What amazes me is that 37 % of the American public still approve of this president! Where do they live, and how can this be true?? Also the statement that "concerns" are rising about conflicts of interest, well, the reporting is totally obvious, and the facts of it are unacceptable. Where is Congress on this? Is there no path for accountability??
As a reminder here at Hopium we believe the often expressed meme of "how can 37% still approve of the President?" - focusing on his dwindling support, rather than the clear and dramatic repudiation of his Presidency - is a meme that has been generated by Trump allies and SHOULD NOT BE AMPLIFIED by those in the pro-democracy movement. I ask that you take it down for it is a wild and unhelpful and willful distortion of the poll's meaning. Look at how the NYT is playing it - disaster for Trump and here you think it is actually good for him?
No joke saw a poll the other day of 18-24 year olds and even though only 12% supported trump, there were STILL people demanding to know where those 12% came from. I mean you rarely see a dramatic split like that, even Nixon never hit below 20% and that’s because we have a 2-party system
Wow, it's just one hit of bad news after another. The NYT poll is brutal.
Meanwhile, Trump is giving a reverse performance of The Portrait of Dorian Gray. While he's looking older, weaker, and sicker, he spends hours every night posting AI pictures of himself as young, muscular, fit -- arresting aliens, pushing the button to launch bombs, piloting warships. It's truly, truly pathetic and sick, but because he's the president, it's also very dangerous.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen about the Ukraine Support Act and about the president's deteriorating mental condition. I'm writing postcards to Ohio voters.
GA voter here: The "GOP judges" are only "good" if you like far right white men who continue to be determined to keep women from making their own choices about their bodies.
I’ve watched a few videos recently by a guy named Sean Briscoe, and he seems to have some good data driven ideas about field ops and turnout, but I’m not qualified to fully evaluate it all. It all seems to jive with stuff I’ve learned here and from other professionals.
In his recent posts, he did his own “autopsy” and is analyzing TX and FL districts. Regardless of whether people agree with everything he says, he seems to get a lot right and reminds me of what we see in this community in terms of Simon’s analysis as well as our guests.
If his analysis stands up to scrutiny, he seems like someone the community and “the family” would be interested in hearing from him. Anyone have any comment?
Simon, Thanks for the info. on the great Polling for Us and the dreadful news for the R's! Also that was great news for Ukraine's Win on the Battlefield! I am going to make my calls now to my Congressmen and to the Senator's. I will let them know, how important it is to Pass the Ukraine Support Act. (HR 2913)
It's important to remember that many of Trump's supporters live in a media desert or just otherwise are not inclined ever to change their minds. At the beginning of the administration there was a lot of moaning about people not paying attention to the destruction that was happening. That is clearly not the case now, and the new polling shows that people aren't concerned only with finances but with the big issues such as incompetence, manipulation, criminal activity, etc. Clearly the right direction.
The pro-democracy movement has been able to devise tactics that help to amplify the harms that the administration is bringing: bridge brigades; stickers on gas pumps; running Democrats in local races in red areas for the first time in decades; billboards; postcards; etc. I feel like inflation is waking people up and making them receptive to learning about the truth.
Just called Warren, Markey and McGovern about HR 2913. Also I always end my messages with "Trump must be removed or step down; He is ailing, demented, mentally ill..." And can't help myself. I add "bonkers" to the list.
Sent good money to Rankin and Jordan in GA and also cleaned up my ACTBLUE list of donations to make sure everyone on our list here is included in our donations. SO glad NYT and WAPO are finally reporting The dastardly state we are in. Robert Hubbell posted this morning : "Last week, 150 Black leaders from business, labor, education, media, Congress, and grassroots activist organizations met in D.C. to discuss a coordinated response to Callais. See MSNOW, Inside the emergency meeting of Black leaders after the voting rights ruling." A revived Civil Rights Movement rising up already.
Yes, I saw/heard about that meeting of Black leaders, surprised there has not been more reporting about it. Would love to hear from someone who attended on how white folks can best ally themselves in this burgeoning uprising.
This is great--just signed up to be on the newsletter. In order to have maximum impact, the movement has to be diverse, so am looking forward to hearing about some action items for allies sooner rather than later..
We should be naming airports here after Zelenskyy and putting his face on our passports!
Dan Pfieffer did a nice quick breakdown of the NYT Poll on his Substack. One thing he noted that was extremely devastating for R's is that the generic ballot number jumps to D+14 among people who are certain to vote. Also, he made the point that R's are getting demolished with Latinos, 18-29 YO's, and Indy's. It's -35 or more in each segment. So, especially on the Latino front, R's astonishingly corrupt map redrawing may not have the effect they were hoping for. Still a long way to November, and lots of work to do, but despite R's best efforts at cheating, their utter ineptitude has still made the environment good for D's/anti-MAGA.
