Sunday Hopium - A Quiet News Weekend? Exciting Resolutions Project Update, Winning The Fall
Rest up all. We have a busy fall ahead.....
Happy Sunday all. We have beautiful weather in the DC area this weekend, and I am trying to enjoy as much of it as I can. We also have been blessed this weekend with very little news and madness from the White House so I am going to keep it short today and encourage folks to spend their time doing things other than focusing on he who will not be named. We are going to have a very busy fall and need to rest up and recharge this weekend.
Unless something dramatic happens Hopium is taking Labor Day off and will resume on Tuesday morning. I am literally going fishing tomorrow….
However, if you do want to dive into politics this Labor Day weekend got a few things for you:
My two new essays (here, here) with recommendations for Congressional Dems on how we need to be fighting Trump now and another that reminds us of the historic greatness of FDR and The Four Freedoms
Interviews with Iowa Dem Chair Rita Hart, TX Dem Chair Kendall Scudder, Senate candidate Roy Cooper and the incomparable Jamie Raskin
A presentation from Tom Bonier on why Democrats must embrace partisan voter registation again and Deborah Potter and Rachel Poliner on bringing our Resolutions Project to more communities across the US
Thoughtful discussions with Leon Krauze, Nathan Heller, Greg Sargent, Leah Litman, and Anne Applebaum
I don’t know what happened with Trump’s health this week, but as we’ve been saying for months now he is in clear cognitive, physical and political decline; and that this sense that his powers are ebbing is part of what is driving him deeper into unhinged and dangerous authoritarianism. We got polls this week that showed him now losing the argument about his illegal occupation of DC, as he has lost or is losing the argument about almost everything he has done these past several months. Despite his information superiority he is losing his power of persuasion, and it appears that a clear majority of the country is no longer available to him. For they have gone too far; they are doing real harm to the country and working people; there is just way too much crazy; and the People are not happy about it all.
Republicans are clearly aware that 2026 is likely to be a hard election for them. They are desperately trying to steal Congressional seats, we keep winning and overperforming in special and local elections, and the retirement of Joni Ernst this week was a was a big blow for them. A few reminders of where we are now…..
Trump remains remarkably unpopular, and all their desperate efforts to get his polling numbers up and his STRENGTH restored have failed (all graphs from Strength In Numbers):
The coalition that got him elected in 2024 has unraveled:
He is losing the argument on every issue that matters right now….
And we’ve opened up a sturdy lead in the generic ballot:
Yes we remain in that place where two things can true at the same time: 1) he continues to do remarkable harm to the country, breaking thing that will be difficult if not impossible to repair, and we must act with great vigor to mitigate the damage and win back power 2) he is in decline, and growing more desperate; we are finding a higher gear; and together we must make this a very successful fall.
Update On Our Resolutions Project - Deborah Potter sent in this exciting update about the progress being made across the county - 75 resolutions moving or passed in 23 states + DC!
…….Thanks to all who have joined this terrific effort in the spirit of Our Country’s Founders at the dawn of the American Revolution. Inspired by recent focus on the Resolutions Project, including both Simon and Rep. Jamie Raskin planning new resolutions, we now have 75 resolutions moving in 23 states + the District of Columbia ! AZ, CA, CO, CT, GA, IA, IL, ME, MD, MA, MD, MN, MO, MT, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OR, PA, RI, TN, WA + DC
Here is an excerpt from remarks by the sponsor of the Boston City Council’s resolution, Ben Weber, in a weekly newsletter -
“The resolution pointed out the separation of powers is an integral part of how our framers drafted the Constitution. As James Madison wrote in Federalist Paper No. 47, ‘The accumulation of all powers legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.’ What we are seeing now, however, is a consolidation of authoritarian power in one person with both Congress and the Supreme Court helping the President every step of the way.”
Susan Marshall’s resolution in Amherst Town Council passed on August 18, and she spoke in support. A local news article, Council Passes Pro-Democracy Resolution, quotes Susan as follows.
“The United States faces a moment of unprecedented danger in which the very people who have been elected to uphold our Constitution and enforce our laws are deliberately doing the exact opposite. Elected representatives, as a body, in every town, city, and state must go on record as opposing the unconstitutional and illegal actions of the president, his appointees, and other bad actors. Silence is consent. Amherst will join a growing list of jurisdictions around the country that are passing such measures. The resolution before you closely follows the one passed unanimously by the Boston City Council earlier this month.”
