Greetings all. At the beginning of each month I get together with Stuart Stevens of Lincoln Square for a discussion - often lively - that surveys the national political landscape and reviews the progress Ukraine is making in its fight for freedom. In our new conversation recorded earlier today we dive into many of the topics we’ve been talking about here at Hopium - the encouraging new Senate polling, the need to keep the focus on Trump and the Rs, our strong bench and impressive 2026 candidates, and the necessity of running on and getting a mandate for a big reform/accountability/renew democracy agenda.
Stuart also offers some thoughts on how Dems should approach GOP mid-term Convention this September and what he’s seeing in Ukraine. Here is part of what he says about how we should be approaching the GOP Convention:
I think every moment should be driven by one basic principle: attack, attack, attack, and when you get tired of attacking, attack harder. That’s what I would do. Attack Trump. Whether or not he has this stupid convention, he still made two billion dollars, he still has a cabinet of billionaires, he still has this crooked family, he still has a war that he lost. Democrats have to prosecute; that should be their default. There are different ways to attack. Those candidates are different. But it should all be driven by arguments that in the end these people are guilty…
Here is Stuart on what he’s seeing in Ukraine:
“Look, I think Ukraine is winning. I think they’re winning at an accelerating rate. The technological edge that Ukraine has is just going to increase. The massive number of Russian casualties… it’s staggering. When you think it took ten thousand dead and they left Afghanistan… now, for the first time, really, probably since the Civil War, they have more dead than wounded on the Russian side because they do such a terrible job and don’t care about trying to rescue and save those who have been wounded.
You know, when you go over there and you talk to people who have been involved in the war since the first day, literally, they just say it’s an entirely different war now. They look back on those first couple of years and it’s like something from another era.
80% of all casualties come from drones, increasingly powered by AI. And you look at what the Ukrainians are doing — hitting Russia, hitting Moscow. I think of Putin as a guy walking around with a paper bag full of water. It’s probably not going to leak, but when it goes, it’s really going to go…..”
Here are those three new Hopium political analyses I reference in our discussion:
Enjoy this lively conversation with one of the great ones. As I like to say I always learn when I spend time with Stuart, and I promise you will too - Simon
