Signing This Terrible Bill Will Be A Loss For Trump - And America - Not A Win

Our leaders need to hear our roar of disapproval today, tomorrow, all week. Those of you with Republican Senators or House Members need to be particularly loud now

Morning all. The big, ugly bill is likely to be voted on in the Senate tomorrow, and at this point it appears headed to passage. The House will then be asked to vote on it as is - with even deeper Medicaid cuts than the House passed - so Trump can have a “win” as he heads into the July 4 holiday.

A few thoughts.

First, we need to begin to describe what may happen this week as a “loss” for Trump and the country. Signing something so unpopular is far more likely to hurt him and Republicans than help them.

And this terrible, terrible bill is going to do direct, material harm to the country - our health care system is going to be weakened, close to 100m people will be paying more for health care or lose their insurance, tens of millions will struggle to eat, our existential transition to a clean energy future undermined, an unprecedented domestic political police force will be established, the fiscal integrity of the United States will be in jeopardy to the explosion in our deficit and debt, and of course the wealthy and privileged will get their tax cuts. It is a Trumpian monstrosity, an orgy of plutocratic “let them eat cake” greed, another step forward in their fanatical, wrecking ball agenda of sabotage, plunder, and betrayal.

Thus, signing this bill will not be a “win” for Trump, or America. It will clearly be a loss, for Trump, for Republicans, for the American people. We know what Trump and a complicit media will attempt to do if this is signed into law this week but we SIMPLY SHOULD NOT PLAY ALONG. Trump is fucking the country with his reckless agenda and this rancid bill and we need to say so. Even Elon agrees.

Second, it is critical we are very, very loud today, tomorrow and every day this week. While the bill is likely to pass both the Senate and House and be signed into law this week, full passage is not guaranteed and we need to make it as hard as possible for them.

Those of you with Republican Senators and/or House Members need to be particularly loud right now.

Call and email your Congressional offices. Arrange protests or visits to their district offices tomorrow and every day this week. In the Senate the most important people to call are Tillis (NC), Murkowski (AK) and Collins (ME). In the House it is the incumbents in these 29 districts (via the Cook Report):

If you live in one of these targeted states and do not have a group you are currently working with call your state Democratic Party this morning and ask to be given something to do tomorrow. All state Dem parties should be working now to flood the offices of these 3 Senators and 29 Republican held House seats with as many calls and contacts as possible. We have to be very, very loud now.

Finally, as I reported to you in my weekly video and post this week, I think right now we are both further along than we feel in building our ferocious and effective opposition and clearly not where we need to be. Congressional Democrats and the entire Democratic, pro-democracy infrastructure committed to defining and degrading the big, ugly bill a few months ago and as those polls above show our efforts worked. The bill is the most unpopular major initiative of the early Trump era. We were able to overcome their noise machine and a mainstream media struggling to find their way and seriously degrade this bill. It’s a big deal, and we should be proud of what we’ve done, together. And if we did it successfully on this bill, it means we can do it with other Trumpian initiatives in the future.

Note that in the past twenty four hours two of the most vulnerable Republicans in swing districts, Rep. Don Bacon in NE-2 and North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, have chosen not to run for re-election. It is a sign the pressure we’ve put on the Rs is making a difference (this graph added after posting this am).

It may end up not being enough, however. And what is why in the coming days we need to do two things: 1) we simply must be doing more to support our conventional political options - our candidates, below, for example. Monday is a critical fundraising filing deadline. If you are pissed, frustrated today make a donation to one of these critical races below and encourage others in your network to join you. Sign up to volunteer. We still have to compete at the very highest level of the game in traditional, conventional politics. 2) the national leaders of our party and movement must recognizance that we are doing now, while significant, simply isn’t enough; that our movement has to start playing at a higher level, fight harder, be far more creative and ruthless in the way we challenge what has become the most dangerous threat to America in our history.

