Stopping Trump's Sabotage

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Morning all. Underneath the daily bluster and bullshit; the lipsticking of MAGA, MAHA, originalism, “peace” talks and Project 2025; the breathless drama of the rise and fall of Courtiers like Musk, Hegseth and more idiots to come; the unceasing and unprecedented cowardice of John Thune and Mike Johnson; the ongoing fight with the Courts and emergence of a true American Gulag; underneath all the bread and circuses and the shock and the awe, is a hard, cold reality we cannot for one moment ignore - Trump is traitorously doing extraordinary, lasting harm to America - on purpose, by design - and we must use every tool in democracy’s tool box to stop him.

In recent weeks, as Trump’s terrible and clearly unconstitutional tariffs wreck the American and global economies, the financial world has emerged as a powerful and perhaps unexpected player in our opposition movement. I now sharing the opening few graphs of the most read political newsletter in Washington, Politico’s Playbook. Today’s edition is called Trump Gets A Downgrade, and it is a sign of how Trump is now playing inside the Capital (spoiler alert - not fucking good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!):

NUMBERS GAME: The International Monetary Fund will officially downgrade global growth forecasts this morning in response to the swirling trade war and severe market turbulence triggered by Donald Trump’s on-off tariffs. The IMF’s weeklong spring conference in Washington will dominate headlines at 9 a.m. with the unveiling of its first World Economic Outlook since Trump returned to power. It won’t make pretty reading for the White House.

A Golden Age for America: Back on January 17 — about a million political years ago — the IMF was merrily forecasting global growth of 3.3 percent for both 2025 and 2026. Per Reuters, it even raised its annual growth forecast for the United States at that time to 2.7 percent, citing “robust labor markets and accelerating investment.” At that stage, the only cloud on this gloriously sunny horizon was an oblique warning to world leaders that any “intensification of protectionist policies” would damage trade and investment and rock global markets. Whatever could they have meant?

Fast-forward three months … and here we are. The S&P 500 has tumbled 14 percent since Trump’s inauguration, the stock market's worst start to a presidency in more than a century, according to an analysis released Monday by Bespoke Investment Group (per Investopedia.) The dollar is down 10 percent since Trump’s inauguration, per WaPo. Pretty much all the damage has been done since “Liberation Day” on April 2.

Here’s the WSJ with the big-picture headline the White House will hate: “Dow Headed for Worst April Since 1932 as Investors Send ‘No Confidence’ Signal.” Ouch. History buffs (and “Ferris Bueller” fans) will note 1932 was the year the Smoot–Hawley tariffs began to have their most severe impact, with the Great Depression nearing its peak. (Trump believes the real problem was the lifting of tariffs a couple of years later, FWIW.)

Regular reminder: It’s not just the stock markets facing upheaval. Yesterday’s horror show extended, once again, to U.S. bond yields, suggesting a deeper underlying shift in the way the world views the U.S. economy. (See also the tumbling price of the dollar vs. the record-high price of gold.) Plenty of commentators believe the global financial system is changing before our eyes — and not in America’s favor. “Two months into Donald Trump’s second term, the pillars of American financial hegemony — erected over the best part of a century — have rarely looked shakier,” Bloomberg’s Saleha Mohsin and Carter Johnson write.

Fed up: This latest round of turbulence appears to have been triggered by Trump’s repeated attacks on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, who he (again) accused yesterday of being too slow to cut interest rates. The WSJ’s Nick Timiraos notes this is a long-standing complaint. “Trump’s critique on Monday didn’t come out of the blue,” he writes. “His advisers have been honing this line of attack for months, arguing that Fed decisions for the past four years weren’t the product of difficult data-driven judgments, but politics.”

But but but: That is precisely part of the problem, as POLITICO’s own economics guru Victoria Guida noted yesterday: “Tariffs increased expectations for inflation in the short term, but risks to Fed independence are raising investor fears that there will be no one to credibly fight inflation long term.” Experts quoted in the FT make similar points.“The idea that Powell could be on the way out will definitely put real fear into the market. He’s a voice of sanity, a known quantity,” said Steven Grey, chief investment officer at Grey Value Management. “Trump is unreliable, he cannot be trusted.”