Thanks Simon, a lot of good news on polling, and on the Ukraine war. It occurs to me that the Ukraine strikes on Moscow are important in part because they show Putin as weak, and because they affect people who have been largely shielded from the immediacy of the war. Calls are in to my members of Congress asking them to support HR 2913, the Ukraine Support Act.
Today is Day 7 of the 12 days of political donations my wife and I have committed to in May, front loading our 2026 political donations. Today’s donation went to Hopium's James Talarico Fund. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopium4talarico/. I think he's a great candidate and the fact that we are competing in Texas right now is huge. If you haven't seen his graduation speech, shared here in the chat a few weeks ago, I highly recommend it. It's here. https://youtu.be/yEgjjBPFzNA?si=OrB5zSXvXbTHqe9-. And suggest you share it with a young person you know. Among other things, he encourages young people to turn their [justified] disillusionment into a strength.
We need some discussion about how Congress can push back on Trump's new $1.7 billion slush fund. Or at least, force the GOP to vote on whether or not to kill it. I would expect Congress can kill that slush fund if it took action. At the least, make the GOP vote that they want the president to be able to dole out tax dollars to his allies.
I will work on some postcards tonight. I've not gotten a lot of them done recently, been busy with other things lately.
Call your members. I called mine and sent out an APB to my like minded friends. 2 have already called and in that time the office’s answers got more focused. Not for nothing NJ is a donor state and we’re not standing quietly by while our hard earned dollars are swept into a slush fund.
I agree. How can Trump dedicate 1.7 billion when Congress has the power of the purse? And how can the Trump administration keep the recipients of the fund secret? It is the taxpayers’ money not his.
Just spoke w staffer at Rep. Chris Smith (Traitor-NJ04)'s office re HR 2913, they were actually pleasant for a change. Have been getting good responses from both Sens. Kim & Booker to my calls re Orange malfeasance, so no complaints there.
Have been a bit under the weather w spring cold, but have been working on AK postcards & catching up on reading. The stats on Orange's blatant conflicts of interest are just staggering, between the stock market and the dumba$$ offspring accompanying him on various "official" trips. Sad thing is, even if there were legislation, I am dubious as to whether any of the spineless twits in Congress who continue to lick his boots would've done anything about it anyway. See: Hatch Act, Emoluments Clause, etc.
well, there was a fun video clip two days ago of Mike Johnson explaining in a press conference that congressionals need to be able to do [insider] trading because they haven't had a raise for a while. I kid you not. may have a chance to look for it this evening.
i've not heard this' i'm hearing stroke or some other incapacitating affliction. but, gambling is one that is a problem in nj. could be. that's something good journalists used to be able to chase down; alas, we don't have much in the way of investigative reporting like we once did; folks like gordon bishop and bob braun, much as i loathed him when i was teaching, are not around anymore.
I snorted out loud reading the statement Simon included from the White House spokesperson about there being “no conflicts of interest.” Sure, the rotten little mango man isn’t conflicted at all, everything he does is to enrich, empower and aggrandize himself. I do think corruption will become a campaign issue up and down the ballot, e.g. Paige Cognetti’s race against an insideriest of traders.
Feel better, Lisa! And to add to the already enormous but ever growing corruption list the fact that Trump wants two new helipads built for the newer, heavier and more expensive Marine One that carts him around. One helipad would be--you guessed it--in the "backyard" of the White House. The other at--you guessed it--Mar-a-Lago! Apparently, the credit card of the American people has no limit.
As a native Washingtonian, I have been livid for years about the atrocities imposed upon my beautiful hometown. I cannot even bear to visit right now (except for a quick in/out to catch Bruce).
I called my 3 Congressional members to express my outrage. My husband and I pay a sizable amount of money in federal taxes - gladly, when it goes to feeding kids, paving roads, supporting defense, etc. But not this.
I got a live person at Mejia’s office who mentioned a House resolution condemning it. I said that is nice to have but it’s not good enough because a resolution has no teeth. I recommended cutting DOJ funding by a multiple of the slush fund amount. The point is something substantive needs to be done. Left messages for Booker and Kim.
I'd urge your followers to read the Guardian more. (And if they can afford it, to pay a few dollars a month to support the Guardian.) They do great work calling out the regime when American mainstream media doesn't. Their worldwide HQ is in London, England. They also have an American HQ in NYC. The great news is that they lack a paywall.
great article, though i think lemire bothsides it a bit too much in the interest of appearing nonpartisan, i mean, we all know where lemire stands on things. and i'm not sure his conclusions are necessarily correct; he is just spitballing, like the rest of us, as to why trump just doesn't get the same level of scrutiny biden did. he offers some plausible reasons, though. 59% thinking trump is basically unfit is a huge number, though. biden was seen as old and frail; trump is viewed as unhinged and unstable. that difference matters.
