Happy Friday all. We are 4 days until the debate, 12 days until an interest rate cut, 12 days until Trump is sentenced for his 34 felony convictions, 15 days until early in-person voting begins in MN, SD and VA, 20 days until Jack Smith files a brief in Trump’s revived treason trial, 25 days until the VP debate and 59 days until we kick their ass in the 2024 election. Let’s get to it…..
A Few Things To Do This Weekend
Sign up for our next Hopium Winning The House Thursday, this one for Mondaire Jones (NY-17). We had a great turnout last night for George Whitesides. Thank you everyone!
Watch my new discussion on the 2024 election with Tom Bonier. Its full of new analysis and encouraging data. I think you will enjoy it.
Catch episode 2 of Closing Strong, my new video series with Tara McGowan and COURIER Newsroom. This week we are joined by Ruben Gallego and author Liz Plank. It is a another good one!
Bringing The Joy - When the dust settles, and the Russian-backed MAGA movement fades, America will come to understand how lucky we were that Joe Biden won the 2020 Presidential election. His Day 1 as President was among the most challenging in our history - pre-vaccine COVID, economic collapse, Trump’s disastrous management of the pandemic, an insurrection, the first time America failed to have a peaceful transfer of power, the lack of a traditional Presidential transition - just unbelievable levels of Trumpian chaos as far as the eye could see. And today, almost four years later, America’s economy is “the envy of the world.” Growth here has been far above the growth in other advanced economies. We’ve had the best job market in 60 years. The lowest uninsured rate in history. Record levels of new business formation. Wage growth has outpaced inflation. The stock market is setting records. Joe Biden has made historic investments in our economy and workers that will be creating jobs and opportunity for the American people for decades to come. We’ve dramatically accelerated the energy transition necessary to keep the planet from warming. We’ve beaten inflation - a global phenomenon - and interest rate cuts are coming now. We are more energy independent today than we’ve been in decades. Crimes rates which had gone up under Donald Trump have come down under Joe Biden. The deficit which skyrocketed under Donald Trump has come down under Joe Biden. Despite reckless Republican obstruction, flows to the border are lower today than they were under Donald Trump. Joe Biden passed the first major gun safety legislation in 30 years, retired hundreds of billions of dollars of student debt, reinvigorated the Western alliance and has now landed a serious and long overdue blow against Russian influence operations here in the United States.
When I speak to my three Gen Z children I tell them that because of Joe Biden they will have more opportunities in their lives. The planet is less likely to warm. They are less likely to be shot in school. They will probably never know what it is like to lack health insurance. It will be easier for them to travel for work and pleasure. They will still live in a democracy, and be able to vote for their leaders. That it far more likely that the America I grew up in, a land of unending opportunity, respected in the world, will be the America they experience in their own lives as they age. Someday the young people of 2024 America will come to understand that this man they see as old and distant did so much for them and their families, and I believe they will be grateful that the American people choose him over the deranged, traitorous, serial criminal who still somehow plagues our politics, attacks our freedoms and insults our intelligence every moment of every day.
This week the government of the United States took significant action to disrupt ongoing Russian influence and disinformation operations in the United States. It has touched off a serious and long overdue conversation here about the capture of the Republican Party by Putin, and the enormous and profoundly pernicious propaganda machine that the right, with Russia’s help, has constructed here in America. A propaganda machine that I think has been successful at robbing Americans of the great gift we had as kids - to be proud of the country we live in. Here is what historian Anne Applebaum wrote recently:
In the 20th Century, Communist Party propaganda was overwhelming and inspiring, or at least it was meant to be. The future it portrayed was shiny and idealized, a vision of clean factories, abundant produce, and healthy tractor drivers with large muscles and square jaws.
In the 21st century, authoritarian propaganda, whether coming from Russia, China, or the American far-right, has a very different goal: to create fear, cynicism, nihilism, and apathy. The point is to convince Americans that their democracy is degenerate, their elections illegitimate, their civilization dying. This story is told not only by Russian and Chinese bots and anonymous trolls, but by leading members of the Republican party, including the presidential candidate himself.
