“I don’t know if you know, but vampires are some cool people, are they not? But let me tell you something that I found out: a werewolf can kill a vampire. Did you know that? I never knew that. So, I don’t want to be a vampire any more. I want to be a werewolf.”
– Herschel Walker, Trump’s nominee for Ambassador to the Bahamas
That rapist brought feckin' Kelly Loeffler back from the dead too. At least Walker can explain himself away as an obvious victim of CTE and MPD....little miss inside trader has no excuse for being a walking, talking imbecile who has never ONCE been elected to public office.
Sad to say, that’s an exact quote from one of Herschel’s senate campaign speeches. Had he been elected, there would have been plenty more of the same caliber from the Senate floor itself.
I thought he was going to be in charge of developing an "Iron Dome" to intercept long-range ballistic missiles, to leverage his wide ranging experience as a football player.
Poor Bahamas… and Greece, and wherever Jared’s ex-con Dad is being made ambassador for, oh yeah, France… and Canada and Mexico….but especially poor US.
The idea that everything is changing and changing rapidly really resonated with me today. As Simon points out, politically, the world is changing right now. We have to find the opportunities to continue to work for a better tomorrow. It's going to be hard and it's going to take time and we are going to have to do it during a time where it's not just the political world changing.
I know this isn't politics, but I think it's deeply related. Amy Webb and her team at Future Today Institute just put out their annual letter and forecast for 2025. It's long and detailed, but it makes clear that everything is changing at rapid speed, not just the political world. It's worth your time in the coming days and weeks to read, because this is the world we enter in 2025. And it's going to have a lot of ramifications and opportunities. https://mailchi.mp/futuretodayinstitute/2024-annual-letter?e=d13f5db60f
I have said this before and I will say it again. This community has inspired me greatly and pushed me to work on making a better tomorrow. I don't know if I would have been nearly as involved without the push from Hopium. This is an important platform and one that I am proud to support and be a part of. I can't wait to see what we can accomplish together in 2025.
It was a tough morning. I had to have a car towed and the driver was MAGA and couldn't resist starting some shit, and I took the bait. What did Mark Twain say....don't argue with a stupid person, they will drag you down to their level then win on experience.....
Suggestion: The next time a MAGA person brings up Trump, speak enthusiastically and at length about Trump – albeit Judd Trump, the current World No. 1 Snooker player and former World Champion. And then you can add:
"Who is this Donald you speak of?"
That will totally mess with their sense of equanimity.
Happens to the best of us. I stick with "he's a felon and adjudicated rapist, so I guess his values match up with yours" (to the MAGA folks). Usually puts a stop to the conversation.....
I just say yeah I hate Trump but he is really good at telling idiots what they want to hear. I say it in a really nice, calm voice - like I am almost praising him. They don't seem to know how to respond.
I don't know about you, but with AOC losing the vote for ranking member on the oversight committee I am rapidly losing confidence in the democratic leaders in congress. They are not listening, and some of them are planning on working with DOGE - Like Ro Khanna.
Chris, I understand this and agree with you. Where is the fight? Are those in leadership so insulated from ordinary reality that they truly believe they will be able to conduct "business as usual"? I'm especially disappointed in Nancy Pelosi, working behind the scenes (although not too far behind, since we all knew about it) to undercut AOC, arguably the party's best communicator (or at least one of the best young communicators), in favor of septuagenarian foot soldier Gerry Connolly who, it now turns out, tragically has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which augurs an ordeal that would be exhausting for a person half his age. He seems to be the wrong man in the wrong circumstances at the wrong time, unfortunately.
What a slap in the face to rank-and-file Democrats (including those in this community and the rest of the grassroots who sweated blood for Team Blue) to see the current leadership appearing to suppress the party's future leaders and to basically lie supine before the incoming MAGA onslaught. They don't seem to have a plan beyond "duck and cover,"; if they do, they should communicate it to us.
Thom Hartmann contrasts the current Democratic leadership response to Trump 2.0 to the GOP's "war planning" after Obama's election in 2008, as well as to FDR's confrontation of the money power--and the comparison isn't flattering, to put it mildly: https://tinyurl.com/4sez9c83.
