Morning all. We start today with a wonderful conversation with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. AG Nessel talks about the early and important success of the Democratic Attorneys General in fighting Trump’s assault on the US government, the states and our Constitutional order; the breathtaking barbarism of their attack on science and our public health; and the need for state leaders to do everything they can to protect the people of their states from the harms being brought by the Trump regime. It is an uplifting interview, and as we’ve tried to do in our other interviews with Dem AGs (Kris Mayes, Keith Ellison, Raúl Torrez) it’s important that pro-democracy forces across the country come to understand how important the state AGs have been in challenging some of the worst and most malevolent actions of this terrible Trump era. So watch, listen, like and share with friends and colleagues.
In watching this interview it will become clear that AG Nessel is a compelling and effective leader for the people of Michigan, and in her work with the other 22 Dem AGs, all of us. Enjoy!
The World And The American People Just Aren’t Bending The Knee - Ceasefire, what ceasefire? Here’s Trump this morning, getting all big mad that Israel and Iran are not doing what they are told and yielding to his STRENGTH:
As Trump is heading to a NATO meeting in Europe today, we are about to get more examples of Trump angrily reacting to the leaders of the world just not going along with his desperate, performative bullshit.
Our understanding of the moment has been that Trump and the White House became alarmed at his dropping poll numbers, struggling economy, and attacks by Elon Musk and hit the panic button or started wagging the dog to change the narrative from one of weakness and failure to one that restored his STRENGTH. The country, however, has rejected his police state immigration escalation; no one showed up for his sad birthday parade; millions and millions marched against him. These efforts to restore his flagging Presidency have failed, and so we got IRAN, BOMBS, REGIME CHANGE, WAR.
Early polling suggests this latest effort to restore his narrative of STRENGTH and POWER isn’t working either.
CNN:
More importantly the strikes, like his immigration escalation, appear to be driving his overall approval down ever further. Here are the shifts we are seeing in new polls released this week from their last poll:
Morning Consult 45%-53% (-8) today - 46%-52% (-6) last week
Economist/YouGov 40%-54% (-14) today - 41%-54% (-13) last week
Ipsos/Reuters 41%-57% (-16) today - 42%-54% (-12) last week
ARG 38%-59% (-21) today - 41%-55% (-14) last month
Trump’s job approval is the worst of his second term in all four of these polls.
Here’s the state of the unraveling of the Trump coalition via Economist/YouGov (ugly!!!!!):
A reminder. Trump is weak, not strong. A loser, not a winner. A big blubbery baby man, anything, anything but a strong man; and the people of the world and here in America just continue to refuse to bend the knee to this vainglorious and pathetic madman.
Upcoming Events - Our latest schedule can be always be found on Events page on the main Hopium site:
Wed, June 25th, Noon ET - Journalist and historian Anne Applebaum joins Hopium live. Link forthcoming. We will be discussing her two most recent essays: This Is What Trump Does When The Revolution Sputters and Trump Has No Strategy.
Wed, June 25th, 7pm ET - Hopium Paid Subscriber Get Together. Register here. Lots to talk about this week!
Fri, June 27th, 1pm ET - Weekly Hopium Founding Members Meeting. Registration via email.
Sat, June 28th, 10:45am ET - Hopium in Northern Virginia! Simon speaks at Network NOVA’s 9th Annual Women’s Summit in McLean, VA. More info and tickets here. This is always a great event!
Support Hopium’s Priority Candidates - June 30th Filing Deadline Is Coming Up!
Mikie Sherrill NJ Gov - $200,000 goal, $15,000 raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer
Abigail Spanberger VA Gov - $200,000 goal, $133k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch Our Interview
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1 - Stop The Reconciliation Bill - Job One for us this summer remains fighting Trump’s ruinous and deeply unpopular economic agenda. We need to keep calling every day and demand our leaders vote down the reconciliation bill and roll back Trump’s terrible tariffs. This is the big, definitional battle of the summer and we need keep working it every day. Those of you in states with Republican Senators have a particularly important role to play in the coming weeks.
The budget bill is deeply unpopular and we need to keep working it everyone!