Called both TX senators and my gerrymandered-into-retirement congressmen, My Dawg Lloyd :-) over Ukraine funding.
Question - I signed up to volunteer for Talarico and found many of the options were actual community volunteering as opposed to campaign volunteering, which is cool but not what I was looking for, which was post carding. Simple google search returned postcardstovoters.org, can anybody vouch for these guys or give an alternative? I asked awhile back but forgot to wrote down the answer, sorry for doubling up…
Postcards to voters are legit, and there are studies showing postcards can help move the needle, maybe a percentage point. They are not as effective as canvassing live or phone banking, but every little bit helps, IMO.
What amazes me is that 37 % of the American public still approve of this president! Where do they live, and how can this be true?? Also the statement that "concerns" are rising about conflicts of interest, well, the reporting is totally obvious, and the facts of it are unacceptable. Where is Congress on this? Is there no path for accountability??
As a reminder here at Hopium we believe the often expressed meme of "how can 37% still approve of the President?" - focusing on his dwindling support, rather than the clear and dramatic repudiation of his Presidency - is a meme that has been generated by Trump allies and SHOULD NOT BE AMPLIFIED by those in the pro-democracy movement. I ask that you take it down for it is a wild and unhelpful and willful distortion of the poll's meaning. Look at how the NYT is playing it - disaster for Trump and here you think it is actually good for him?
When you subtract the Crazification Factor he’s only at 10%. We’re pushing past the tipping point here. Keep going!!
Simple answers: human psychology (emotion trumps logic) and propaganda (Fox News never covers the bad stuff).
As for Congress, do what you can to link his failed policies with his party’s lack of oversight.
And try to ease up on the double punctuation ;-)
It's a cult. Facts are irrelevant (and generally annoying to the cult members . . .).
No joke saw a poll the other day of 18-24 year olds and even though only 12% supported trump, there were STILL people demanding to know where those 12% came from. I mean you rarely see a dramatic split like that, even Nixon never hit below 20% and that’s because we have a 2-party system
Yes this meme has become widespread and poisonous
Wow, it's just one hit of bad news after another. The NYT poll is brutal.
Meanwhile, Trump is giving a reverse performance of The Portrait of Dorian Gray. While he's looking older, weaker, and sicker, he spends hours every night posting AI pictures of himself as young, muscular, fit -- arresting aliens, pushing the button to launch bombs, piloting warships. It's truly, truly pathetic and sick, but because he's the president, it's also very dangerous.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen about the Ukraine Support Act and about the president's deteriorating mental condition. I'm writing postcards to Ohio voters.
Who are the GOP judge candidates in Georgia? Are they any good?
There is a link above that answers your questions: https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/meet-jen-jordan-and-miracle-rankin
Easy peasy.
Read the question again :)
Although I may be wrong in what the OP means?
GA voter here: The "GOP judges" are only "good" if you like far right white men who continue to be determined to keep women from making their own choices about their bodies.
I’ve watched a few videos recently by a guy named Sean Briscoe, and he seems to have some good data driven ideas about field ops and turnout, but I’m not qualified to fully evaluate it all. It all seems to jive with stuff I’ve learned here and from other professionals.
In his recent posts, he did his own “autopsy” and is analyzing TX and FL districts. Regardless of whether people agree with everything he says, he seems to get a lot right and reminds me of what we see in this community in terms of Simon’s analysis as well as our guests.
If his analysis stands up to scrutiny, he seems like someone the community and “the family” would be interested in hearing from him. Anyone have any comment?
https://clsbpolitics.substack.com/
Trump's numbers are getting worse... and it is only May.
Heartening to read about Ukraine's success over Moscow.
Calling my reps on the Ukraine bill.
Simon, Thanks for the info. on the great Polling for Us and the dreadful news for the R's! Also that was great news for Ukraine's Win on the Battlefield! I am going to make my calls now to my Congressmen and to the Senator's. I will let them know, how important it is to Pass the Ukraine Support Act. (HR 2913)
It's important to remember that many of Trump's supporters live in a media desert or just otherwise are not inclined ever to change their minds. At the beginning of the administration there was a lot of moaning about people not paying attention to the destruction that was happening. That is clearly not the case now, and the new polling shows that people aren't concerned only with finances but with the big issues such as incompetence, manipulation, criminal activity, etc. Clearly the right direction.
