New Economic Data Confirms Trump Has Failed The American People
Join our new campaign to help Rebecca Bennett flip NJ-7 blue!
Morning all. We got new inflation and GDP growth numbers yesterday. The new PCE Price Index data showed Trump’s tariffs and war continuing to cause inflation to rise. The newly revised GDP data showed q1 GDP growth clocked in at only 1.6% - a significant slowdown from 2025 and the last few years of the Biden era.
Let’s now review recent data, including that new data we got yesterday, to show how much damage Trump has done to the US economy and the economic standing of the American people:
Trump has the worst economic growth record of any President in the post WWII era:
Trump’s tariffs re-ignited inflation. His war has driven it even higher.
Trump’s tariffs and other policies - mass deportation, tax cuts/higher deficits, the war, war on science - have clearly slowed the American economy:
Trump’s policies are adding enormous amounts of debt to an already heavily indebted country. Today for the first time in modern history the US does not have the highest credit grade in any of the three main credit rating agencies, and note that the talk these days is Fed rate hikes not cuts:
Soaring inflation and higher than desired interest rates are causing Americans to draw down their savings:
The saving rate is collapsing for this is what consumers have experienced under Trump. The tariffs increased the inflation rate by 50%. The war has caused it to more than double.
All of this has resulted in the lowest consumer sentiment rating in 65 years:
And Trump’s standing with the public keeps finding a new bottom every week:
Due to some life business I have to attend to today this post is a little shorter than usual, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t…..
Time To Get To Work Everyone!
We kicked off a campaign yesterday to give Rebecca Bennett resources to fight off a massive $650,000 attack against her in NJ-7 Our goal is to raise $10,000 by Tuesday - we’ve almost hit $5,000 so far. Thanks to all who have contributed! Watch my new interview with one of our very best candidates of the cycle and consider donating to her campaign today!
The Washington Post has a major new report on NJ-7 this morning - He hasn’t been seen in Congress for months. Now Republicans are worried -
For almost three months, Rep. Tom Kean Jr.’s whereabouts and condition have been a mystery in his New Jersey congressional district. Now they are becoming a source of growing alarm for his party in Washington, where Republicans fear his prolonged absence could cost them his swing seat — and possibly their House majority.
Kean has not voted in the House since March 5. His district, one of the most affluent in the nation, is also one of the country’s most competitive, a seat Republicans need to hold for a chance to keep a House that they currently control by only a handful of votes. The cost of his absence has already shown up on the House floor. Earlier this month, a resolution on U.S. military action in Iran deadlocked 212-212, with Kean not casting a ballot.
“No one knows where he is and, from my understanding, the speaker doesn’t know what the exact situation is,” said Doug Heye, a longtime Republican operative and former top aide to then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia). “Just as there’s no room for error in the congressional majority, there’s no room for error in this congressional race.”
Kean has not cast a vote in Congress in nearly three months. He has not appeared at a public event in his district. He has not held a town hall, attended a committee hearing or stepped onto the House floor — all of which have led to a mix of confusion, frustration and anger.
Representatives for Kean’s congressional office and campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
His congressional office has released little information about why he has been away. Kean said in a statement last month that he has been dealing with “a personal medical issue” but did not specify when he expects to return. As pressure built in recent weeks for Kean to provide more information, the congressman told the New Jersey Globe in a phone interview that he expects to return to work “in the next couple of weeks” and will run for reelection.
Now you see why Rs have spent $650,000 in just the past week against Bennett - for they are deeply worried that with one of our strongest candidates of the cycle this district is slipping away……..
Winning The Midterms, Competing In Red States and Red Places, Expanding The Map
Hopium’s Winning The House Campaign - $735,900 raised, $1,000,000 goal (new ambitious, audacious even, q2 goal) - Donate to all twelve of our endorsed House challengers with a single contribution split twelve ways | Get to know Jamie Ager (NC-11), Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Rebecca Cooke (WI-03), Elaine Luria (VA-02), Sean McCann (MI-04), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), Chaz Molder (TN-05), Jonathan Nez (AZ-02), Janelle Stelson (PA-10), Shannon Taylor (VA-01), and Sarah Trone Garriott (IA-03) by watching our recently recorded Hopium interviews.