This enormous Russian-backed propaganda machine has kept Americans from understanding how strong, powerful and successful our country is right now; how deranged, delusional and just bat shit crazy Trump has become; how deeply dangerous and threatening MAGA’s agenda is or how utterly the Republican Party has failed America for decades now; and how successful the Democratic Party is today, and has been now for many many decades.
As I wrote in my very first Hopium post:
I am calling it Hopium Chronicles because I want this to be a journey guided by hope and optimism, of belief in ourselves, in love of country and a clear understanding of the nature of the conflict we are in. I have become convinced that part of Greater MAGA’s strategy is to intentionally poison our discourse with negative sentiment every day. They want us to feel bad about America, our democracy, our leaders, our institutions, our success, each other, ourselves. We cannot let them do that any more. While they talk American down every day, we need to talk it up. While they spread lies, we respond with truth and data. Hopium is a rejection of the darkness they are trying to spread. It is a way of standing up for our great country and its remarkable people. It is the key to how we win.
Last night, in the video above, I went on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show to talk about Trump’s completely unhinged remarks at the NY Economic Club yesterday. In these remarks Trump literally promised to destroy the Western alliance which has kept us safe, the global economic system which has kept us prosperous and American democracy which has keep us free. In response to these remarks, which could have easily been drafted in Moscow, Trump received repeated applause. Shocking but not surprising of course. Do watch and join me in thanking Lawrence O’Donnell for his willingness to showcase how ridiculous, idiotic and scary burnt orange Trump is every night on MSNBC. He is one of the true heroes of this challenging era and yes Lawrence we are all oh so tired of the bullshit.
As I’ve been writing on Twitter these last few days, this week things have started to feel different. It is possible that the curtain is being pulled back from the Wizard now, the court is realizing the orange Emperor has no clothes, the fog of Trump is lifting and those who’ve enthralled and captured by this right wing propaganda machine have begun to realize how badly they’ve been played. Perhaps its wishful thinking given the last nine years of his bluster, bullshit and bamboozlement. Maybe I am wide-eyed optimist. Too much Hopium. Or perhaps we really are in early stages of the necessary process of extricating ourselves from this dark period in our history.
The most important actor in our collective efforts to liberate us from the poisonous pessimism of MAGA is Vice President Kamala Harris. She is doing something deeply profound for all of us right now - she is giving us permission to love our country again. I think she has come to understand how essential this sentiment is in not just beating Trump, but in crushing Russian-backed MAGA itself. She picked a VP who is a powerful partner in this essential process. “Bringing the joy,” waving the flag, honoring our veterans, loving our country isn’t just feel good stuff, it is deeply strategic. It is how we win. It is how we secure our democracy, our freedoms and our future. It is how we send MAGA to dark dustbin of history where so rightly belongs.
Which is why in the coming days we need to keep bringing the joy, keep working hard, keep talking America and the Democratic Party up and keep doing everything we can to help Harris and Walz win. Our kids and our grandkids are counting on us to get this done and give them the future they all deserve. We are not going to let them down, are we my friends?
Supporting Hopium-backed Candidates and State Parties, Working From Joy - 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. 14 days to go before early in person voting begins in MN, SD, VA everybody - no time to waste!
Harris-Walz!!!!!! - $939,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | The Harris-Walz YouTube Channel - Let’s get to $1m people!
Winning The House - $1,004,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Sign Up For Our Thursday Night Calling and Postcarding. Watch our recent discussion with Leader Hakeem Jeffries. To go deeper watch 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), Adam Gray (CA-13), Sue Altman (NJ-07) and Mondaire Jones (NY-17).
North Carolina - $437,000 raised, $500,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton
Arizona/Ruben Gallego - $343,000 rised, $400,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with Ruben Gallego
Nebraska/Blue Dot - $158,000 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 14 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. Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
Joe Biden Has Been A Very Good President, Lifting The Fog of Trump, Bringing The Joy