Our Great American Democracy Needs To Have A Big Week - We The People, Proud Patriots, Need To Get Very, Very Loud

Our Leaders Need To Hear The Roar Of We The People Today, This Week - Do Your Part, Be Very Loud and Very Proud!

Morning all. I will be sending a more traditional Hopium post in the early afternoon but wanted to start this morning with an urgent plea to everyone in this community to make this a week where American patriots roared at their elected officials to do more to stop Trump’s ongoing betrayal of the country and sustained attack on what we call here the America of the Four Freedoms.

We know who is he. This week we have to let our leaders know who we are, and what we expect out of them now. Our democracy needs to have a big week and I hope every American patriot here will do their part.

I want to begin by restating that I think Trump is weaker than he appears and we are stronger. His poll numbers have dropped, significantly, and he is losing independents. Consumer confidence in his economic stewardship is plummeting. The economy is slowing, inflation is rising, interest rates are not coming down, tariffs are kicking in, unemployment is set to surge and the markets are worried. The brutal reality of his disassembly of the US government is starting to be understood by voters across the country. There is no support in the country for his embrace of Putin and abandonment of Europe and Ukraine. Cracks are starting to appear in his Congressional support over Putin, his plutocratic budget and Musk’s illegal, unconstitutional wrecking of the US government. Trump keeps losing in court, badly. Democratic state AGs are becoming a formidable force. Our opposition movement is finding its voice and its power, and growing stronger every day. And as we say here, little cracks can become big cracks, little wins can become big wins - if we do the work. We beat this madness in 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and in many down ballot races in 2024. We can do so again, now, in 2025, at this critical time and in elections to come.

Below I offer a series of things you can contact your representatives about today, either in person or via phone or email/online forms. The goal of these contacts is to help your electeds, of either party, to understand what is expected of them now.

One thing I think we should be encouraging our local Democratically controlled legislatures, city and county boards/councils to do is to pass condemnations of Trump. Go the record on whatever is of greatest concern - embrace of Putin, destruction of the US government, elimination of vital health research, mistreatment of workers. Whatever it is. As we discussed the other day these kind of bottom up public expressions of condemnation, of going on the record very clearly about why what Trump is doing is wrong, dangerous, a betrayal is very much in the spirit of how we last fought a mad king almost 250 years ago. We must become more comfortable going on the record with our fellow Americans laying out the case against him, spelling out what our Founders called in the Declaration of Independence “abuses and usurpations.”

This is my very first recommendation for what I think all Senate and House Dems need to do now. There needs to be a clear statement from half the Congress that they believe that what Trump is doing is unconstitutional, illegal, wrong and an extraordinary betrayal of our Constitutional order and all of us. This “letter to America” can become the rallying cry for all of our work together. It can become the amicus brief in every court challenge to Trump. It can become a clear statement to the world that American patriots are fighting this historical betrayal of our democracy but also of freedom loving people throughout the world. The people of America and the world need to hear from Democrats and other leaders of this pro-democracy movement that they understand the stakes of the fight we are in and are willing to leave it all on the line for the most important force for freedom humanity has ever seen. The absence of this clear, simple statement from our Congressional leaders is unacceptable and dangerous, and it is why I believe this “letter to America” remains our very first ask of all of Congressional representatives.

Note that I am also adding a new idea I began floating this weekend - Democrats should organize their own Congressional hearings outside of Congress. Bring their own witnesses, make our big arguments, help the American people better understand what is happening in their own country and document Trump’s “abuses,” “injuries,” and “usurpations.”

Finally, remind House and Senate Democrats of their oath. Their oath isn’t about fighting against $8 a dozen eggs. It is about defending the American Constitution which is now under unprecedented assault:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Let’s get to work now. Our democracy needs to have a big day. Do you part today and every day, my fellow American patriots.

Here are my top four recommendations on what you can do now:

1 - Fight The Trump/Musk Attack On Our Government And Our Privacy, End This Historic Crime Spree - . Encourage your Senators and Representatives to let Facts be be submitted to a candid world, hold their own hearings, make criminal referrals filed for Musk and his malicious posse to DOJ/FBI and insist our Senators and Reps file amicus briefs in the court cases regarding the usurpation of their Constitutional authorities or file suits of their own (House Dems began doing this on Friday). Encourage them to hold a daily morning press conference to more aggressively challenge Musk’s ransacking of the USG that is making America less prosperous, less healthy, less safe and far less respected in the world.

