Trump really values his TV ratings and crowd sizes. This is why he went apoplectic when even the National Park Service documented that Obama’s crowd was bigger.
Well, this year Trump’s crowd will be tiny. Due to a forecast of moderate Greenland-like weather, the inauguration is being moved inside the Capitol. (Rather than being a coward, Bernie would just have put on mittens and a hat.)
How are ratings determined? They count the number of TVs on and what they are tuned to.
Here is how to tank Trump’s TV ratings: Leave your TV on, just switch it to any channel that is NOT broadcasting his inauguration. National Geographic or even the Food Channel will do. Go for a walk, wash your hair, take a nap, do your daily commute and go to work if you have to, make love to your partner if you want – but just leave your TV on.
*) Unfortunately, I will not be able to heed my own advice. My wife and I got rid of our TV more than a decade ago. We may, however, stream a good movie or re-watch Nixon’s and Agnew’s resignation speeches, or perhaps re-watch the debate in which Kamala Harris demolished Trump.
**) Credit to the Borowitz Report and top commenter Debra Poneman.
Here is my own Inauguration Day: I will make phone calls on behalf of Josh Weil, who is running for FL-06. I signed up via Progressive Democrats of America (https://pdamerica.org/volunteer/) and through them, I signed up for this phone-banking event.
So if you have some spare time, sign up with any of these pro-democracy websites and get involved! We have some special elections coming up, so we can put our energy there!
My plan is to write LTEs pointing out where the money and power grabs are happening, how it is anti democracy, in violation of the constitution , not what our founders wanted or we fought for, and pointing to the Démocrates who want to do xxx, stop the stealing !! Invest in America clean energy etc.
TIKTOK: delaying or undoing the ban? Trump’s action is undoubtedly transactional, but he may first and foremost be helping billionaire Jeff Yass, one of his major campaign donors. Yass just happens to own a 7-percent stake ($21 billion) in ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. (It’s entirely possible that Trump has, in addition, made a deal with China. "The TikTok Accords"?)
Unfortunately, if Trump positions himself as "the savior of TikTok", and succesfully paints the ban as a Biden/Democratic act, Trump is likely to benefit politically. After all, this is a favorite social media platform for approx. 170 million Americans, and many voters, especially the young, have an emotional attachment to TikTok.
If TikTok eventually is sold, I hope it will be to Frank McCourt and his Project Liberty. Their vision is truly radical: empowering users to own and control their own user data! Can anybody think of any other social media platform that does this? Certainly not Zuckerberg’s Meta.
The worst possible scenario would a sale of TikTok to Elon Musk. I don’t think I need to explain why.
Thanks for the good info. As for blaming things on Dems, even young people have trusted messengers—who can get the Truth out to them. We Dems have to amplify those messengers. Our job thus year. Truth Squad with how Dems make things better.
And our lack of imagination - what a simple thing to get credit on that note from Tik tok - will cost us again (just like not signing stimulus checks). Yes, this stuff is gross but it is the game being played (and we are not playing it at the moment). Trump will now have young people saying “he got us that sweet stimmy check and saved my Tik Tok.” We will say - “that’s not true. Look at what this NYT/NPR story says!”
I think there are many young people in the US who are not fooled by this PR stunt. In fact, a couple million of them are on the Chinese app RedNote conversing with young Chinese folks and realizing they have many shared experiences.
I’d rather watch paint dry than listen to Tweetolini. I may run the cat videos on MeidasTouch or do as Arctic Stones suggests. Better yet there will be enough snow, the roads cleared, and I will XC ski surrounded by the wonders of nature.
Thank you for this today, Simon. As always, a balm to the sorrow we all feel this day. Tomorrow: resolute, vigilant and faithful to the sacred idea of America.
I'm glad to have this list of accomplishments under the Biden administration. How can we (Hopium community) push Democratic leaders (local, state and national) to effectively communicate the SPECIFIC IMPACTS these accomplishments have had (and will have) on ordinary Americans' lives?
How can we pressure Democratic leaders (or help them) to be loud and proud and vocal? This has to happen BEFORE Trump and the GOP take credit for many of these accomplishments (eg., infrastructure, drug costs lowered, jobs created) that were funded by a Democratic-controlled Congress.
As Simon has said repeatedly, Dems need to be more effective in communicating. And we need to let them know that that's what their constituents expect of them. As a group of 175,000 strong, is there a way we can exert some pressure/encouragement?
It's an amazing list. Maybe what we as individuals can do is highlight and remember some of those accomplishments and make note of them wherever we can. Mention them in on-line comments sections, mention them to friends who may be feeling discouraged about Dem policies, remind ourselves of them, push back in letters to the editor. Repost the link on social media.