This can't continue. I really, really hope Ben Wikler wins his bid to head the DNC, and I also hope those at the top of the party have a plan, because right now, looking to their lead is like trying to follow a parked car.
Same! I don't see the fight, nor do I see a new strategy to deal with where we are and the new media environment. With all due respect to Simon and to Sen. Markey, nobody is watching his stuff! And worse, when the gerontocracy stifles the ambitions of a good, young communicator like AOC, young Dems/Dem-leaning folks just tune out. (I'm not even young, and I'm tuning out to that stuff!)
Marla, this is just bullshit. I am sorry. Markey is out there fighting like hell, making short social media videos to reach younger audiences and you condemn it!!!! Stop it. We need our leaders to step up and when they do we have to praise and encourage them.
Agree and sadly there are some "progressive voices" on radio that are not helping. AOC is not popular with everyone. She is a very young, smart politician. She does seem to have learned to temper her criticisms. Her distaste for Nancy and others was pretty clear in the past. But, to be fair, I mostly have not been following political news these days. I read Hopium and MeidasTouch but not everything. It's all still too painful. We owe a lot to Nancy Pelosi. Agree with her or not, I won't disrespect her.
"The Fringe is Mainstream, and the Mainstream is Fringe"
Below's a link to a recent post by Ted Gioia on Substack. He pick ups on a quote from Van Jones on CNN on how irrevelevant mainstream (news) media is becoming. I'm a bit discouraged not that Simon is quoting from mainstream sources, but that people aren't really connected to the sources that Simon is posting from. Ted mentions that nearly 75 million people saw/heard Joe Rogan's interviews with Musk/Trump/Vance. We are witnessing the rise and power of alternative medias. Here's a quote from Van Jones in a linked article:
"The entire political class is way off. First of all, digital is the new door knocking. You got to understand that. We were laughing our butts off at Donald Trump for suspending his door knocking campaign and letting Charlie Kirk and Elon [Musk] do a bunch of stuff online. We said, ‘these guys are idiots, these guys are stupid.’ Then you start knocking on these doors. You know what people come to the door with? They’re phone in their hand. They’re in a 24-hour digital surround sound that has nothing to do with CNN, that has nothing to do with anything we do."
Also, I have let my subscriptions to the NY Times and Washington Post lapse. Disappointed in their coverage of the election and their ownership as well. Pretty done with billionaire oligarchs and their ilk.
Make sure your GOP senator(s) know(s) that it's Trump and Vance who can't lock down votes for Gabbard and the other walking catastrophes. Trump nominated them, both bullies pound GOP senators every day, but a few have the courage and honesty to hold off, at least for now.
Tell your senators to ask God for the courage and honesty to join them.
"Do You Know Someone in a Cult? 🔸️Evaluate any group now with Dr. Steven Hassan's BITE Model of Authoritarian Control." 🔸️The BITE test finds out if any group is helpful or harmful, honest or dishonest, healthy or unhealthy.
I’m so glad to be a Hopium subscriber. Simon, you’ve done and excellent job in this interim time. Before I move on I have a few nagging questions about the last election and the campaigns:
1. Do we have to concede that the red wave polls got it right?
2. Did the Trump campaign actually turn out more men who are infrequent voters, or did he just win more of the voters who regularly turn out?
3. Democratic turnout was significantly lower than 2020, how for the love of god could that be true?
Great questions! I especially wonder about #3. In 2020, out of an abundance of caution in the face of the Pandemic, the Biden Campaign had virtually no door-knocking or other person-to-person GOTV. Now in 2024, Kamala Harris and a host of independent organizations and groups had a stellar GOTV effort!
To me, it makes little sense that Democratic turnout in this election was so much lower than four years ago.
It’s super important to thank those politicians who are speaking up and yes, to let our elected representatives to be loud and clear about the dangerous 4 appointees.
"[Zeldin] will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses," Trump said in a statement released Monday afternoon, adding that Zeldin will still maintain "the highest environmental standards."
Environmental groups decried the nomination as a step backward for environmental policy.
I think you nailed it Simon. Keep your head down, work hard, take the wins when you get them and don't let the darkness in or knock you off track. Yes there are changes that need to come..but change does bring opportunity for growth if you are paying attention. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do.