In that vein I encourage you to review two posts of mine which offer ideas for how we keep upgrading, re-inventing, re-imagining our politics so we can become that ferocious and effective opposition that we simply must become. We will be discussing the ideas in here in the coming weeks:

• Old Dogs And New Tricks

• More Notes On The Path Forward and Building An Effective and Ferocious Opposition

I also encourage you to watch these four new discussions Hopium released this week:

• Time For Democrats To Go On Offense - Senator Elissa Slotkin

• Boundless Opportunity - Rep. Mikie Sherrill

• On Trump’s “Spectacle Of Power” - Anne Applebaum

• Folks Aren’t Buying What Trump Is Selling - my latest video and analysis (important)

While we may not defeat this terrible, terrible bill we simply must do everything we can to try this week. We need to once again leave it all out there on the playing field, together. Loud and proud peeps, loud and proud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, Let’s Get To Work All

Support Hopium’s Priority Candidates - June 30th Filing Deadline Is Tomorrow - Please Consider Donating Today!

• Mikie Sherrill NJ Gov - $200,000 goal ($25k by 6/30), $22,000 raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch Our Interview

• Abigail Spanberger VA Gov - $200,000 goal, $138k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch Our Interview

• Jon Ossoff GA Senate - $200,000 goal ($25k by 6/30), $15,000 raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer

• Hopium House 7 - $200,000 goal, $141k raised - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer, Watch Our Interviews

1 - Stop The Reconciliation Bill - Job One for us this summer remains fighting Trump’s ruinous and deeply unpopular economic agenda. We need to keep calling every day and demand our leaders vote down the reconciliation bill and roll back Trump’s terrible tariffs. This is the big, definitional battle of the summer and we need keep working it every day. Those of you in states with Republican Senators have a particularly important role to play in the coming weeks.

Here’s a possible script to use to fight the reconciliation bill and tariffs. Use whatever works for you:

I am calling to urge you to vote against the reconciliation bill and to roll back Trump’s terrible and illegal tariffs. Together these actions have raised taxes on all of us and will explode the deficit - things Republicans have always told us they did not believe in.

But your agenda is also causing all of us to “pay more and get less” for every day things including our health care; people to loses their jobs; and the economy to slow - all so you can give your rich donors a huge tax break. Your plans will weaken this great country and are an extraordinary betrayal of everything you promised during the campaign - which was to help people like me, not Elon Musk, get ahead.

Your plans are ones of sabotage, surrender and betrayal and I urge you to abandon them and to work with Democrats to find a better way.

2 - Get The Military Off Our Streets, Fight Trump’s Inhumane Immigration Escalation - Contact your Rep and Senators to demand they fight Trump’s illegal use of the National Guard and Marines in California. Encourage Democrats at all levels of government to a stand with Governor Newsom and the California - for Trump is not just attacking California, he is attacking the rights and freedoms of all of us. See my recent interviews with Joe Garcia, Leon Krauze and Senator Chris Van Hollen for more.

In the coming days I want to work with all of you to do something more explicit about demanding the end of masked, plain clothes “police” snatching people here in America without warrants.

3 - Own The Fourth, The Flag And Patriotism - To keep our momentum going after this weekend’s No Kings events I encourage to explore ways of Owning The Fourth and make our Independence Day an ugly one for our mad wannabe king.

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. Our resolutions passed in New Mexico this week, others are working to bring them forward - let’s keep the mo’ going everyone!

4 -Volunteer To Help Your State and/or Local Democratic Parties Stand Up Voter Registration Efforts - In the presentation he made to our community on Friday Tom Bonier made a persuasive case that Democrats must once again make partisan voter registration a national priority. State and local Democratic Parties are in the planning stages to take this on. Members of our community should consider contacting their state and local parties and offer to help stand up these vital efforts in the coming months.

For more on the need to make partisan voter registration great again see my recent interview with Jane Kleeb, Nebraska Democratic Party Chair, DNC Vice Chair and President of the Association of Democratic State Committees.

5 - Stand Up For Science - Sign on to the critically important Bethesda Declaration and watch my interview with Stand Up For Science’s Executive Director Colette Delawalla. Signing on to the Declaration is one concrete way you can take action today.

For more on the need to fight Trump’s war on science, research, academia and our public health see my recent interview with noted climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann.

Please self-report your activities to our daily paid subscriber chat. These reports help inspire all of us to do more and fight harder!

Grow Hopium - We’ve set a goal of trying to grow the Hopium community from the 152,000 we are now to 175,000 by Labor Day. 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 we will hit our goal.

To encourage the growth of our community annual paid subscriptions are 10% off through Labor Day and we’ve launched a new referral awards program too. So you can earn months towards a paid subscription by bringing in new subscribers to the Hopium community!

Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you, and a fight it surely is - Simon