I will practice a week of self care. i am scheduled thru next sunday!! safe people, safe places. avoid media. music and streaming only on tv. internet will be trickier. reading carter biography. walking, massage. going to bed earlier, getting more sleep. i want to avoid not only the inauguration but the shock and awe too. so a week of reprieve for me. hope all hopiums can practice self care. and thx simon for all the good stuff to listen too. i vividly remember joe's inauguration and that poet and poem and also had to buy the book. think its a good idea to watch biden's inauguration instead. see you all on the other side!!!
Simon, I so appreciate this post as well as your post of yesterday. You offered so many options for the Hopium future, so much grounded good thinking. I think of Hopium as a rallying cry: Here are the facts, this is the need, go forth. I also think of it as community—a place where we can stomp our anti-MAGA feet as loudly as we wish and not be chastised. I have listened to all your interviews and I find them helpful. New news about fighting disinformation is extremely helpful. And having a sense that what we are all experiencing here is being communicated to those who know — like Jeffries — is exquisitely helpful, too. That, through you, we know our voices are being heard.
My three children and I were in that crowd at Obama’s first Inauguration. See us? We’re standing on the lawn on the Senate side of the Capitol. We couldn’t see or hear a damn thing because the Jumbotrons and the loud speakers were for those standing on the Mall. But we were so happy to be there, so happy. The weather was cccccold but we came prepared.
I assume we were in the crowd with people from every religion, race, ethnic group and age. Many of the black women were wearing those wonderful church hats. As we stood together, waiting for the various events to begin we exchanged info with each other. “Where are you from?” “Did you do a lot of campaign work?” “It’s damn cold, isn’t it?”. The magical feeling all of us seemed to both feel and exude was just wonderful.
With the exception of the days my sons were born, our attendance at the 2009 Inauguration was the high point of my life.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s confirmation hearings have yet to be scheduled. Why not? Well, for one, the Office of Government Ethics is still evaluating his financial disclosures, which are required for potential Cabinet officials.
If and when RFK Jr finally gets his hearings before the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health Committee, in February at the earliest, he will face a barrage of oral and written questions. Senate Elizabeth Warren alone had submitted 175 questions!
Guess what? We didn't win with lowering drug prices.
Medicare, as of Jan 2025, is now denying crucial procedures. I rely on RFA so that I can function. My lumbar spine is deteriorated because of DES (remember DES from the 49s, 50, and 60s?)
RFA has allowed me to function after 3 failed back surgeries. I've been receiving the procedure for the last 3 years. Now it's been denied.
Thanks for the inspiring words from past speeches by leaders we can and should look up to. Balm for the troubled soul in our current situation. Today was the "hope" part of Hopium. Yesterday, more the "plan" part of Hopium. We desperately need them both.
I keep thinking about the Civil Rights movement; the Women's Suffrage movement. Both faced enormous obstacles--some of which carry over to this day--and the successes of which have provoked profound backlash. But the Freedom Riders didn't give up. Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't give up--even though it cost him his life. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony didn't give up. We must be that strong, that persistent, that determined. We must take their roadmaps and adapt them to the present and future. Hopium can and should be a part of that mission.
What an amazing, gorgeous, meaningful poem by Amanda Gorman. I am sorry to say that I did not see it 4 years ago, but I was captured by it this time. I watched it twice. Just perfect from the 22-year old.
The long list of accomplishments is astounding! I hope that the Dems in leadership use it as their constant 24/7/365 battle cry, flood the media with it, and keep reminding us of the values we hold dear, especially in the face of the darkness ahead.
While I’m thinking of it, some of you might enjoy the brilliantly created Presidential library. I found this in comments on a Substack newsletter yesterday. Of course, it’s satire and a hoot, but another way to spend tomorrow with reminders of all the unbelievable stuff we’ve endured already. https://djtrumplibrary.com/
Also the Grift Shop, Felon’s Lounge, Hotel, and so much more. Drumpf Diner Menu in the Grift Shop. Pardons for Sale…a downloadable pdf. I could go on and on. Please share. 😊
HELP TANK TRUMP’s Inauguration Ratings
Trump really values his TV ratings and crowd sizes. This is why he went apoplectic when even the National Park Service documented that Obama’s crowd was bigger.
Well, this year Trump’s crowd will be tiny. Due to a forecast of moderate Greenland-like weather, the inauguration is being moved inside the Capitol. (Rather than being a coward, Bernie would just have put on mittens and a hat.)
How are ratings determined? They count the number of TVs on and what they are tuned to.
