Sunday Hopium - Recapping A Very Important Week In Our Politics
People are pissed, and we need to keep fighting
Good morning everyone. Happy Sunday. We had a great week. Congratulations again. Days later I remain shocked at the margins of our victories across the country, and how profoundly Trump and his terrible agenda were repudiated. It was the election we needed to have; and thanks to all of you, and our great candidates, our party and our democracy are stronger today, and he and his allies are weaker.
To dive deeper into the 2025 election see my current working written analysis, Blue Wave, Enormous Margins, Clear Repudiation Of Trump, and videos of several new discussions - my weekly presentation that offers a comprehensive review of the election; a lively in-depth discussion with Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen of The Contrarian; a terrific session with Tom Bonier and Maine State Party Chair Charlie Dingman; and my C-Span appearance from Thursday morning, complete with lively call-ins from across the country.
We will be having many more conversations about the great blowout election of 2025 and what comes in the coming weeks. Be sure to head to our Events page to see the latest schedule and get links to join. So far this week we have four events lined up, with more in the works:
Monday, Noon ET - Stuart Stevens from Lincoln Square drops by (link to join)
Tuesday, 130pm ET - Katie Phang joins us for an election and legal review
Wed, 7pm ET - Weekly paid subscriber get together
Sun, 4pm - I will be speaking in person at a “Drinks & Democracy” event hosted by DoTheMostGood (DTMG) in Kensington, Maryland. Register for the event here. Looking forward to seeing Hopium folks in person!
We also have begun to look ahead to our next two big jobs - rolling back as much of Trump’s terrible agenda as we can, and winning the midterms next year. See these two posts for thoughts on how we should be approaching the current fight over Trump’s terrible budget and the shutdown (fight as hard as we can!):
As I was writing this morning kept coming back to this…..
Many things contributed to our big win this week. But one stands out to me - the decision by leaders Schumer and Jeffries to fight Trump and his budget this fall. This decision, and how we’ve held the line since showed the Dems fighting for working people; put the harms of Trump’s agenda front and center in our national debate; caught the Republicans off guard, and their wild, illiberal response to our challenge - starve people, shut down air traffic, dig in on the health care cuts and tariffs - has only reinforced our central argument about them - that they are for the oligarchs, and we are for the people.
It was a consequential decision. For we choose to fight - not appease, not roll over - and were rewarded by the American people on Tuesday for standing up for them. It is an important lesson as we look ahead.
For views of this fight from inside Congress check out our recent conversations with Senators Tim Kaine and Jeanne Shaheen, House Members Eric Swalwell and Yassamin Ansari, and the courageous Congresswoman-Elect Adelita Grijalva.
Governor Josh Shapiro clearly understands the assignment. Listen to his take down of Trump and Vance over their efforts to starve the American people:
Now that we won the 2025 elections we’ll be turning our electoral focus to winning the 2026 midterms. For those who want to start getting a lay of the land below you can find links to discussions with some of our most important candidates and state party chairs in critical 2026 battleground states and districts.
What does winning the mid-terms mean? I think our audacious goal should be to flip the House, win back the Senate and get to a majority of governorships. You with me, everyone?
2025 was a great election for us and our democracy. Let’s commit, today, to make 2026 even better. Happy Sunday everybody. It has been a great, great week…..
Now, Lets Get To Work People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winning The Midterms - Support Our 2026 Candidates
Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $50k raised- Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interviews with Gov. Cooper and NC State Party Chair Anderson Clayton
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $91k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my inspiring interview with Senator Ossoff
Hopium House 7 (2026) - $250,000 goal, $236k raised - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer | Watch My Interviews With Our Intrepid Incumbents
Expanding The Map - Support Our Audacious Expansion Fund (2026-2032)
Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $250,000 goal, $186,000 raised - Join our new campaign to invest in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas and watch interviews with the state Party Chairs of all 5 states | Donate to all five state parties | Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $10,000 to each of our five state parties!
Defending America, Winning The Big Arguments With Trump - We have two recommended actions today:
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 emerging four part agenda.
Contact your Senators and House Member and urge them to:
Roll back Trump’s terrible, illegal tariffs that are re-igniting inflation, driving up prices, shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to working people, hurting small businesses and farmers, reviving tyrannical “taxation without representation,” and alienating governments and people throughout the world and fully fund SNAP FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Defend our democracy, rule of law, and our liberties by blocking the expansion of ICE, restoring due process for immigrants across the country, vigorously defending the 1st Amendment, warring against his outrageous targeting of his domestic political opponents, and ending the use of the military on our streets and the unlawful occupation of our cities
Fight Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; reverse - not delay - the cuts to the ACA and Medicaid; support and co-sponsor Rep. Haley Stevens’ effort to Impeach and remove Robert Kennedy
Stand with Ukraine and our European allies, and far more forcefully challenge Trump’s traitorous efforts to sell out the US and the West to Russia and China
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. They offer practical advice on how to get a resolution passed in your own community.
Remarkably, members of this community have passed or are advancing 85 (!!!!) resolution projects in 23 states + DC. Can we get to all 50 states by the end of the year?
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!
Keep working hard all, and remember Hopium is hope with a plan. We don’t just hope tomorrow will be better than today.
We do the work to make it so.
- Simon
To answer your question, Simon: YES, we are with you! Hopium members will keep working to make our country better. Full stop.
Hello all,
Greetings from Vermont! I haven't posted much recently because I work and usually, by the time I get onto Hopium, the comments are 8-10 hours old and people aren't engaging much anymore. But I've been doing the work, slow and steady. Since the shutdown, I've been cheering on my VT MOCs, and when the group of moderate senators was contemplating a compromise, I made sure to contact/call Peter Welch and tell him to stand firm. I also thanked my Republican governor and AG for stepping up with the lawsuit suing for the release of SNAP, and thanked him again when he promised to fund SNAP at the state level. I contacted Schumer and Jeffries a few times, urging them to stand firm, and I even left a message for Mike Johnson, which was hard to do while staying civil. (But I did it!) I also work with my local Indivisible chapter, where we collaborate with other pro-democracy/Indivisible groups: protesting ICE at one of their facilities, doing banner drops, sending postcards, offering nonviolence trainings, and sponsoring a fundraiser for migrant justice. I continue to encourage my friends and family to vote, stay engaged, and have hope. I credit Hopium and Simon for giving me a steadfast foundation for my activism - always, always Hope with a Plan. I loved reading the comments this week - so much good and inspiring news for a change. Thanks, everyone. What a great team!