And just read this … from the WSJ editorial board: “If the White House wanted a test of how firing Jerome Powell would go over in the markets, it succeeded on Monday. U.S. stocks and the dollar plunged while yields on long-term Treasurys climbed … Mr. Trump thinks he can bully everyone into submission, but he can’t bully Adam Smith, who deals in reality. … All of this is tempting economic fate and contributing to a global ‘sell America’ narrative in financial markets. … markets are spooked because they don’t know if Mr. Trump listens to anyone but his own impulses.”

Part of the problem … is that there’s little sign of movement so far on the dozens of trade deals Trump promised to sign to alleviate the impact of his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs. It’s now been 11 days since White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told us it was perfectly possible to sign 90 different trade deals during the 90-day reciprocal tariff pause — and so far, there has not been a single one.

In the past week we’ve seen growing, powerful defiance of Trump from Harvard, Senator Chris Van Hollen, leading Jewish organizations, Trump loyalists at the Pentagon, Governor Newsom and the state of California, the Supreme Court of the United States, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the global financial markets. Yesterday 4 House Democrats - Reps. Robert Garcia of California, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Maxine Dexter of Oregon - visited El Salvador to fight for release of the many wrongly imprisoned here. Here is a report from one, Rep. Yassamin Ansari:

Our goal in the short term must be to increase the momentum behind the “the holy shit Trump is doing incredible harm to the country” conversation for that realization, something that will come as a shock to many, will enlarge the space, permission structure and necessity of defiance. While many of us have been there for a long time, years and years, it may easy to miss the significance of having actors not associated with our politics - the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, many players in the financial world, Chairman Powell, the Supreme Court, top staffers from Trumpworld - express their public defiance of Trump.

Trump’s brand is in the process of transforming from winner to loser, from successful business guy to fuck up, from patriot to saboteur. A majority of the country is there now, with us. We have to keep growing that circle of understanding and shrinking his zone of support. And we must stay relentlessly focused on talking to Republicans in Congress. We only need 4 Republican Senators and 3 in the House to split from Trump to rip Congressional control from him. I still believe, based on my more than 30 years here, the place of greatest opportunity now to see a truly meaningful break from Trump is on his tariffs. They are not just harming all Americans in every state and district, they are also unconstitutional. Trump simply does not have the power to levy tariffs like this, ones that effect literally every person in America and the world, without Congressional assent. Given how central abusive and capricious tariffs were to fomenting our revolution, there simply is no scenario where our Founders would have allowed the President to have this power alone. For Trump’s tariffs are - literally - present day “taxation without representation.”

A reminder of those 4 grievances from our Declaration of Independence getting a lot of play right now:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offence

So in battling these tariffs, we are not only working to undue the harm they are causing, but are also taking a critical step in re-establishing the Constitutional order that has been abandoned by Trump, Thune and Johnson.

We also need to be very clear about one thing - there is no possibility that Trump’s strategy will somehow end up working out. There is no reason to “see what happens.” Trump’s policies and government are an unprecedented, historic disaster for the United States and all of us. He has already made America less prosperous, less safe and less free. It is why what we are witnessing now looks more like sabotage and not at all like a serious strategy to make America better. That he can make things good is a big lie, the lie of a traiterous saboteur not an American President. He had his shot and he has blown it and he can ever, ever be trusted again.

We will be talking about all this tomorrow night in our next paid subscriber gathering. Learn more and register here. And a reminder - a paid Hopium subscription is 10% off through the end of April. For while Trump is raising prices on things here at Hopium we are defiantly lowering them for you.

So friends, yes, there is darkness now, far too much darkness but there is also progress. As we say here little cracks can become big cracks, little wins can become big wins and we have just have to keep working as hard as we can for our freedoms, our families and our future.

Now, let’s get to work.

UPDATED Hopium Actions and Campaigns - Let’s focus on four current actions to channel our love of country and our frustrations into even more progress today:

1 - Demand Congress Rescind Trump’s Terrible Tariffs - Call/contact your Senators and House Members today and demand roll back these incredibly dangerous and unconstitutional tariffs immediately. Insist they sign on and advocate for the new bi-partisan resolution that would be repeal the tariffs just introduced by Senator Kaine, Paul, Wyden, Shaheen, Welch, Warren and Schumer. It will be coming to a Senate vote in the coming days.

