medicaid cuts required in the House outline passed last Tuesday and we need to keep working it people!
4 - Keep Calling Attorneys General In The States - Ask them to protect you and your data, tax returns and 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 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 and raise the stakes.
Next, for those wanting to do more traditional political/campaign work we have four Hopium-backed efforts we're rallying behind right now:
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.
Watch our new discussion with Susan and Ben and thanks to a huge surge of support in recent days we have already raised $107,000, blowing past our original $50,000 goal and now our stretch $100,000 goal. We are now upping this to a new super-stretch goal of $150,000 by March 31st. Amazing work everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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 $95,000 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!)
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 $55,000 so far towards our March 31st goal of $100,000 - thank you all. Let’s keep working it for Abigail!
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 $15,000 so far - thank you all!
Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