2 - Protest, Loudly, Trump’s Embrace of Russia and Abandonment of Europe - Let your electeds know you are outraged by traitorous Trump’s selling out of Zelenskyy, abandonment of Europe and embrace of Putin; and that we cannot accept this level of appeasement of someone who is a clear enemy of America and the West, and certainly not an ally. Demand that Trump not let his Saudi meeting w/Putin become our Munich; demand that he not become our Neville Chamberlain; demand that we rejoin our European allies in support of Zelenskyy and democracy here and everywhere. The county is not with Trump’s embrace of Putin and we must be very loud, very, very loud now.

In a new CBS poll only 4% of Americans support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

3 - Organize Against The 17 Most Vulnerable Republican House Members - For those of you who live in AZ, CA, CO, IA, MI, NE, NJ, NY, PA, VA, WI please start talking to your local orgs - state and local Democratic parties, grassroots groups, traditional Dem allies - about mounting a campaign targeting the most vulnerable 17 Republican House Members to urge them to vote against whatever joint House-Senate reconciliation bill emerges in the coming weeks. We launched this new effort two weeks ago and while we should be urging all our Senators and Reps to vote against these emerging plans, those of you can work these 17 House Rs have a special role to play in this next phase of the battle over the budget. As we’ve discussed there is a lot of concern in the Republican House about the size of the Medicaid cuts required in the House outline passed last Tuesday and we need to keep working it people!

4 - Keep Calling Attorneys General In The States - Ask them to protect you and your data, tax returns and privacy, and to keep federally mandated monies flowing to your states and communities. For those in the 19 states that brought the successful Treasury suit thank them and encourage them to keep going. I still believe these 19 states should make criminal referrals of Musk/his posse to DOJ/FBI and raise the stakes.

For those wanting to do more traditional political/campaign work we have four Hopium-backed efforts we're rallying behind right now:

Help Susan Crawford and Ben Wikler in Wisconsin - As a way of honoring our good friend Ben Wikler and supporting this critical April Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, I’m asking our community to donate to the Wisconsin Democratic Party today. The money raised here will make sure Ben has the resources he needs to keep his team in place so they can support this critical statewide race. I know many of you are already deeply involved here - thank you all.

Watch our new discussion with Susan and Ben and thanks to a huge surge of support in recent days we have already raised $99,000, blowing past our $50,000 goal. We are now upping this to a stretch goal of $100,000 by March 31st. Amazing work everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Help Get Ken Martin Off To A Strong Start - In this time of extraordinary challenge we need a strong DNC. Two weeks ago we set a goal of raising $100,000 by March 31st for our new Chair. Incredibly, over 1,000 of you have donated over $93,000 so far. Watch my interview with Ken about what he wants to do with the DNC, and chip in whatever you can to help Ken and the new exciting team at the DNC get off to a strong start. We now have a new stretch goal of $150,000 by March 31st after our very strong start for this effort (note that we did have some money clawed back due to an error in the amount someone gave!)

Help Abigail Spanberger Win Virginia - Virginia will be one of the big battlegrounds of the November, 2025 elections and we have a great candidate for Governor, Abigail Spanberger. Watch my interview with Abigail, donate, volunteer, and learn more here. Given how many federal employees live in Virginia, this race is also now on the front lines of the Trump/Musk assault on the federal government. We’ve raised more than $52,000 so far towards our March 31st goal of $100,000 - thank you all. Let’s keep working it for Abigail!

Get Anderson Clayton And The NC Dems Off To A Great Start - Last week we began a campaign to raise $50,000 for Anderson Clayton and the NC Dems. These funds will help the NC Dems get off to a great start in 2025 and help cover the costs of their fight to prevent the Republicans from stealing a Supreme Court seat we won together in 2024. Watch my new interview with Chair Clayton to get an update on the fight over the Supreme Court seat and her plans to win elections and counter Trump this year. We’ve raised $13,000 so far - thank you all!

Paid subscribers should self-report their actions today in our daily chat. So inspired by how hard so many of you are working. I want to make a special plea to all Hopium readers in states with Republican Senators - please make your calls, every day. Even 50 to 100 people calling every day in every red state can make a difference. We have hundreds of Hopium subscribers in every state in the country and it’s critical that we all do our part now.

A note - while physical protests and rallies are a vital part of how we build our new opposition movement, make sure you only attend or promote events by organizations you know and trust. Please do not support any action - boycott, protest, rally, etc - unless you know and trust the organizers. Given the import of our work now I don’t think it wise or advisable to lend our support to newly formed, opaque organizations without a proven track record of working with Democratic groups and leaders.

Keep working hard my fellow patriots. Democracy needs to have a big day today. Please do your part!!!!! - Simon