Happy day after Thanksgiving to all! Simon, I wonder if there could be a couple of talking points about what state and the national parties do with the money? I hear them say infrastructure and staff, and I don’t think those are compelling reasons for donating. Honestly, I don’t know what infrastructure means in a political party. I’d like to be able to say to people, for example, staff produce volunteer training, they ensure that there’s a get out the vote campaign, they make sure that they are painting the Republican candidate early on. I don’t know if any of that is true, but I find myself wishing that I could provide a few powerful reasons for donating to friends and family.
Melissa I will try to pull something short together but all of these interviews I link to with party leaders go into detail about what the new DNC is doing, and the new ambitions state parties have to become 24/7/365 entities that communicate, register, plan strategies, win ballot initiatives and elections. If you listen to our post-election interview with Maine Chair Charlie Dingman he goes into detail about how the money we raised was spent to help bring about our big win statewide in Maine this past November - https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/some-blue-wave-2025-election-recaps
As Charlie explains staff actually really does matter. The old model brought on staff in the spring and summer of the even year. Bringing them on in the odd year gives them time to learn the state, their areas, their craft and makes all of us more successful. I would also stronger encourage you to watch the interview with Anderson Clayton where she explains how our huge investment of $1.1m last cycle helped bring us important state wide wins there in 2024 and helped prepare us for more in 2026. Essentially what we are trying to do is turn on these parties year round and professionalize them across the country.
Simon, “Essentially what we are trying to do is turn on these parties year round and professionalize them across the country,” is ideal for 2026 and onward.
This early money, as all early money does, allows them to turn everything on sooner. Going earlier is a critical way for us to get better, make it more likely we win. The difference between these parties having professional comms and field people now versus in July could be the difference in us winning and losing thousands of races across the country.
Could not agree more. NJ is perfect example of why this is needed. We have one of the weakest state structures bc of the corrupt ballot design system and disproportionate power at municipal level, which Sen. Kim successfully sued to change. The system here is already much better, as evidenced by our strong showing a couple weeks back. But statewide, early hiring and strong party infrastructure is key!
Good morning, all! Just spent a couple hours on my weekly VoteRiders ID assistance shift. So many folks in need of simple things like ID and birth certificate, but states like TX, GA & FL make it very difficult. We do our best to help, and it's some of the best work I've done as a volunteer. You can sign up at VoteRiders.org!
Just donated to Higgins and already given to Behn- feeling good about our chances on both! Orange man went off on Gov. Prizker yesterday, who gave it right back to him and asked for his MRI results. More of this, please!
Dr. Ben-Ghiat live on her weekly Lucid chat at 1 pm today, please tune in if you can.
Great work, Lisa! Yay VoteRiders! I just donated to Higgins and to Behn, too. By the way, it was Minnesota Governor Tim Walz who asked for Trump’s MRI results after Trump called him “retarded” and defamed all the Somalis in Minnesota!
Hey friends. Just listened to Simon and Behn. She's Awesome AND is getting attacked with yucky misogynistic ads. UGH. She told Simon she's "not having fun" BUT is deeply inspired. There is much news about her race in the news which is so great. They need phone banking and door knocking. Sadly I'm not able to do either due to family obligations and travel. I sent a bunch of money last week. But any support you all can send her way will make a big difference. She is a really tough activist. Has been working hard for years! In the south. As a woman. Very inspiring.
NATIONAL SECURITY, NATIONAL SECURITY, NATIONAL SECURITY!
“Again, it all goes back to I think the person running the country right now is a DEAD PEDOPHILE [emphasis mine].”
- Professor Scott Galloway (NYU), Founder of Prof G Media
Folks:
As predicted, it seems that Dolos wants to give his Tsar everything that he wants and call it a negotiation (good coverage by the UK’s Telegraph): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/11/28/trump-to-recognise-occupied-ukraine-part-of-russia/ . He wants to ignore the concerns of Europe— let alone Ukraine. THIS IS A SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT. It must be what Dolos and his Tsar discussed in Anchorage (basically, a bailout of Russia— financially).
Happy day after Thanksgiving to all! Simon, I wonder if there could be a couple of talking points about what state and the national parties do with the money? I hear them say infrastructure and staff, and I don’t think those are compelling reasons for donating. Honestly, I don’t know what infrastructure means in a political party. I’d like to be able to say to people, for example, staff produce volunteer training, they ensure that there’s a get out the vote campaign, they make sure that they are painting the Republican candidate early on. I don’t know if any of that is true, but I find myself wishing that I could provide a few powerful reasons for donating to friends and family.