Here’s a possible script to use to fight the reconciliation bill and tariffs. Use whatever works for you:
I am calling to urge you to vote against the reconciliation bill and to roll back Trump’s terrible and illegal tariffs. Together these actions have raised taxes on all of us and will explode the deficit - things Republicans have always told us they did not believe in.
But your agenda is also causing all of us to “pay more and get less” for every day things including our health care; people to loses their jobs; and the economy to slow - all so you can give your rich donors a huge tax break. Your plans will weaken this great country and are an extraordinary betrayal of everything you promised during the campaign - which was to help people like me, not Elon Musk, get ahead.
Your plans are ones of sabotage, surrender and betrayal and I urge you to abandon them and to work with Democrats to find a better way.
2 - Get The Military Off Our Streets, Fight Trump’s Inhumane Immigration Escalation - Contact your Rep and Senators to demand they fight Trump’s illegal use of the National Guard and Marines in California. Encourage Democrats at all levels of government to a stand with Governor Newsom and the California - for Trump is not just attacking California, he is attacking the rights and freedoms of all of us. See my recent interviews with Joe Garcia, Leon Krauze and Senator Chris Van Hollen for more.
In the coming days I want to work with all of you to do something more explicit about demanding the end of masked, plain clothes “police” snatching people here in America without warrants.
3 - Own The Fourth, The Flag And Patriotism - To keep our momentum going after this weekend’s No Kings events I encourage to explore ways of Owning The Fourth and make our Independence Day an ugly one for our mad wannabe king.
Inspired by the tactics of our Founders, learn about how Hopium members are advancing “resolutions of condemnation” in their communities across the country and consider bringing this initiative to your state, country or city/town. Good luck to those of you who are testifying on behalf of our resolutions in Bernilillo and Santa Fe counties today! Send pictures!
4 -Volunteer To Help Your State and/or Local Democratic Parties Stand Up Voter Registration Efforts - In the presentation he made to our community on Friday Tom Bonier made a persuasive case that Democrats must once again make partisan voter registration a national priority. State and local Democratic Parties are in the planning stages to take this on. Members of our community should consider contacting their state and local parties and offer to help stand up these vital efforts in the coming months.
For more on the need to make partisan voter registration great again see my recent interview with Jane Kleeb, Nebraska Democratic Party Chair, DNC Vice Chair and President of the Association of Democratic State Committees.
5 - Stand Up For Science - Sign on to the critically important Bethesda Declaration and watch my interview with Stand Up For Science’s Executive Director Colette Delawalla. Signing on to the Declaration is one concrete way you can take action today.
Note that we did get a great court ruling restoring the NIH grants the Bethesda Declaration calls for. Here’s how one medical journal characterized the ruling:
District Judge William Young, a nominee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, blasted the Trump administration’s NIH cuts as discriminatory and “bearing down on people of color because of their color.”
A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s sweeping terminations of NIH research contracts are not only illegal, but are also a clear manifestation of the government’s “racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community.”
In a speech after delivering his verdict on Monday, U.S. District Judge William Young in Massachusetts called the administration’s move to cut federal funding for certain research grants “arbitrary and capricious,” going against established government standards, as per the Associated Press. Young blasted the Trump administration, which he said was “bearing down on people of color because of their color,” NBC News reported. “The Constitution will not permit that.”
In a very important development, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy has called on Robert Kennedy to delay the meeting of his newly constituted fake vaccine advistory committee this week.
For more on the need to fight Trump’s war on science, research, academia and our public health see my recent interview with noted climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann.
Please self-report your activities to our daily paid subscriber chat. These reports help inspire all of us to do more and fight harder!
Grow Hopium - We’ve set a goal of trying to grow the Hopium community from the 151,000 we are now to 175,000 by Labor Day. Do what you can to encourage your friends, family and colleagues to become a summer subscriber to Hopium, free or paid. If each current paid subscriber brings in just one new subscriber this summer we will hit our goal.
To encourage the growth of our community annual paid subscriptions are 10% off through Labor Day and we’ve launched a new referral awards program too. So you can earn months towards a paid subscription by bringing in new subscribers to the Hopium community!
Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
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