Here is how to tank Trump’s TV ratings: Leave your TV on, just switch it to any channel that is NOT broadcasting his inauguration. National Geographic or even the Food Channel will do. Go for a walk, wash your hair, take a nap, do your daily commute and go to work if you have to, make love to your partner if you want – but just leave your TV on.
*) Unfortunately, I will not be able to heed my own advice. My wife and I got rid of our TV more than a decade ago. We may, however, stream a good movie or re-watch Nixon’s and Agnew’s resignation speeches, or perhaps re-watch the debate in which Kamala Harris demolished Trump.
**) Credit to the Borowitz Report and top commenter Debra Poneman.
Good idea to have the TV on to any channel not featuring the Inauguration. The Food Channel will be my choice.
Here is my own Inauguration Day: I will make phone calls on behalf of Josh Weil, who is running for FL-06. I signed up via Progressive Democrats of America (https://pdamerica.org/volunteer/) and through them, I signed up for this phone-banking event.
So if you have some spare time, sign up with any of these pro-democracy websites and get involved! We have some special elections coming up, so we can put our energy there!
How can we drive the conversation-don’t use the successes of this administration as ripostes but as attacks? How do we own the narrative?
My plan is to write LTEs pointing out where the money and power grabs are happening, how it is anti democracy, in violation of the constitution , not what our founders wanted or we fought for, and pointing to the Démocrates who want to do xxx, stop the stealing !! Invest in America clean energy etc.
TIKTOK: delaying or undoing the ban? Trump’s action is undoubtedly transactional, but he may first and foremost be helping billionaire Jeff Yass, one of his major campaign donors. Yass just happens to own a 7-percent stake ($21 billion) in ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. (It’s entirely possible that Trump has, in addition, made a deal with China. "The TikTok Accords"?)
Unfortunately, if Trump positions himself as "the savior of TikTok", and succesfully paints the ban as a Biden/Democratic act, Trump is likely to benefit politically. After all, this is a favorite social media platform for approx. 170 million Americans, and many voters, especially the young, have an emotional attachment to TikTok.
If TikTok eventually is sold, I hope it will be to Frank McCourt and his Project Liberty. Their vision is truly radical: empowering users to own and control their own user data! Can anybody think of any other social media platform that does this? Certainly not Zuckerberg’s Meta.
The worst possible scenario would a sale of TikTok to Elon Musk. I don’t think I need to explain why.
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/17/mccourt-tiktok-bid-supreme-court
Thanks for the good info. As for blaming things on Dems, even young people have trusted messengers—who can get the Truth out to them. We Dems have to amplify those messengers. Our job thus year. Truth Squad with how Dems make things better.
And I vote for David Hoag for VP Dem Committee
Exactly my thoughts!
And our lack of imagination - what a simple thing to get credit on that note from Tik tok - will cost us again (just like not signing stimulus checks). Yes, this stuff is gross but it is the game being played (and we are not playing it at the moment). Trump will now have young people saying “he got us that sweet stimmy check and saved my Tik Tok.” We will say - “that’s not true. Look at what this NYT/NPR story says!”
I think there are many young people in the US who are not fooled by this PR stunt. In fact, a couple million of them are on the Chinese app RedNote conversing with young Chinese folks and realizing they have many shared experiences.
I’d rather watch paint dry than listen to Tweetolini. I may run the cat videos on MeidasTouch or do as Arctic Stones suggests. Better yet there will be enough snow, the roads cleared, and I will XC ski surrounded by the wonders of nature.
Thank you for this today, Simon. As always, a balm to the sorrow we all feel this day. Tomorrow: resolute, vigilant and faithful to the sacred idea of America.
I'm glad to have this list of accomplishments under the Biden administration. How can we (Hopium community) push Democratic leaders (local, state and national) to effectively communicate the SPECIFIC IMPACTS these accomplishments have had (and will have) on ordinary Americans' lives?
How can we pressure Democratic leaders (or help them) to be loud and proud and vocal? This has to happen BEFORE Trump and the GOP take credit for many of these accomplishments (eg., infrastructure, drug costs lowered, jobs created) that were funded by a Democratic-controlled Congress.
As Simon has said repeatedly, Dems need to be more effective in communicating. And we need to let them know that that's what their constituents expect of them. As a group of 175,000 strong, is there a way we can exert some pressure/encouragement?
It's an amazing list. Maybe what we as individuals can do is highlight and remember some of those accomplishments and make note of them wherever we can. Mention them in on-line comments sections, mention them to friends who may be feeling discouraged about Dem policies, remind ourselves of them, push back in letters to the editor. Repost the link on social media.