The pro-democracy movement has been able to devise tactics that help to amplify the harms that the administration is bringing: bridge brigades; stickers on gas pumps; running Democrats in local races in red areas for the first time in decades; billboards; postcards; etc. I feel like inflation is waking people up and making them receptive to learning about the truth.
Just called Warren, Markey and McGovern about HR 2913. Also I always end my messages with "Trump must be removed or step down; He is ailing, demented, mentally ill..." And can't help myself. I add "bonkers" to the list.
Sent good money to Rankin and Jordan in GA and also cleaned up my ACTBLUE list of donations to make sure everyone on our list here is included in our donations. SO glad NYT and WAPO are finally reporting The dastardly state we are in. Robert Hubbell posted this morning : "Last week, 150 Black leaders from business, labor, education, media, Congress, and grassroots activist organizations met in D.C. to discuss a coordinated response to Callais. See MSNOW, Inside the emergency meeting of Black leaders after the voting rights ruling." A revived Civil Rights Movement rising up already.
Yes, I saw/heard about that meeting of Black leaders, surprised there has not been more reporting about it. Would love to hear from someone who attended on how white folks can best ally themselves in this burgeoning uprising.
Lisa here's Robert Hubbell's link to MSNow. It's a start. https://www.ms.now/news/black-leaders-emergency-meeting-voting-rights?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
This is great--just signed up to be on the newsletter. In order to have maximum impact, the movement has to be diverse, so am looking forward to hearing about some action items for allies sooner rather than later..
Thank you. I did too.
thanks, looking forward to hearing steps planned.
We should be naming airports here after Zelenskyy and putting his face on our passports!
Dan Pfieffer did a nice quick breakdown of the NYT Poll on his Substack. One thing he noted that was extremely devastating for R's is that the generic ballot number jumps to D+14 among people who are certain to vote. Also, he made the point that R's are getting demolished with Latinos, 18-29 YO's, and Indy's. It's -35 or more in each segment. So, especially on the Latino front, R's astonishingly corrupt map redrawing may not have the effect they were hoping for. Still a long way to November, and lots of work to do, but despite R's best efforts at cheating, their utter ineptitude has still made the environment good for D's/anti-MAGA.
Pfeiffer is usually on point when it comes to polling, so this is excellent news. And yes to the Zelenskyy airport/passport!
Thanks Simon, a lot of good news on polling, and on the Ukraine war. It occurs to me that the Ukraine strikes on Moscow are important in part because they show Putin as weak, and because they affect people who have been largely shielded from the immediacy of the war. Calls are in to my members of Congress asking them to support HR 2913, the Ukraine Support Act.
Today is Day 7 of the 12 days of political donations my wife and I have committed to in May, front loading our 2026 political donations. Today’s donation went to Hopium's James Talarico Fund. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopium4talarico/. I think he's a great candidate and the fact that we are competing in Texas right now is huge. If you haven't seen his graduation speech, shared here in the chat a few weeks ago, I highly recommend it. It's here. https://youtu.be/yEgjjBPFzNA?si=OrB5zSXvXbTHqe9-. And suggest you share it with a young person you know. Among other things, he encourages young people to turn their [justified] disillusionment into a strength.
We need some discussion about how Congress can push back on Trump's new $1.7 billion slush fund. Or at least, force the GOP to vote on whether or not to kill it. I would expect Congress can kill that slush fund if it took action. At the least, make the GOP vote that they want the president to be able to dole out tax dollars to his allies.
I will work on some postcards tonight. I've not gotten a lot of them done recently, been busy with other things lately.
Call your members. I called mine and sent out an APB to my like minded friends. 2 have already called and in that time the office’s answers got more focused. Not for nothing NJ is a donor state and we’re not standing quietly by while our hard earned dollars are swept into a slush fund.
I agree. How can Trump dedicate 1.7 billion when Congress has the power of the purse? And how can the Trump administration keep the recipients of the fund secret? It is the taxpayers’ money not his.
Just spoke w staffer at Rep. Chris Smith (Traitor-NJ04)'s office re HR 2913, they were actually pleasant for a change. Have been getting good responses from both Sens. Kim & Booker to my calls re Orange malfeasance, so no complaints there.
Have been a bit under the weather w spring cold, but have been working on AK postcards & catching up on reading. The stats on Orange's blatant conflicts of interest are just staggering, between the stock market and the dumba$$ offspring accompanying him on various "official" trips. Sad thing is, even if there were legislation, I am dubious as to whether any of the spineless twits in Congress who continue to lick his boots would've done anything about it anyway. See: Hatch Act, Emoluments Clause, etc.
Keep going!
well, there was a fun video clip two days ago of Mike Johnson explaining in a press conference that congressionals need to be able to do [insider] trading because they haven't had a raise for a while. I kid you not. may have a chance to look for it this evening.
why am I not surprised. SIGH
the comment was along the lines of 'does he hear himself?' will have time to look this evening I hope
here's the clip, omitted the comment
https://nitter.poast.org/WUTangKids/status/2055629287709986861#m
hard to believe
For real? I've been in meetings all morning.
I'll look for it. Obviously not inhabiting the reality we all know.
here's the clip, hard to believe it's not a prank
https://nitter.poast.org/WUTangKids/status/2055629287709986861#m
any news on Kean? any theories? was he abducted on a UFO [War of the Worlds]?
"Dealing with health issues" - scuttlebutt is he's in rehab. But others in this group who are in CD7 may have more info on that.
curious to hear 'rehab for what?' I have no ideas whatsoever
gambling, drinking is what I’ve heard.
i've not heard this' i'm hearing stroke or some other incapacitating affliction. but, gambling is one that is a problem in nj. could be. that's something good journalists used to be able to chase down; alas, we don't have much in the way of investigative reporting like we once did; folks like gordon bishop and bob braun, much as i loathed him when i was teaching, are not around anymore.
That’s my household’s speculation, too.
I snorted out loud reading the statement Simon included from the White House spokesperson about there being “no conflicts of interest.” Sure, the rotten little mango man isn’t conflicted at all, everything he does is to enrich, empower and aggrandize himself. I do think corruption will become a campaign issue up and down the ballot, e.g. Paige Cognetti’s race against an insideriest of traders.
Feel better, Lisa! And to add to the already enormous but ever growing corruption list the fact that Trump wants two new helipads built for the newer, heavier and more expensive Marine One that carts him around. One helipad would be--you guessed it--in the "backyard" of the White House. The other at--you guessed it--Mar-a-Lago! Apparently, the credit card of the American people has no limit.
As a native Washingtonian, I have been livid for years about the atrocities imposed upon my beautiful hometown. I cannot even bear to visit right now (except for a quick in/out to catch Bruce).
I nearly lost my lunch when I read about the DOJ settlement:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/18/us/trump-news?unlocked_article_code=1.jVA.vC0z.UT2FWUMgNSTE&smid=nytcore-ios-share
I called my 3 Congressional members to express my outrage. My husband and I pay a sizable amount of money in federal taxes - gladly, when it goes to feeding kids, paving roads, supporting defense, etc. But not this.
I got a live person at Mejia’s office who mentioned a House resolution condemning it. I said that is nice to have but it’s not good enough because a resolution has no teeth. I recommended cutting DOJ funding by a multiple of the slush fund amount. The point is something substantive needs to be done. Left messages for Booker and Kim.
Also mentioned Ukraine bill.
Essentially trump is using our money to fund his personal Praetorian Guard
I'd urge your followers to read the Guardian more. (And if they can afford it, to pay a few dollars a month to support the Guardian.) They do great work calling out the regime when American mainstream media doesn't. Their worldwide HQ is in London, England. They also have an American HQ in NYC. The great news is that they lack a paywall.
Pretty good piece by Jonathan Lemire on Orange's deterioriating condition [gift link]: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/05/aging-president-trump-health/687194/?gift=woWIUxw7PQkPWVjhh-qn3uXQ3cStMEqCx9wBpGIV0Js&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
great article, though i think lemire bothsides it a bit too much in the interest of appearing nonpartisan, i mean, we all know where lemire stands on things. and i'm not sure his conclusions are necessarily correct; he is just spitballing, like the rest of us, as to why trump just doesn't get the same level of scrutiny biden did. he offers some plausible reasons, though. 59% thinking trump is basically unfit is a huge number, though. biden was seen as old and frail; trump is viewed as unhinged and unstable. that difference matters.
Yeah. I’m not a huge Lemire fan but he’s pretty much a stenographer so this signifies a bit of a shift…
Called both TX senators and my gerrymandered-into-retirement congressmen, My Dawg Lloyd :-) over Ukraine funding.
Question - I signed up to volunteer for Talarico and found many of the options were actual community volunteering as opposed to campaign volunteering, which is cool but not what I was looking for, which was post carding. Simple google search returned postcardstovoters.org, can anybody vouch for these guys or give an alternative? I asked awhile back but forgot to wrote down the answer, sorry for doubling up…
Postcards to voters are legit, and there are studies showing postcards can help move the needle, maybe a percentage point. They are not as effective as canvassing live or phone banking, but every little bit helps, IMO.