Morning all. I was lucky enough to sit down yesterday with one of our great heroes of the moment, Rep. Jamie Raskin. A recording and transcript of our discussion is above.
We dive into the big topics of the day - the escalation in DC, Trump’s terrible tariffs, the ongoing assault on the Constitutional order. Throughout Rep. Raskin reports on what he has seen and felt in his extensive travels throughout the country - the American people and leaders increasingly taking responsibility for the necessary fight to preserve our democracy and freedoms. My favorite moment in this lively interview was when Rep. Raskin tells us:
“We should view his [Trump] increasing desperation as a reflection of our growing strength"
I also took the liberty of sharing with Rep. Raskin the progress our Resolutions Project is making across the country. As a former Constitutional law professor he immediately understood the aspiration and importance of our project, and vowed to work with us to bring our resolutions to Maryland (and perhaps other places too!).
Enjoy this wonderful interview with one of our most inspiring leaders and feel free to share with others who might need a little lift today…….
Related Hopium Work
As Trump’s Powers Ebb, He’s Growing More Wild, Desperate And Dangerous
As Trump Desperately Spirals and Escalates, We Must Keep Finding A Higher Gear
A few more things…..
Here’s my updated breakdown of the weekly Economist/YouGov tracking poll. Trump hits a new low for his second term:
My friend Stephen Clermont shared this graph he put together of University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment data. We continue to clock in at/near the lowest readings in the past 50 years:
A reminder that despite the bluster and the bullshit America is much safer today than it has been in many decades:
From Tom Friedman’s remarkable NYT column, “Ukraine Diplomacy Reveals How Un-American Trump Is” (gift link):
Especially when every bone in my body tells me that Trump does not get what this Ukraine war is truly about. Trump is unlike any American president in the past 80 years. He feels no gut solidarity with the trans-Atlantic alliance and its shared commitment to democracy, free markets, human rights and the rule of law — an alliance that has produced the greatest period of prosperity and stability for the most people in the history of the world.
A new report from Climate Power finds that electricity prices have already increased 10% since Trump came to office:
Household electric bills are up 10 percent nationally since Trump took office, and are poised to spike even further. Republicans’ budget bill took a “sledgehammer” to clean energy sources, fueling an energy crisis of skyrocketing utility bills just as demand for energy surges from data centers. A new report from Climate Power details how Trump’s Republican Rate Hike is saddling Americans with higher energy costs, a weaker electric grid, and job losses. This will only get worse after last week’s guidance from the Trump Treasury Department to further sabotage solar and wind tax credits.
Donald Trump and Republicans are creating a self-inflicted energy crisis, sending utility costs through the roof, and closing down factories, all to give a massive tax break to oil and gas billionaires.
“Republicans are fueling an energy crisis and inflicting a massive utility bill hike on Americans across the country,” said Climate Power senior advisor Jesse Lee. “This is nothing short of a betrayal of their own voters. Families are losing jobs while their bills climb, all because Republicans would rather protect their donors than lower costs. This report details just how badly this bill is hurting Americans – and we’re going to make sure they know who to blame when they open higher utility bills this month.”
Sharing this Brian Tyler Cohen interview with House Oversight Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia on the Trump team’s failure to comply with yesterday’s deadline to turn over the Epstein Files. It is fair to read their continued, outrageous stonewalling as further confirmation of Trump’s guilt:
Now, Let’s Get To Work People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our “Must Win/Everyone In” Races
Mikie Sherrill NJ Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $54k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Rep. Sherrill
Abigail Spanberger VA Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $171k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Abigail Spanberger
Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $26,000 raised- Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interviews with Gov. Cooper and NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton. We hit our $25,000 Labor Day goal Monday - great work everyone!
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $50k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer
Hopium House 7 (2026) - $250,000 goal, $184k raised - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer, Watch My Interviews With Our Intrepid Incumbents
Our updated fundraising goals are now for the end of the year, December 31st, except for the 2025 races, which are now for Election Day, 2025.
For more on Hopium’s approach to elections check out 1) our big recommendations to the family coming out of the 2024 elections 2) the many important wins we had together last cycle 3) my latest thinking on where we are and the path forward for the Hopium community.
And We Have Our Recommended Actions - We are prioritizing three actions today. You can get our full list of recommended actions here. Let’s get to it:
1 - Call Your Senators and Member Of The House And Demand They Act Upon Our Four-Part Agenda - While it is recess we need to be loud this week, very, very loud. Make the case for our our emerging four part agenda, and demand they 1) Stand with Ukraine and work to block Trump’s selling out of the West to Putin 2) Roll back Trump’s terrible tariffs 3) Block the expansion of ICE and the use of the military on our streets 4) End the war on science, higher education and the public health of the American people, and demand the removal of Bobby Kennedy (aka “the quack) from the leadership of HHS.
2 - Bring “Resolutions Of Condemnation” To Your Community - 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.
Remarkably, members of this community are now advancing 63 (!!!!) resolutions projects in 20 states. Can we get to all 50 states by the fall election?
Our newly updated Resolutions page includes a new chat for folks to report in on their progress or seek counsel from those interested in launching a resolutions project in their community. This is one way to fight back against Trump’s unprecedented abandonment of our Constitutional order.
Congratulations to Hopium community member Sarah Marshall whose resolution, “Town of Amherst Resolution in Support of Democracy and Calling for a Return to the Constitutional Principles that are the Foundation of our Republic,” passed the Amherst, Massachusetts town council Monday night.
3 - Grow Hopium And This Wonderful Community Of Proud, Plucky, Patriots - We’ve set a goal of trying to grow the Hopium community from the 152,000 we are now to 175,000 by Election Day, 2025. 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 and fall we will hit our goal.
To encourage the growth of our community annual paid subscriptions are 10% off through Labor Day. Use that link to buy gift or group subscriptions, and join our new referral rewards program too. A further note - if you want to up your support of Hopium a powerful way to do it is to buy group or gift subscriptions for others.
Finally, please self-report your activities to our daily paid subscriber chat. These reports help inspire all of us to do more and fight harder! Been impressive to see how many of you remain involved in local, in person protests of all kinds in your communities. Keep it up!!!
Friends, remember Hopium is hope with a plan. We don’t just hope that we will get to the other side of Trumpism. We are doing the work to make it so - Simon
Raskin co-chairs the Congressional Freethought Caucus. He was the lead impeachment manager for the second impeachment of President Donald Trump in response to the attack on the U.S. Capitol.[3][4] Before his election to Congress, Raskin was a constitutional law professor at American University Washington College of Law, where he co-founded and directed the LL.M. program on law and government and co-founded the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project.[5][6]
Share this post