Friends if these twelve win, the House will flip, no matter redistricting madness the Rs execute in the coming days. So eyes on the prize here.
Hopium’s Winning The House - Second Wave - $26,400 raised ($46,000 incl dedicated Johnny Garcia funds), $250,000 goal - We’ve launched a second House fund, one targeting candidates who’ve recently emerged from primaries or have to run in new districts. Our initial crew is Bob Brooks (PA-07), Johnny Garcia (TX-35), Bob Harvie (PA-01), Denise Powell (NE-02), and Bobby Pulido (TX-15). More on this exciting new initiative in the coming days…
Mary Peltola For Alaska Senate - $96,700 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn more through my uplifting conversation with Mary Peltola as she fights to turn Alaska blue
James Talarico For Texas - $80,300 raised, $250,000 - Donate | Learn more from my inspiring interview with Rep. Talarico as he fights to turn Texas blue
Winning Ohio - $150,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Our new campaign splits contributions evenly among Sherrod Brown, the Acton/Pepper ticket, and the Ohio Democratic Party | Donate today and help us turn this critical 2026 battleground blue | Watch my new discussions with US Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, our candidate for Governor Dr. Amy Acton, Lt. Gov candidate David Pepper, and Ohio Dem Chair Kathleen Clyde
This total includes $21,000 sent by a Hopium community member directly to each of our three Buckeye State partners!
Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $575,100 raised, $1,000,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Join our campaign that has helped expand our map by investing in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas, all now central battlegrounds in the 2026 election | Catch interviews with the five intrepid state chairs leading their troops into battle this year - will get you fired up! | Contribute to all five state parties with one contribution split evenly among these five new battlegrounds
Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $20,000 to each of our five state parties over the past two years
Roy Cooper for NC Senate - $114,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn more through my new discussion with Gov. Cooper
Jon Ossoff GA Senate - $179,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn more through my uplifting conversation with Senator Ossoff
Keep working hard everyone. We have a country to save, and these great candidates to elect, together! - Simon












I just read G. Elliot Morris’ “Strength in Numbers” this morning and he articulated one of my takes on the 2024 election - it was so close that any factor could be pointed at as the “reason” for Kamala’s loss, since it came down to 110,000 votes in three states at the margin. “Overdetermined” is the term, and so many issues and campaign tactics/strategies fit the “if only they did (fill in my pet issue)” framing that it is not possible to make strong inferences. “Nobody’s wrong if everybody’s right” with apologies to Buffalo Springfield. More ammo for the circular firing squad…….
I start today still in some shock over a personal tragedy yesterday. My cousin Joel, 48 years old, was just five months younger than me….Navy vet, father of five, highly skilled diesel service mechanic for heavy equipment, was in a traffic accident and died on the scene.
Moments like this make you think a lot about what I call the micro-world and the macro-world. In the micro-world, his smaller immediate sphere of influence, we will all feel a void… We will all try to find our place in the village that helps see his family through. My aunt and uncle will have to spend their remaining years, however many they have, with this crippling grief of losing their youngest born. Holidays will be less than they could be, and daily life will be forever changed to varying degrees depending on how often one interacted with him.
And then I think of the big world, the macro-world. The struggles that his clients, largely farmers, were going through needlessly because of these idiotic tariffs and the wholesale destruction of our relationships with other countries. Not to mention the fact that they’re not being done any favors by continuing to pretend like climate change doesn’t exist… The sooner we all accept it and start adapting, the better… Because major adjustments to how we grow food and produce our food supply are going to be necessary. And mostly, I just think about what a cynical time we’re living through and how this is the backdrop his children will have for their final memories of him.
I’m gonna miss Joel, and it’s gonna be bittersweet to watch his kids grow up without him… But not having children of my own, they are now going to be additional fuel for me to help build a better world. They deserved better out of this life than what they just got handed yesterday… And they damn sure deserve better than what America has collectively given them in their youth.
RIP Joel….. We will all continue to love you until we can join you on the other side ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