"It's as if [the Biden Administration and Democrats] think it gauche to brag. Biden's comments about not putting his name on the stimulus checks was telling. I've suggested a shadow cabinet to help with this problem, but really every governor, every Democrat in office, needs to constantly remind voters what specifically he or she is doing to improve the lives of ordinary Americans. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin did this – and won!"
– Jennifer Rubin, in response to Q&A in today’s WaPo
Timothy Snyder suggested the "shadow cabinet" idea the other day on Rachel Maddow (that's the first I've heard it anyway - not sure of its origin). The problem is that we have to have good communicators who know how to get their content to go viral. I don't see that right now.
I like the idea of a shadow cabinet, at least for some of the top departments. We need to be loud and not just disappear. What better way for us to speak out and suggest alternative policies and solutions?
You are so right Arctic Stones. Imagine if Obama deconstructed the ridiculous “death panels” claims of the GOP during the ACA battle! Stop bringing melon ballers to knife fights.
Only the best and the brightest:
“I don’t know if you know, but vampires are some cool people, are they not? But let me tell you something that I found out: a werewolf can kill a vampire. Did you know that? I never knew that. So, I don’t want to be a vampire any more. I want to be a werewolf.”
– Herschel Walker, Trump’s nominee for Ambassador to the Bahamas
That rapist brought feckin' Kelly Loeffler back from the dead too. At least Walker can explain himself away as an obvious victim of CTE and MPD....little miss inside trader has no excuse for being a walking, talking imbecile who has never ONCE been elected to public office.
Article Stones, always appreciate a lol!
Sad to say, that’s an exact quote from one of Herschel’s senate campaign speeches. Had he been elected, there would have been plenty more of the same caliber from the Senate floor itself.
🤦🏻♀️
I thought he was going to be in charge of developing an "Iron Dome" to intercept long-range ballistic missiles, to leverage his wide ranging experience as a football player.
Poor Bahamas… and Greece, and wherever Jared’s ex-con Dad is being made ambassador for, oh yeah, France… and Canada and Mexico….but especially poor US.
The idea that everything is changing and changing rapidly really resonated with me today. As Simon points out, politically, the world is changing right now. We have to find the opportunities to continue to work for a better tomorrow. It's going to be hard and it's going to take time and we are going to have to do it during a time where it's not just the political world changing.
I know this isn't politics, but I think it's deeply related. Amy Webb and her team at Future Today Institute just put out their annual letter and forecast for 2025. It's long and detailed, but it makes clear that everything is changing at rapid speed, not just the political world. It's worth your time in the coming days and weeks to read, because this is the world we enter in 2025. And it's going to have a lot of ramifications and opportunities. https://mailchi.mp/futuretodayinstitute/2024-annual-letter?e=d13f5db60f
I have said this before and I will say it again. This community has inspired me greatly and pushed me to work on making a better tomorrow. I don't know if I would have been nearly as involved without the push from Hopium. This is an important platform and one that I am proud to support and be a part of. I can't wait to see what we can accomplish together in 2025.
Thank you Tim. Accepting the need to change and let go requires courage, and we are all going to need a lot of courage in the coming days.
Yes, we are.
It was a tough morning. I had to have a car towed and the driver was MAGA and couldn't resist starting some shit, and I took the bait. What did Mark Twain say....don't argue with a stupid person, they will drag you down to their level then win on experience.....
Suggestion: The next time a MAGA person brings up Trump, speak enthusiastically and at length about Trump – albeit Judd Trump, the current World No. 1 Snooker player and former World Champion. And then you can add:
"Who is this Donald you speak of?"
That will totally mess with their sense of equanimity.
😂
Happens to the best of us. I stick with "he's a felon and adjudicated rapist, so I guess his values match up with yours" (to the MAGA folks). Usually puts a stop to the conversation.....
Hard not to take the bait. Hard to know— in the moment— when/how to speak your own truth… and when to just let the magats show their nasty butts.
Someone somewhere suggested, “well, I hope you get what you voted for…”
I just say yeah I hate Trump but he is really good at telling idiots what they want to hear. I say it in a really nice, calm voice - like I am almost praising him. They don't seem to know how to respond.
It's tough. Don't beat yourself up. MAGA guy is an idiot.
