Sunday Hopium - Some Notes On Where We Are Today And The Path Forward

Happy August Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Morning all. Greetings from Washington, DC. We have beautiful weather this weekend, and I am excited to get outside today. Hope you are doing something restorative and fun this weekend. We all need quiet, away time to stay even keeled and effective in our work together.

A breezy summer post today with just a few Sunday morning observations.

First, Trump the political project took a big hit on Friday. It’s becoming harder to pretend, despite their bluster and blather and, that this Trump thing is working or good for America. As I discussed in my video this week whatever your scenario is for us getting to the other side of this terrible time it begins with him weakening, struggling, losing his grip, becoming unpopular and distant to voters, and eventually a clownish thing of ridicule. And frankly we are further along in getting to this necessary first step in our path back than I expected to be in August of 2025. So we should be heartened by his failure and struggle, and use it to draw strength for our critical work ahead.

Next, the Democratic Party is in better shape than conventional wisdom holds. Let’s review three critical measures of our strength relative to the Republican brand……

Our voters are more enthusiastic about voting:

We now lead in Party ID:

We now lead in the generic ballot:

All three of these measures find us growing stronger and Republicans weaker. The election environment is changing, and is becoming more favorable to us. What this tells us is that we have an opportunity to have the elections we all want to have - if we keep working hard.

Let us continue to marvel at Trump’s extraordinary decline, a clear sign of his diminishing powers:

The discourse around our brand right now reminds me a bit of 2022 when we were told Biden’s low approval rating meant we were doomed and a red wave was coming to wash over us all. His approval may have been low, and disappointment in Biden may have been real, but there was something more powerful in our politics than disappointment in us - fear of and opposition to them.

Fear of and opposition to MAGA drove the 2018 elections, 2020, 2022 and 2023 and many - not all of course - elections in 2024. It remains the most powerful force in our politics today and should be again in the upcoming 2025 and 2026 elections given their historic betrayal of the country. The people in our discourse who are now arguing that we are weak and losing and struggling are wrong. This may have been have true a few months ago but things have changed, and we are now in a better position than we were earlier this year, or last November.

I want to be clear - we are not where we want to be. Trump continues to do extraordinary harm to the country and his autocratic ambitious continue to grow; and we have work to do to strengthen our brand and lay out an agenda for what we will do when we are back in power. But we enter this August break with Trump flailing and us beginning to find our mojo. I for one will take that, while recognizing we have a lot of work ahead of us.

That things have moved and improved for us is a reminder that our work together matters. For it shows us that we can make things better, and that things can get better still. Victory may not be assured for us but neither is it for Trump and his rancid quest to end American democracy for all time.

Third, I want to use this August break to take a step back a bit from the crushing day to day fight against Trump and listen to others, reflect and review, and come out of the gate strong in September. So much has happened since November of last year and I want some time to slow down, process what we’ve been through, make better sense of it all, and ensure our course here is true.

So to that end I’ve begun a series of interviews with a wide variety of experts and elected officials who can help us better make sense of this precarious moment in our history. Get to them when you can. They will be here for you when you are ready, with many more coming in the next few weeks…..

• How The Roberts Court Is Betraying The Country - Professor Leah Litman (loved this discussion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

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

• Fighting Trump’s War on Science - Colette Delawalla and Dr. Jeremy Berg

• Organizing Everywhere, Winning Anywhere - DNC Chair Ken Martin

• Trump’s Budget Could Break The Economy - Dr. Rob Shapiro

• Winning The Info Wars - Tara McGowan

• Got to Keep The Faith, Got To Keep Organizing - Senator Alex Padilla

• Fighting Harder For Those Left Behind - Rep. Josh Riley (NY-19)

Remember you can find all of my interviews/podcasts on the Hopium site under Podcast and on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify too.

Finally, I think all of us have to start acting as if the 2026 elections are now here. They are not “next year” but here now. Early voting starts in Virginia in six weeks. We have consequential elections coming up in twelve weeks. Important 2026 candidates are jumping in, and need our support. We are only 15 months away from the midterms. The early money and early support, as we learned last cycle through the success of our work together, can make a huge difference.

Republicans will have more money in these elections than they had in previous ones which means we will have to work harder than we’ve worked to have the outcomes we all want to have. One way to work harder is to work EARLIER, to work now and not wait until the summer or fall of next year. In our list below you have options for campaigns and party committees to support now. I will be expanding upon this initial list in the coming weeks as the contours of this election cycle are coming into greater focus. This community has answered when called, again and again, but our most important work lies ahead of us, not behind. So start thinking this August on how you are going to spend your valuable time and money over the next 15 months and try to start allocating a bit more to the elections that are now here, with us today, and not “next year.”

Now….

Let’s Get To Work People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Support Hopium’s Priority Candidates And Party Committees - A reminder that Election Day, 2025 is a little more than three months away and early voting starts in Virginia in less than two months - September 19th! Donate, volunteer, learn more about our candidates and opportunities here. I consider all these options must dos for anyone serious about winning this year and next year.

Note that Governor Roy Cooper announced a record breaking $3.4m fundraising haul in his first 24 hours in the race. Amazing stuff everyone! Can we get it to $10m by the end of his first week? Let’s keep working it…..

• Mikie Sherrill NJ Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $45k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Rep. Sherrill

• Abigail Spanberger VA Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $159k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Abigail Spanberger

• Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $25,000 Labor Day goal, $250,000 goal, $16,000 raised- Donate | Learn More | Volunteer

• Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $44k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer

• Hopium House 7 (2026) - $250,000 goal, $176k raised - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer, Watch My Interviews With Our Great Members

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.

We can do this people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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 Rep To Demand They Rescind Trump’s Terrible Tariffs - Congress simply must take back its tariff authority that Trump has illegally and unconstitutional seized and dangerously abused. It is time now for to rescind these terrible and destructive madman tariffs.

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 50 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.

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 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.

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!!!

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