The Hopium Agenda For 2026
This is a work-shopping project, an ever evolving effort to craft a go forward agenda for the pro-democracy movement and Democrats.
Offer comments, suggestions and improvements here, and feel free to bring this aspirational agenda into your own communities for discussion and debate.
The February Addresses by Governor Abigail Spanberger and Senator Alex Padilla created a powerful new narrative and rhetorical frame for us this year. We strongly encourage you to watch and review the transcripts at the links provided.
At a strategy level we should aspire to be:
Both fierce warriors for working people and proud patriots fighting ferociously for our freedoms and democracy, here and everywhere.
We can and must do both.
Here’s my new working post-Iran Agenda:
Post-Iran Hopium Agenda (3/9/26)
Make Clear We Support Ukraine and Europe, Not Russia - Russia is helping Iran attack America, Ukraine is coming to defend us. There can be no more corrupt and dangerous Trumpian appeasement of Putin, particularly as the tide may be turning against Russia in Ukraine.
Democrats should revive the bi-partisan Russian sanctions bill in the Senate, and introduce an aid package for Ukraine to re-direct our focus to the war that is far more geopolitically important to America than our new Gulf War.
Work To End This New Gulf War, And Trump’s Global Imperial Ambitions - Put America back on the side of rule of law and democracy, here and everywhere, and end this illegal, and unnecessary, war that is now threatening the global and US economies.
Roll Back The New, Illegal Tariffs - To help ease rising inflation Trump must be forced to roll back his new, illegal and destructive tariffs. The Dem AGs have already filed a new law suit. We should be forcing votes once again in Congress and fight this reckless policy.
Rescind The Trump Tax Cuts, Claw Back The Extra ICE Funding - With the $2.4t in tariff revenue Trump was planning on getting from his tariffs (over 10 years) eventually disappearing, and our fiscal condition in the US worsening, we cannot afford the Trump tax cuts and extra ICE funding. Both policies, at the core of the big ugly bill, should be reversed.
Make The US A Clean Energy Superpower, Fight For True Energy Independence, And Lower Energy Prices For The American People - This war is a reminder that committing America to the transition from fossil fuels to cheaper, safer, cleaner renewable energy is not just an economic and climate necessity it is a geopolitical one too. Paul Krugman has a terrific piece on this today well worth your time.
Keep Fighting To Rein In ICE, End Mass Deportation - cannot let up on this for one moment.
Here’s the broader working Hopium Agenda:
The Early 2026 Hopium Agenda (2/27/26)
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
Congress must stand forcefully for the rule of law in the Caribbean, the Pacific and throughout the world; Trump’s illegal strikes on the high seas must end; no war can be waged without Congressional approval, including in Iran; there must accountability for those who have broken the law, and the US must withdraw from Venezuela and cease other threats to violate the UN Charter and the sovereignty of other nations
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. To make up for the loss of revenue from the eventual ending of the tariffs we should reverse the 2025 tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations and claw back the unnecessary additional funding ICE has received; and yes the money Trump illegally collected must be returned, immediately.
Defend our democracy, rule of law, and our liberties by adopting the Dem leadership’s ten point plan to rein in ICE; ending mass deportation and the expansion of the detention camps; war against his outrageous targeting of his domestic political opponents and vigorously defend the 1st Amendment; end the deployment of the military and para-military on our streets and the dangerous occupation of our cities; stop the unprecedented regime corruption; force the Administration to finally comply with Congress and end the rancid, illegal cover up of the Epstein crimes; and ensure we have free and fair elections this November.
Fight Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; reverse the cuts to the ACA, Medicaid and our clean energy investments; take part in Stand Up For Science’s National Day Of Action on March 7th; become the health and wellness movement, and take back ground recklessly lost to MAGA on public health
The 2025 Hopium Agenda (8/19/25)
Create A Growing Economy That Works For All, Fight Trump’s Tax and Price Increases - Roll back the terrible tariffs, lift this onerous tax on working people, stop this illegal and unconstitutional abuse of power that is doing so much economic and geopolitical damage to America; fight his raising prices on food, health care, electricity and just about everything else; launch a national campaign to make housing more available and affordable.