More Shout-Outs !
Leslie Katz, Joan Phillips and Digital Democracy are working to introduce something in Montgomery County, MD.
Planning has begun by Emily Riley in East Providence, RI.
Gary Fifield drafted a resolution for sponsorship in Twin Cities and other locations in MN.
Robert Haberle and Susan have a draft Resolution to Defend Our Civil Rights for a couple of cities within Santa Cruz Co. CA, starting with Capitola, and have been receiving comments.
Scott A Sugarman submitted a draft resolution to the Oakland City Council, and the text is here: https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/hopium-resolutions-project-discussion/comment/148465272
Edward Rusky submitted a resolution to the Marin County, CA Board of Supervisors during a scheduled meeting and provided testimony.
Bison Doc is planning a resolution for Bozeman, MT.
Miriam DeFant reported that 37 residents submitted a Declaration entitled "Defending Our Democracy, the U.S. Constitution, and the Rule of Law: Call to Honor and Defend Democracy" by petition letter to the Shutesbury, MA Select Board. It was inspired by the upcoming Constitution Day on September 17, 2025.
Lojo is planning a resolution for the City of Takoma Park, MD in Montgomery County.
Janet Frohnmayer is considering a resolution for Seattle and King County WA.
Lynne W. offered to help John of Elk Grove.
The resolutions chat has lots of questions and valuable information for anyone interested in generating or contributing ideas. It is a joy to see such inspiring posts about Hopium resolutions/declarations! Great work everyone!!!!!!!
Ways You Can Make A Difference This Week
Our “Must Win/Everyone In” Races
Mikie Sherrill NJ Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $59k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Rep. Sherrill
Abigail Spanberger VA Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $176k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Abigail Spanberger
Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $29,000 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, $53k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer
Hopium House 7 (2026) - $250,000 goal, $188k 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.
Our Recommended Actions - We are prioritizing two 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 - We need to be loud people, very, very loud and make the case for our our emerging four part agenda. We must demand that Congress
Roll back Trump’s terrible tariffs
Block the expansion of ICE and the use of the military on our streets including DC
End Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health and demand the removal of madman Robert Kennedy from HHS
Stand with Ukraine and block Trump’s selling out of the West to Putin
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. Be sure to check out our new discussion with Deborah Potter and Rachel Poliner who have passed resolutions in New Mexico and Boston, and offer advice on how to get a resolution passed in your own community.
Remarkably, members of this community are now advancing 75 (!!!!) resolutions projects in 23 states +DC. Can we get to all 50 states by the fall election?
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!!!
As we get ready for what is going to be a very intense fall of politics let’s end with that famous Robert Frost quote - that “the best way out is always through” - Simon
I contacted ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS:
After Pres. Biden's awful performance during the debate last year, the news media couldn't publish enough on his health. So where is the legacy media coverage of Trump's deteriorating mental and physical health? Are you unable to cover it due to NDIs? The American people deserve to get the truth if Trump is declining, and factual information might give Congress the will to start working for their constituents rather than the President.
Hello all - I'm following Simon's request to self-report on activities. By way of introduction, I am the founder and director of Indivisible Marin, a group with 13k members throughout the US.
We have recently focused on developing materials to encourage ALL OF US to use personal outreach to grow our movement to the necessary 3.5%. Personal outreach is very easy and basic and we can all do it at our convenience while going about our daily lives. Three tactics we highlight in our toolkit and in two short videos are: casual conversations, hosting a gathering, and self-organizing a small protest (just 8-10) people. All of these approaches are HIGHLY effective at recruiting more people to join the fight. Here are the related links:
Webpage with toolkit: https://www.indivisiblemarin.org/personal-outreach
Video presentation covering toolkit (12 minutes): https://youtu.be/mKbiyCsoSoE?si=V7lK8AxwJWcZfFUH
Short video (3 minutes) for social media sharing with volunteer testimonials: https://youtu.be/l_Qc1iEQjwU?si=01vd2YacVAgAbS9X
Let's all do our parts to get to 3.5%! It's easy when we put some simple new practices into place in our daily lives. Thanks for checking out the materials and considering taking the recommended actions!