Kamala Harris Is Doing Her Part. Now We Need To Do Ours......

So proud of our VP, our party and our country this morning!!!!!!!!

Happy Wednesday everyone! We had a really good night last night. They had a really bad night. And that’s good for America and democracies everywhere. Will try to distill all that’s running around in my head this morning into a post…..

First, I think a reason why it is so hard this morning to write about what happened is that this was an event that had to be watched to be understood, and felt. You needed to see and feel her strength, confidence, power, intelligence, experience and fearlessness; and you needed to see and feel his madness, ugliness, cowardice and venality. She not only won the rhetorical debate, she won the television part of it too from her attempt to shake his hand at the beginning to her crushing him in the split screens throughout the debate. The sophistication of her TV/visual game has been a critical part of how she has been succeeding against the deeply media savvy orange one these last few months.

As bad as it was for Trump last night, and it was really bad, what is going to happen over the next few days in the commentary and on social media is going to be far worse. He lost badly. We here at Hopium know he is a rapist, fraudster, traitor and a felon. That he is unfit, unwell, extreme and untethered. That MAGA is a failed politics, deeply out of touch with the American people, a threat to all that we hold dear. But now tens and tens of millions of America know it too for Trump’s historic awfulness needs to be seen to be believed.

In my post yesterday I talked about how important it was that the VP brought a strategy to deal with this alternative world he lives in - dog eaters, crime rising, killing babies after birth - and she did. She did it through her “you have to be shitting me” expressions throughout the debate. She did it by challenging his delusions forcefully, and sometimes very directly. Her dive into his crowdsize mania worked, brilliantly, and got him going early on something that is so batshit crazy that it is hard to believe.

Loved that Taylor Swift not only endorsed the VP last night but she also is encouraging her fans to vote early!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I wrote yesterday I think we entered the debate in a far stronger electoral position than Republicans. We got a remarkable amount of very good polling yesterday. The VP strengthened her already strong hand last night, and more than ever before, I would much rather be us than them.

Kamala Harris had a plan last night and she executed on it. She had a job to do and she did it. She succeeded because she was clearly incredibly well prepared, and in that clear evidence of her preparation she also signaled to us that she was prepared to take on her next big job, as the 47th President of the United States of America.

Friends, sometimes things are complicated in politics. Sometimes they are simple. What happened last night was simple - she kicked his ass, and in the process generated powerful moments which will continue to give voters important information about her and him for many days and weeks to come. It was another remarkable moment in what has been one of the most remarkable and impressive political campaigns in our lifetimes.

Let’s look at a few clips from last night.

This exchange about Putin and Russia and Putin eating his lunch will be one of those moments which grows more powerful over time:

This one was one of those moments where you had to see and hear Trump being his batshit crazy racist self to believe it, and a moment when her facial expressions also communicated powerful things to all of us:

The rallies meltdown:

And then this the VP at a debate watch party after her wiping the floor with Trump. Note the new line - hard work is good work. And we are going to win!

Hard Work Is Good. And We Are Going To Win! - The Vice President did her job last night. Not it is up to us to do ours. Let’s get to work, people, for our democracy, for our freedoms and our future.

Here’s my post on the strategy behind our candidate and state party endorsements, including our Presidential battleground “check” and “checkmate” strategy. Sign up to call or postcard for Mondaire Jones (NY-17) at this week’s Winning The House Thursday. These events have been well-attended and fun - join us if you can!

Contribute, volunteer and win with the Hopium community today:

• Harris-Walz!!!!!! - $1,025,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | The Harris-Walz YouTube Channel - Let’s get to $1m people by the debate people!

• Winning The House - $1,030,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Sign Up For Our Thursday Night Winning The House Calling and Postcarding Series. 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 - $449,000 raised, $500,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton

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• Nebraska/Blue Dot - $164,000 raised, $200,000 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 9 days away, next week!

• 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.

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Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon