Simon, I don’t know how you do it. Yes, there are indeed 168 hours in each week, but you seem to be using all of them to the fullest, and then some. Moreover, the quality as well as the frequency of your interviews just keeps improving and increasing. This in addition to the long and informative Hopium posts, and obviously the research behind them. And if that wasn’t enough you have an impressive travel itinerary, with meetings and talks and lectures and panel discussions in state after state.
I totally agree with Simon...Anne Applebaum has clarified this whole situation so that we know where we stand and how to navigate through this terrifying, precarious time! Thank you Simon! Each interview brings more clarity.
As we end this journey down a “sphere of influence” memory lane, one now understands why the former U.S.S.R. member states have begun to mobilize for war (and think about NUKES): https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/donald-tusk-announces-military-training-plan-for-all-polish-men/ar-AA1AshYu . With a suggestion for a friendly hockey match between the USA and Russia as it morphs into MUA (Make U.S.S.R. Again), Dolos has been pushing for increased bilateral cooperation between America and the “trailer park with atomic bombs”: https://www.kyivpost.com/post/49167 [see my notes on new investments in Russia from last Thursday and this past Tuesday].
Does everyone remember where Yalta is located? The answer is CRIMEA!! Does everyone remember who controlled Crimea prior to an invasion in 2014 by the Tsar’s “little green men” (a state’s military wearing uniforms without any insignia, badges, or ID)? The answer is UKRAINE!!
P.S.: Do the following now! FIRST, TEACH CIVICS. Second, register voters. THIRD, TEACH CIVICS. Rinse. Repeat.
P.P.S.: DEMOCRATS (AND PROSPECTIVE CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE) NEED TO HAVE “TOWN HALLS” IN REPUBLICAN DISTRICTS - ASAP. YOUR OPPONENTS HAVE WILLINGLY CONCEDED THE FIELD.
P.P.P.S.: Simon has often mentioned the earnest six-million patriots from the last cycle. This is a large pool of thoughtful energy/talent. SO, DEMOCRATS SHOULD ALLOW VETTED-VOLUNTEERS TO AUGMENT THEIR PAID OFFICE STAFF MEMBERS IN ORDER TO COVER THE INCOMING TSUNAMI OF COMMUNICATIONS (AND OTHER CONCERNS) FROM CITIZENS IN GENERAL AND CONSTITUENTS IN PARTICULAR!!
Thank you so much for this interview. I have followed Anne Applebaum for some time and am always impressed by her intelligence and clear delivery. As we move forward together to fight this regime that is trying to steal our democracy, interviews like this are incredibly helpful. Please have Ms. Applebaum back!
Thank you Simon. Anne Applebaum did not disappoint. So glad you had her on. She really does understand Trump that’s for sure. I have always thought he just wings it as he goes along. She sure put it in a much better perspective with all of her expertise and valuable knowledge. Mixed with yours it was a great interview.
Thank you Simon and Anne, for this wide ranging in-depth discussion of topics around foreign policy, Trump stumbling and the future of our democracy! Great Stuff‼️🙏🏼😅👍🏼
Anne Applebaum teaches EVERYTHING we need to learn and read and understand to counter this moment in history! Thank you Simon for having her on and to the Hopium community for continuing to educate and truly INFORM our “representative” POWER about liberal democracy, civil rights, transparency, and the rule of law. I love how she says her specialty is dictatorships, communist regimes, and Autocracy Inc, ( Russia,China, Iran etc) so that even she seems incredulous that we would be letting the BEST EVER DEMOCRATIC COUNTEROFFENSIVE to these negative historical tendencies be thrown away by this buffoon and these weird fascist boys like Vought and Vance and Stephen Miller et.al. who see Orwell’s 1984, Atwood’s Handmaids Tale and Collins’ Hunger Games as INSTRUCTION MANUALS rather than WARNINGS…ugh …thanks again for these voices of reason and humanity!
I agree with Anne. Trump acts like a mad goldfish. No knowledge of history and no motive other than what plays well on Fox. Performative winning is his only goal.
Dear Community! I made my calls today and used Indivisible’s tool to propose amendments to the big ugly bill to slow the process down. Just off the top of my head I suggested that all funds slated for ICE and deportations be reallocated to fund free nation wide pre-K education. Have some fun with it!
Excellent interview! Even if it is scary to hear the truth, when she spoke about things getting more violent, the more Trump stumbles. I knew she would say he doesn't have a grand plan when it came to Russia, et al!
Why has not the US and international allies identified the Heritage Foundation as the orchestral instrument in this destruction of democratic rights and countries? It an organization that is hellbent on destroying our planet’s shared values. When the Heritage Foundation has become the US Presidential administration due to the GOP’s abdication to confirm competent leadership, we have an ideological problem that is now making governments in US and our allies dysfunctional. It’s clearly a problem.
Whats happening in Iran? Fog of war...
One of the very best sources for news and analysis of the Iran–Israel war, is Haviv Rettig Gur. Here is one of his latest podcasts.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-23-iran-bows-out/id1794590850?i=1000714392130
I also recommend the work of Mahyar Tousi. His Tousi TV, freely available on YouTube, has over one million subscribers.
https://nitter.poast.org/MahyarTousi
https://www.youtube.com/@TousiTV/streams
"Clashes begin in Iran as IRGC deploys troops"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-f2ELxbTgY
"We are launching our revolution…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvhQn4qnbuY
Simon, I don’t know how you do it. Yes, there are indeed 168 hours in each week, but you seem to be using all of them to the fullest, and then some. Moreover, the quality as well as the frequency of your interviews just keeps improving and increasing. This in addition to the long and informative Hopium posts, and obviously the research behind them. And if that wasn’t enough you have an impressive travel itinerary, with meetings and talks and lectures and panel discussions in state after state.
I am in awe!
PS. Any chance of a gift link to Ms Applebaum’s Atlantic article?
https://archive.is/4du9F
Me too!
Thank you for this interview. Anne Applebaum gets Trump. Why don't other Americans?
I totally agree with Simon...Anne Applebaum has clarified this whole situation so that we know where we stand and how to navigate through this terrifying, precarious time! Thank you Simon! Each interview brings more clarity.
Originally Submitted on 3-21-25
The NETWORK STATE - For the best synopsis of the objectives of the “Tech Lords”, please listen to this 45-minute podcast and share widely (these folks are going to leave a huge blast radius - if we let them): https://www.thenerdreich.com/the-nerd-reich-podcast-episode-1-the-network-state-2/.
Project 2025 Trackers:
https://www.project2025.observer .
https://substack.com/@project2025progress .
https://substack.com/@ahmedbaba/p-158109308 .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPElaGebGPc (timestamps 13:10 and 55:07).
Simon et al.:
For Dolos, everything that we are experiencing is about being “back to the future”. THE TSAR WANTS ANOTHER YALTA MOMENT WHERE STALIN GOT EVERYTHING THAT HE WANTED (note the three portraits commissioned by the Tsar, timestamp: 2:50): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkEn86RIsOk. So, with his limited understanding of history, Dolos has been eager to join his Tsar in this “transition” process (for years with no change in his objective from 2017 to 2025): https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/25/opinions/putin-wants-yalta-2-0-and-trump-may-give-it-to-him-ghitis/index.html and https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/17/opinions/trump-putin-ghitis/index.html and https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/17/politics/trump-putin-meeting-ukraine-intl-hnk/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc. From what a now exiled Russian journalist has shared, the Russian leaders have understood for years that Dolos has the proper “psychology”, malignant narcissism with a lean toward chaos, to go along with the Tsar’s ambitions: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/putin-trump-yalta?_sp=2ab1d9bd-4283-4e0f-962f-10887a4e23d0.1739385680041.
As we end this journey down a “sphere of influence” memory lane, one now understands why the former U.S.S.R. member states have begun to mobilize for war (and think about NUKES): https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/donald-tusk-announces-military-training-plan-for-all-polish-men/ar-AA1AshYu . With a suggestion for a friendly hockey match between the USA and Russia as it morphs into MUA (Make U.S.S.R. Again), Dolos has been pushing for increased bilateral cooperation between America and the “trailer park with atomic bombs”: https://www.kyivpost.com/post/49167 [see my notes on new investments in Russia from last Thursday and this past Tuesday].
Does everyone remember where Yalta is located? The answer is CRIMEA!! Does everyone remember who controlled Crimea prior to an invasion in 2014 by the Tsar’s “little green men” (a state’s military wearing uniforms without any insignia, badges, or ID)? The answer is UKRAINE!!