Great. I write LTEs. My last one was thanking President Biden for his economic advances. And not so great at social media.
But you make some very good points
I will practice a week of self care. i am scheduled thru next sunday!! safe people, safe places. avoid media. music and streaming only on tv. internet will be trickier. reading carter biography. walking, massage. going to bed earlier, getting more sleep. i want to avoid not only the inauguration but the shock and awe too. so a week of reprieve for me. hope all hopiums can practice self care. and thx simon for all the good stuff to listen too. i vividly remember joe's inauguration and that poet and poem and also had to buy the book. think its a good idea to watch biden's inauguration instead. see you all on the other side!!!
Simon, I so appreciate this post as well as your post of yesterday. You offered so many options for the Hopium future, so much grounded good thinking. I think of Hopium as a rallying cry: Here are the facts, this is the need, go forth. I also think of it as community—a place where we can stomp our anti-MAGA feet as loudly as we wish and not be chastised. I have listened to all your interviews and I find them helpful. New news about fighting disinformation is extremely helpful. And having a sense that what we are all experiencing here is being communicated to those who know — like Jeffries — is exquisitely helpful, too. That, through you, we know our voices are being heard.
My three children and I were in that crowd at Obama’s first Inauguration. See us? We’re standing on the lawn on the Senate side of the Capitol. We couldn’t see or hear a damn thing because the Jumbotrons and the loud speakers were for those standing on the Mall. But we were so happy to be there, so happy. The weather was cccccold but we came prepared.
I assume we were in the crowd with people from every religion, race, ethnic group and age. Many of the black women were wearing those wonderful church hats. As we stood together, waiting for the various events to begin we exchanged info with each other. “Where are you from?” “Did you do a lot of campaign work?” “It’s damn cold, isn’t it?”. The magical feeling all of us seemed to both feel and exude was just wonderful.
With the exception of the days my sons were born, our attendance at the 2009 Inauguration was the high point of my life.
VICTORY AGAINST RFK Jr. (at least temporarily)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s confirmation hearings have yet to be scheduled. Why not? Well, for one, the Office of Government Ethics is still evaluating his financial disclosures, which are required for potential Cabinet officials.
If and when RFK Jr finally gets his hearings before the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health Committee, in February at the earliest, he will face a barrage of oral and written questions. Senate Elizabeth Warren alone had submitted 175 questions!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/01/18/rfk-health-secretary-opposition/
That's great. Still, we have to contact our senators--ALL of them--and pressure them to vote NO on him. Our nation's health is literally at stake.
Yes!
Guess what? We didn't win with lowering drug prices.
Medicare, as of Jan 2025, is now denying crucial procedures. I rely on RFA so that I can function. My lumbar spine is deteriorated because of DES (remember DES from the 49s, 50, and 60s?)
RFA has allowed me to function after 3 failed back surgeries. I've been receiving the procedure for the last 3 years. Now it's been denied.
Thanks for the inspiring words from past speeches by leaders we can and should look up to. Balm for the troubled soul in our current situation. Today was the "hope" part of Hopium. Yesterday, more the "plan" part of Hopium. We desperately need them both.
I keep thinking about the Civil Rights movement; the Women's Suffrage movement. Both faced enormous obstacles--some of which carry over to this day--and the successes of which have provoked profound backlash. But the Freedom Riders didn't give up. Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't give up--even though it cost him his life. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony didn't give up. We must be that strong, that persistent, that determined. We must take their roadmaps and adapt them to the present and future. Hopium can and should be a part of that mission.
What an amazing, gorgeous, meaningful poem by Amanda Gorman. I am sorry to say that I did not see it 4 years ago, but I was captured by it this time. I watched it twice. Just perfect from the 22-year old.
The long list of accomplishments is astounding! I hope that the Dems in leadership use it as their constant 24/7/365 battle cry, flood the media with it, and keep reminding us of the values we hold dear, especially in the face of the darkness ahead.
While I’m thinking of it, some of you might enjoy the brilliantly created Presidential library. I found this in comments on a Substack newsletter yesterday. Of course, it’s satire and a hoot, but another way to spend tomorrow with reminders of all the unbelievable stuff we’ve endured already. https://djtrumplibrary.com/
Priceless! That link deserves to be shared far and wide. It’s especially worthwhile to explore the "Exhibitions".
Also the Grift Shop, Felon’s Lounge, Hotel, and so much more. Drumpf Diner Menu in the Grift Shop. Pardons for Sale…a downloadable pdf. I could go on and on. Please share. 😊
Ms. Gorman's poem is magical. I love Robert Frost's poem from JFK's Inauguration very, very much but Ms. Gorman's is my favorite.