Melissa I will try to pull something short together but all of these interviews I link to with party leaders go into detail about what the new DNC is doing, and the new ambitions state parties have to become 24/7/365 entities that communicate, register, plan strategies, win ballot initiatives and elections. If you listen to our post-election interview with Maine Chair Charlie Dingman he goes into detail about how the money we raised was spent to help bring about our big win statewide in Maine this past November - https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/some-blue-wave-2025-election-recaps
As Charlie explains staff actually really does matter. The old model brought on staff in the spring and summer of the even year. Bringing them on in the odd year gives them time to learn the state, their areas, their craft and makes all of us more successful. I would also stronger encourage you to watch the interview with Anderson Clayton where she explains how our huge investment of $1.1m last cycle helped bring us important state wide wins there in 2024 and helped prepare us for more in 2026. Essentially what we are trying to do is turn on these parties year round and professionalize them across the country.
Simon, “Essentially what we are trying to do is turn on these parties year round and professionalize them across the country,” is ideal for 2026 and onward.
This early money, as all early money does, allows them to turn everything on sooner. Going earlier is a critical way for us to get better, make it more likely we win. The difference between these parties having professional comms and field people now versus in July could be the difference in us winning and losing thousands of races across the country.
I've heard that early money is like yeast
Could not agree more. NJ is perfect example of why this is needed. We have one of the weakest state structures bc of the corrupt ballot design system and disproportionate power at municipal level, which Sen. Kim successfully sued to change. The system here is already much better, as evidenced by our strong showing a couple weeks back. But statewide, early hiring and strong party infrastructure is key!
Donated to Higgins, Behn and Audacious Expansion Fund.
boy they are spending money on this tn race; can't go online without some smear about her and ice or some other nonsense. they must be worried.
Good morning, all! Just spent a couple hours on my weekly VoteRiders ID assistance shift. So many folks in need of simple things like ID and birth certificate, but states like TX, GA & FL make it very difficult. We do our best to help, and it's some of the best work I've done as a volunteer. You can sign up at VoteRiders.org!
Just donated to Higgins and already given to Behn- feeling good about our chances on both! Orange man went off on Gov. Prizker yesterday, who gave it right back to him and asked for his MRI results. More of this, please!
Dr. Ben-Ghiat live on her weekly Lucid chat at 1 pm today, please tune in if you can.
Keep going!
Great work, Lisa! Yay VoteRiders! I just donated to Higgins and to Behn, too. By the way, it was Minnesota Governor Tim Walz who asked for Trump’s MRI results after Trump called him “retarded” and defamed all the Somalis in Minnesota!
Hey friends. Just listened to Simon and Behn. She's Awesome AND is getting attacked with yucky misogynistic ads. UGH. She told Simon she's "not having fun" BUT is deeply inspired. There is much news about her race in the news which is so great. They need phone banking and door knocking. Sadly I'm not able to do either due to family obligations and travel. I sent a bunch of money last week. But any support you all can send her way will make a big difference. She is a really tough activist. Has been working hard for years! In the south. As a woman. Very inspiring.
Another reason for making the don't give up the ship video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS96BVr5Msc
Simon - do you have a preference in the primary in NE-2, where Crystal Rhoades is a democratic candidate? thanks.
“[I]f it were up to [Stephen] Miller, there’d only be 100 million people in this country, and they’d all look like Miller.” - Donald J. Trump (2024)
Here are Professor Barbara Walter’s five suggestions for fighting authoritarianism:
https://barbarafwalter.substack.com/p/the-hidden-battle-that-decides-whether .
https://barbarafwalter.substack.com/p/authoritarian-power-is-mostly-performance .
https://barbarafwalter.substack.com/p/how-dictators-lose-control-of-the .
https://barbarafwalter.substack.com/p/4-storms-and-streets-break-regimes .
https://barbarafwalter.substack.com/p/5-how-to-break-a-tyrant .
EPSTEIN, EPSTEIN, EPSTEIN!
BLACKMAIL, BLACKMAIL, BLACKMAIL!
NATIONAL SECURITY, NATIONAL SECURITY, NATIONAL SECURITY!
“Again, it all goes back to I think the person running the country right now is a DEAD PEDOPHILE [emphasis mine].”
- Professor Scott Galloway (NYU), Founder of Prof G Media
Folks:
As predicted, it seems that Dolos wants to give his Tsar everything that he wants and call it a negotiation (good coverage by the UK’s Telegraph): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/11/28/trump-to-recognise-occupied-ukraine-part-of-russia/ . He wants to ignore the concerns of Europe— let alone Ukraine. THIS IS A SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT. It must be what Dolos and his Tsar discussed in Anchorage (basically, a bailout of Russia— financially).
I don’t think this “plan” will help the longevity of NATO! “Jay in Kyiv” is an American staying in Kyiv; he has a great on-the-ground perspective from Ukraine about his homeland from a distance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Loj9Z-FJs&list=TLPQMjgxMTIwMjVUMTCWcFB9-g. Another great resource on Ukraine is Jake Broe, a former USA Air Force officer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvC78ri7a6I.
CARTHAGO DELENDA EST (via nonviolence).
P.S.: Do the following now! FIRST, TEACH CIVICS. Second, register voters. THIRD, TEACH CIVICS. Rinse. Repeat.