Enough! This “peace negotiation” is a game and a distraction. For a true answer, please do some research on one particular futuristic vision from the past century called “Technate” (very Canadian): https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/technocracy-incorporated-elon-musk/ and https://brilliantmaps.com/the-technate-of-america/. Technate meet Network State (old wine in a new bottle).
CARTHAGO DELENDA EST (via nonviolence).
P.S.: Do the following now! FIRST, TEACH CIVICS. Second, register voters. THIRD, TEACH CIVICS. Rinse. Repeat.
P.P.S.: DEMOCRATS (AND PROSPECTIVE CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE) NEED TO HAVE “TOWN HALLS” IN REPUBLICAN DISTRICTS - ASAP. YOUR OPPONENTS HAVE WILLINGLY CONCEDED THE FIELD.
P.P.P.S.: Simon has often mentioned the earnest six-million patriots from the last cycle. This is a large pool of thoughtful energy/talent. SO, DEMOCRATS SHOULD ALLOW VETTED-VOLUNTEERS TO AUGMENT THEIR PAID OFFICE STAFF MEMBERS IN ORDER TO COVER THE INCOMING TSUNAMI OF COMMUNICATIONS (AND OTHER CONCERNS) FROM CITIZENS IN GENERAL AND CONSTITUENTS IN PARTICULAR!!
Take a look at Project 2025, Russell Voght, and Christian National extremest goals
Excellent, excellent interview and introduction for many to Anne's intelligence and analysis. Thank you Simon and Anne.
Thank you so much for this interview. I have followed Anne Applebaum for some time and am always impressed by her intelligence and clear delivery. As we move forward together to fight this regime that is trying to steal our democracy, interviews like this are incredibly helpful. Please have Ms. Applebaum back!
Thank you Simon. Anne Applebaum did not disappoint. So glad you had her on. She really does understand Trump that’s for sure. I have always thought he just wings it as he goes along. She sure put it in a much better perspective with all of her expertise and valuable knowledge. Mixed with yours it was a great interview.
Thank you Simon and Anne, for this wide ranging in-depth discussion of topics around foreign policy, Trump stumbling and the future of our democracy! Great Stuff‼️🙏🏼😅👍🏼
Anne Applebaum teaches EVERYTHING we need to learn and read and understand to counter this moment in history! Thank you Simon for having her on and to the Hopium community for continuing to educate and truly INFORM our “representative” POWER about liberal democracy, civil rights, transparency, and the rule of law. I love how she says her specialty is dictatorships, communist regimes, and Autocracy Inc, ( Russia,China, Iran etc) so that even she seems incredulous that we would be letting the BEST EVER DEMOCRATIC COUNTEROFFENSIVE to these negative historical tendencies be thrown away by this buffoon and these weird fascist boys like Vought and Vance and Stephen Miller et.al. who see Orwell’s 1984, Atwood’s Handmaids Tale and Collins’ Hunger Games as INSTRUCTION MANUALS rather than WARNINGS…ugh …thanks again for these voices of reason and humanity!
I agree with Anne. Trump acts like a mad goldfish. No knowledge of history and no motive other than what plays well on Fox. Performative winning is his only goal.
Dear Community! I made my calls today and used Indivisible’s tool to propose amendments to the big ugly bill to slow the process down. Just off the top of my head I suggested that all funds slated for ICE and deportations be reallocated to fund free nation wide pre-K education. Have some fun with it!
https://act.indivisible.org/letter/amendment-reconciliation-bill/?source=email_20250625&utm_source=email&t=10&akid=118759%2E800686%2EvgtSFM
These town meeting sound absolutely awesome! Also Anne Applebaum is such a insightful guest.
Excellent interview! Even if it is scary to hear the truth, when she spoke about things getting more violent, the more Trump stumbles. I knew she would say he doesn't have a grand plan when it came to Russia, et al!
Why has not the US and international allies identified the Heritage Foundation as the orchestral instrument in this destruction of democratic rights and countries? It an organization that is hellbent on destroying our planet’s shared values. When the Heritage Foundation has become the US Presidential administration due to the GOP’s abdication to confirm competent leadership, we have an ideological problem that is now making governments in US and our allies dysfunctional. It’s clearly a problem.