Rein In ICE, Protect Our Liberties - Put guardrails on ICE, no more masks or plainclothes agents, mandatory use of warrants and due process, no third country extraditions and a roll back on the additional and unnecessary funding provided in the reconciliation bill. No military in our streets.
Keep America Safe - Fully fund FEMA, NOAA, FAA, DHS Intel, our cyber defenses etc - keep Americans safe, do not let our guard down against threats foreign and domestic. The unnecessary and tragic death of dozens of young girls in Texas should inspire us to action.
Protect The Nation’s Health - fire Kennedy, restore our vaccine regime, stand up for science and our world leading universities, fully fund NIH and all ongoing medical research, rescind the tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires to properly fund Medicaid and our public health.
Stand With Ukraine and Europe, Not Russia - Implement the Russia sanctions, ensure the world understands that America stands with Ukraine and Europe not Putin and global autocracy.
Reform Washington, Roll Back Trump’s Corruption, Renew Our Democracy - more, soon.
The Core Agenda, Version 2 (8/19/25)
Fight For Democracy And Freedom - We will fight for democracy, for Ukraine, for Europe, for NATO, for our own national security and sovereignty, for maintaining American leadership of the global rules-based order that our party imagined and built after WWII. We will oppose Putin, the selling out of Ukraine and the West, of Trump’s tearing down of the American-led rules based “Four Freedoms” global order and his abandonment of the Constitutional order here in America.
End The Inflationary, Destructive And Illegal Tariffs - We will fight to end Trump’s terrible tariffs that are raising prices on every day Americans, slowing the US and global economies, shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to all of us, harming our farmers and small businesses, angering our allies and dramatically undermining the American-led rules based global order. While doing harm these tariffs are also illegal and unconstitutional, the greatest abuse of power by an American President in our history. Together, we must roll them back.
Block The Creation Of An Unaccountable Political Police Force Loyal To Trump - We will fight to block the rancid and dangerous expansion of ICE and Trump’s illegal use of the military to forge for himself an unaccountable domestic political police force loyal to only to him and not the Constitution. Need to be all in on this one peeps.
Stand Up For Science, Higher Ed, Our Public Health - We will fight to stop the ongoing assault on science, higher education, and our public health. We will oppose the escalating attacks on our universities, the gutting of our global scientific leadership, the dangerous undermining of vaccines and preventative health, and the cutting of the ACA and Medicaid. These authoritarian attacks are making our country poorer, our companies less able to compete, are dramatically undermining the health of the American people and violate our cherished First Amendment rights.
If We Believe Statements
Also adding these we believe statements from recent Hopium posts:
If we believe their tariffs are raising prices and harming working Americans then we need to fight to roll them back.
If we believe that the tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy in the big, ugly bill threaten the fiscal integrity of the United States then we need to fight to repeal them.
If we believe that a supercharged ICE and military on our streets are a threat to our liberties then we need to fight to curtail its expansion and put clear guard rails on these dangerous activities.
If we believe that their attacks on our global scientific and academic leadership are doing irreparable harm to the country then we need to ensure that the funding for this research is restored and preserved, and our courageous scientists honored.
If we believe that the gutting of the most ambitious legislation to combat climate change in history will warm the planet faster and make the US less competitive in the tech battles of the future then we should fight to restore these far-sighted and vital provisions.
If we believe that Robert Kennedy and the cutting of the ACA and Medicaid is doing extraordinary harm to our public health then we need to fight to restore the funding and stop the sabotage.
If we believe that the cuts to our soft power and intelligence agencies threaten our security then we should fight to restore their funding and programmatic ambitions.
If we believe that Trump and his team are breaking laws then we should make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice and relevant state law enforcement agencies.
If we believe that Trump is a national emergency and a clear and present danger to our democracy then we must act with great urgency and fight 24/7/365.
Last updated 8/19/25