I don't know about you, but with AOC losing the vote for ranking member on the oversight committee I am rapidly losing confidence in the democratic leaders in congress. They are not listening, and some of them are planning on working with DOGE - Like Ro Khanna.
Chris, I understand this and agree with you. Where is the fight? Are those in leadership so insulated from ordinary reality that they truly believe they will be able to conduct "business as usual"? I'm especially disappointed in Nancy Pelosi, working behind the scenes (although not too far behind, since we all knew about it) to undercut AOC, arguably the party's best communicator (or at least one of the best young communicators), in favor of septuagenarian foot soldier Gerry Connolly who, it now turns out, tragically has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which augurs an ordeal that would be exhausting for a person half his age. He seems to be the wrong man in the wrong circumstances at the wrong time, unfortunately.
What a slap in the face to rank-and-file Democrats (including those in this community and the rest of the grassroots who sweated blood for Team Blue) to see the current leadership appearing to suppress the party's future leaders and to basically lie supine before the incoming MAGA onslaught. They don't seem to have a plan beyond "duck and cover,"; if they do, they should communicate it to us.
Thom Hartmann contrasts the current Democratic leadership response to Trump 2.0 to the GOP's "war planning" after Obama's election in 2008, as well as to FDR's confrontation of the money power--and the comparison isn't flattering, to put it mildly: https://tinyurl.com/4sez9c83.
This can't continue. I really, really hope Ben Wikler wins his bid to head the DNC, and I also hope those at the top of the party have a plan, because right now, looking to their lead is like trying to follow a parked car.
Same! I don't see the fight, nor do I see a new strategy to deal with where we are and the new media environment. With all due respect to Simon and to Sen. Markey, nobody is watching his stuff! And worse, when the gerontocracy stifles the ambitions of a good, young communicator like AOC, young Dems/Dem-leaning folks just tune out. (I'm not even young, and I'm tuning out to that stuff!)
Marla, this is just bullshit. I am sorry. Markey is out there fighting like hell, making short social media videos to reach younger audiences and you condemn it!!!! Stop it. We need our leaders to step up and when they do we have to praise and encourage them.
People have to resist ill-informed angry hot-takes on this site. It is not how we roll.
Agree and sadly there are some "progressive voices" on radio that are not helping. AOC is not popular with everyone. She is a very young, smart politician. She does seem to have learned to temper her criticisms. Her distaste for Nancy and others was pretty clear in the past. But, to be fair, I mostly have not been following political news these days. I read Hopium and MeidasTouch but not everything. It's all still too painful. We owe a lot to Nancy Pelosi. Agree with her or not, I won't disrespect her.
"The Fringe is Mainstream, and the Mainstream is Fringe"
Below's a link to a recent post by Ted Gioia on Substack. He pick ups on a quote from Van Jones on CNN on how irrevelevant mainstream (news) media is becoming. I'm a bit discouraged not that Simon is quoting from mainstream sources, but that people aren't really connected to the sources that Simon is posting from. Ted mentions that nearly 75 million people saw/heard Joe Rogan's interviews with Musk/Trump/Vance. We are witnessing the rise and power of alternative medias. Here's a quote from Van Jones in a linked article:
"The entire political class is way off. First of all, digital is the new door knocking. You got to understand that. We were laughing our butts off at Donald Trump for suspending his door knocking campaign and letting Charlie Kirk and Elon [Musk] do a bunch of stuff online. We said, ‘these guys are idiots, these guys are stupid.’ Then you start knocking on these doors. You know what people come to the door with? They’re phone in their hand. They’re in a 24-hour digital surround sound that has nothing to do with CNN, that has nothing to do with anything we do."
https://www.honest-broker.com/p/mainstream-is-now-fringe-and-fringe
Also, I have let my subscriptions to the NY Times and Washington Post lapse. Disappointed in their coverage of the election and their ownership as well. Pretty done with billionaire oligarchs and their ilk.
I posted a link above to a thoughtful piece written by Ron Filipkowski about how Dems lost the information war (and what they can do about it).
Embrace the turmoil.
Still waiting to hear from Biden re the nature and extent of Russian involvement in our demise.
