Not Letting Trump's Madness Become Our Own, Hopium Paid Subscriber Get Together Wed At 7pm ET
Some notes on this challenging day, register for our Wed even below.....
To the amazing paid subscribers of this proud and plucky community, here we are. In the last minutes of the Biden Presidency. Running through the tape, team Biden released this wonderful video this morning:
It is a hard day my friends, and it’s going to be a hard few years. I’ve written so much in recent weeks that I only have a new notes for you this morning as I sit here in Washington, DC trying to make sense of it all, and not let the incredible ugliness of Trump overwhelm me. I am not hosting our next gathering until Wednesday night for I wanted us to give us some time to work through it all and be ready to talk, and plan, and reorient…..
I think the greatest challenge we will have in opposition is settling on a few critical battles and sticking with them over time. Trump wants us chasing every new outrage, enthusiastically leaping into new alluring rabbit holes. We cannot let his daily madness become our own. We need to go slow, and not rush into battle. If we get spread too thin, or turn on another, or become perpetually disappointed our victories will be far too few. As we’ve discussed it’s critical that we get wins, celebrate them, build on them, get stronger and weaken him over time. Turning our pro-democracy movement into an effective opposition will require patience, discipline, over the horizon strategies and ferocity. Like a child learning to walk we will wobble, stumble and fall in these next few months but we must, must, at all costs, stick together as we learn how to walk, and then run, and together become the ferocious opposition the moment requires.
My wife Caitlin just came home from her last morning at the White House where she has served the last four years as Deputy Homeland Security Advisor to President Biden. So many emotions now - gratitude, pride, disappointment, love of country and excitement about us being able to spend more time together…..
We were just talking about how incredible our democracy is for the Biden Administration just literally ends. Everyone leaves. All at once. This huge battleship built to serve our country just turns off. Yesterday Caitlin was on Air Force One traveling with the President as the representative of the National Security Council of the United States and this morning, at this moment, she is a civilian, no longer in government. It is both affirming, and tragic. The people have spoken and a new team comes in. But the knowledge, capability, togetherness of the team in there running things just scatters. A new team comes in, starting from scratch, and while Trump has done this before these are precarious times for the country as a thinly staffed and deeply ideological team comes in to run the most consequential government in the world.
One of my big takeaways from being here now through six different Administrations is that the loss of these teams, built over years, is a tragic loss of understanding for the nation. Which is why we have a permanent civil service - to ensure that knowledge and expertise is conveyed, and continuity is established. Which is why Donald Trump’s coming attacks on our civil service are so dangerous. It is another manifestation of their assault on knowledge, science and expertise. And it is dangerous, so profoundly dangerous.
I am heartened this morning that neither Robert Kennedy or Tulsi Gabbard have their confirmation hearings scheduled yet. We have a shot to knock these extremists out and need to keep working it. Tomorrow we all need to get up and call our Senators and House Member and once again insist they work against the Unacceptable 4 - Gabbard, Hegseth, Kennedy, Patel.
I don’t know what happens now, or what exactly we will be doing here at Hopium this year. I wanted to take time, to let this moment evolve, dive into its currents, listen and learn from others and get my bearings before settling on a path. While we do more and worry less here (I hope we can worry less this year) our work here is guided by strategy not by emotion or expediency We must be ferocious, determined but also patient and smart. We have limited capacities and we must use them wisely. As we did over the last two years. So rest up my friends. Spend time with family and friends. Read more. Walk more. Cook more. Do what you have to do to stay strong, healthy, capable. Jump in when you are ready. Hopium and all the other emerging institutions in the pro-democracy movement in Trump II will be there to put you to work when you are ready to go.
See you on Wednesday, and as Dr. King told us in his letter from Birmingham jail, “right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.”
Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
Washington, DC
January 20th, 2025