Watch my new interview with Senator Time Kaine to learn more, and applaud the critically important law suit brought by Governor Gavin Newsom and the State of California suit challenging the Constitutionality of the these terrible tariffs. These tariffs are without question the greatest abuse of power by an American leader in our history and we must fight with everything we got to roll them back.

2 - Fight The Trump-Musk Attack On Our Government, Our Privacy And Our Constitutional Order - We must continue to encourage our Senators and Representatives to let Facts be be submitted to a candid world by:

• Penning a joint Senate and House Letter to America, inspired by our Declaration Of Independence

• Following Senator Booker’s lead in creating good trouble on the House and Senate floors, holding more aggressive and strategic daily press conferences and keep the Shadow Hearings coming

• Hitting the trail like Bernie, AOC, Senator Chris Murphy and Rep. Maxwell Frost, and leading with courage like Senator Chris Van Hollen

• To file law suits, amicus briefs and criminal referrals against the unconstitutional ransacking of the government of the United States of America

Call to demand the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

For more on the critical importance of us far more aggressively challenging Trump’s abandonment of the Constitutional order, his attack on science and higher education and his torching of our “inalienable rights” see my new discussion with Stuart Stevens and Rick Wilson of Lincoln Square; my new video, We Are Stronger, He Is Weaker; and my recent interviews with Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, Dr. Michael Mann of the University of Pennsylvania, Anna Bower of Lawfare, Amy Spitalnick of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and immigration lawyer David Leopold.

3 - The Growing Power Of Protests and Rallies, Rallying The States, The Spring Offensive - So much has happened since we called we called on our community members to organize in the 17 most vulnerable Republican House seats a few months ago. Rallies and protests have exploded across the country. The “Hands Off” events and the Bernie-AOC tour have drawn extraordinary crowds. The DNC/House Dems/State Parties have kicked off People’s Town Halls in all 50 states.

You can find People’s Town Halls this week in Colorado, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, and South Dakota. Would love self-reports from anyone who attending the ones in Arizona and New Jersey last night.

I have also come to believe that we should be calling on our state and local electeds to introduce, debate and pass “articles of condemnations” of the Trump regime and the clear harms they are bringing to community and every person in the country. Federalism can become a much bigger bulwark against Trump if our state and local electeds rally to the moment. For more on the critical role of the states now watch my new interview with Arizona AG Kris Mayes.

Let’s also start talking now about what we are going to do on July 4th, a day with all of a sudden much greater importance.

4 - Loudly Protest Trump’s Embrace of Russia and Abandonment of NATO and 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. See my recent essay on the need to support our allies and not surrender to Putin, and my interview with Rep. Adam Smith, the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, one of the most important foreign policy voices in our party.

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 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.

For those wanting to do more traditional campaign work, we have the following four Hopium-backed efforts we're rallying behind. I also want to note that this community raised $142,000 for Susan Crawford in our great WI win, and over $100,000 to get Ken Martin off to a strong start at the DNC. When the Hopium community is called, you answer again and again.

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 $82,000 so far towards our June 30th goal of $200,000 - thank you all. Let’s keep working it for Abigail!

Support The Hopium House 7 - We’ve begun our work to help flip the House next year by supporting and shoring up the 7 newly-elected battleground House Dems we helped elect last year. Catch our interviews with Reps Derek Tran and Janelle Bynum and give to all 7 through a single donation on our new ActBlue page. Learn more about this important effort here.

We’ve already raised over $65,000 towards our $200,000 June 30th goal - thank you all!

Help Allison Riggs, Anderson Clayton And The NC Dems Stop The GOP From Stealing A State Supreme Court Seat - A few weeks ago we began a campaign to raise $50,000 for Justice Allison Riggs, 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.

If you want to go deeper into the GOP’s rancid effort to steal a Supreme Court seat watch my new interviews with Justice Riggs and Anderson Clayton, the inspiring Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

We’ve raised $43,000 so far towards our June 30th goal of $50,000 - thank you everyone!

Thank Senator Booker For Standing Up For America - Senator Booker is up for re-election next year and many of you asked if they could channel their support and appreciation for him through Hopium. So I’ve set up an ActBlue fundraising page for him with a goal of raising $100,000 by June 30th.

We’ve already raised $26,000 - thank you all. Let’s be there for Senator Booker as he been there for us at this critical time.

Keep working hard all. So proud to be in this fight with all of you. While we are making progress, real progress, we have a lot of work in front of us - Simon