This looks like a a good book to be reading - The Color of Abolition - reviewed here by another great substack:
https://open.substack.com/pub/grassrootsconnector/p/learning-from-the-abolitionist-playbook?r=7vxhp&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Make sure your GOP senator(s) know(s) that it's Trump and Vance who can't lock down votes for Gabbard and the other walking catastrophes. Trump nominated them, both bullies pound GOP senators every day, but a few have the courage and honesty to hold off, at least for now.
Tell your senators to ask God for the courage and honesty to join them.
MA's other Senator, Elizabeth Warren, is bringing it too! So glad (and proud) our primary residence is Massachusetts. https://bsky.app/profile/warren.senate.gov/post/3ldjuiu6umc2e
Me too!
"Do You Know Someone in a Cult? 🔸️Evaluate any group now with Dr. Steven Hassan's BITE Model of Authoritarian Control." 🔸️The BITE test finds out if any group is helpful or harmful, honest or dishonest, healthy or unhealthy.
https://bitemodel.com/
I’m so glad to be a Hopium subscriber. Simon, you’ve done and excellent job in this interim time. Before I move on I have a few nagging questions about the last election and the campaigns:
1. Do we have to concede that the red wave polls got it right?
2. Did the Trump campaign actually turn out more men who are infrequent voters, or did he just win more of the voters who regularly turn out?
3. Democratic turnout was significantly lower than 2020, how for the love of god could that be true?
Thank you, Simon. Keep Hopium alive!
Great questions! I especially wonder about #3. In 2020, out of an abundance of caution in the face of the Pandemic, the Biden Campaign had virtually no door-knocking or other person-to-person GOTV. Now in 2024, Kamala Harris and a host of independent organizations and groups had a stellar GOTV effort!
To me, it makes little sense that Democratic turnout in this election was so much lower than four years ago.
It’s super important to thank those politicians who are speaking up and yes, to let our elected representatives to be loud and clear about the dangerous 4 appointees.
My personal unacceptable four include the nominee for the EPA: former New York congressman Lee Zeldin.
https://www.npr.org/2024/11/11/nx-s1-5187039/trump-lee-zeldin-epa-environment
"[Zeldin] will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses," Trump said in a statement released Monday afternoon, adding that Zeldin will still maintain "the highest environmental standards."
Environmental groups decried the nomination as a step backward for environmental policy.
I think you nailed it Simon. Keep your head down, work hard, take the wins when you get them and don't let the darkness in or knock you off track. Yes there are changes that need to come..but change does bring opportunity for growth if you are paying attention. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do.
Astute quote from Jen Rubin:
"It's as if [the Biden Administration and Democrats] think it gauche to brag. Biden's comments about not putting his name on the stimulus checks was telling. I've suggested a shadow cabinet to help with this problem, but really every governor, every Democrat in office, needs to constantly remind voters what specifically he or she is doing to improve the lives of ordinary Americans. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin did this – and won!"
– Jennifer Rubin, in response to Q&A in today’s WaPo
https://wapo.st/49J2HOR
Timothy Snyder suggested the "shadow cabinet" idea the other day on Rachel Maddow (that's the first I've heard it anyway - not sure of its origin). The problem is that we have to have good communicators who know how to get their content to go viral. I don't see that right now.
I believe the origin of the Shadow Cabinet is European. It dates back many generations – at least back to 1836.
https://www.historyandpolicy.org/opinion-articles/articles/the-shadow-cabinet
I know that Wiley Nickel talked about a US Shadow Cabinet in early November, but I seriously doubt that is the first mention on this side of the pond.
Ron Filipkowski had some interesting thoughts on this.
https://www.meidasplus.com/p/the-one-big-reason-why-dems-are-losing
Jasmine Crockett, Eric Swalwell, Dan Goldman, Ted Lieu, Pete Buttigieg come to mind. I'm sure there are others I am forgetting.
I like the idea of a shadow cabinet, at least for some of the top departments. We need to be loud and not just disappear. What better way for us to speak out and suggest alternative policies and solutions?
https://www.meidasplus.com/p/the-one-big-reason-why-dems-are-losing
You are so right Arctic Stones. Imagine if Obama deconstructed the ridiculous “death panels” claims of the GOP during the ACA battle! Stop bringing melon ballers to knife fights.
I hope we don't have to find out what happens if you have a Secretary of Defense with delirium tremens.
Scary as hell. And with a violent (“kill all the Muslims) streak.