Morning all. Sending along the video (above) and transcript (here) from our paid subscriber gathering last night. This one had two parts - a special appearance by Hopium favorite Anderson Clayton, the Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, and then my usual weekly update.
Anderson dropped by to update us on their big night on Tuesday - hundreds of thousands more Dems voted in our primary than Republicans in theirs, and an audacious campaign to defeat four traitorous state legislative Dems in their primaries was successful. As we discussed our huge investment in Anderson and the NCDP ($1.1m in 2024) not only helped us get some of our most important down ballot wins in the 2024 battleground; helped us win the legal battle to ensure Allison Riggs was able to serve on the Supreme Court; it also gave Anderson and her team the ability to build a modern, serious state Democratic Party, one that has set a multi-year strategy to liberate North Carolina from one of the worst gerrymanders in modern times, and is recruiting candidates, communicating 24/7/365, organizing in every county, and just putting points on the board every day.
Listen to my discussion with Anderson - promise it will brighten your day. If you want to support her work directly you can do so here.
As for my talk that followed I did my best to try to make sense of all the Trumpian lawlessness, malevolence, and craziness we and the world are experiencing, enduring, and suffering through right now. What sits with me this morning more than anything else is just how much of an impulsive fuck-up Trump is. It’s fair to say that only thing he’s done that has worked well over the past 13 months is his relentless campaign to enrich himself. It’s clear that this new war is already spiraling out of control in ways his old, addled diseased mind could not foresee; just as he could not foresee that his tariffs would drive inflation and harm the economy and the country; or that his mid-decade redistricting plan would boomerang wildly against him; or that the country would reject, powerfully, his attempt to create a paramilitary force loyal to him; or that his own party would vote unanimously to rebuke him and release the Epstein files, and vote again to subpoena Pam Bondi; or that the Europeans would rally around Denmark and force him to yield on Greenland; or that Putin does not want peace; and on and on and on.
There’s a post from the FT comments that is floating around social media this morning that speaks to his titanic, blundering, and dangerous idiocy:
Among the things our addled leader did not anticipate is how the war could turn Zelenskyy - whom he despises, and been working to de-legitimize - into a savior of the Gulf Arab nations and even the US.
For now Ukraine is openly allied with Putin’s OPEC partners, and the US, against a common enemy - the Russian-Iranian alliance and their Shahed drones. Here’s the lead story in the FT this morning (sorry, paywall):
This comes at a time when there is increasing evidence that Russia’s war effort has begun to fail. Here’s a remarkable new article in the Washington Post:
Here are the four charts from Kimberly and Frederick Kagan (gift link):
As we seek to end this reckless, illegal war in Iran, we must begin laying the predicate for what we talked about with Stuart Stevens in his report from Ukraine on Tuesday - we must rededicate ourselves to helping Europe and Ukraine degrade, weaken, and repel Putin now. In the past 16 months Putin has suffered the loss of three of his closest global allies - Assad, Maduro, Khamenei. His economy has begun to shrink. Four years later his “three day war” has begun to fail. We must, together, seize the moment here. Pro-democracy forces here in the US must use our collective might to launch a campaign to once again put America on Ukraine’s side. For in our moment of need they are coming to defend us. We must now return the favor.
There is a lot more about the coming moment in my talk from last night. Get to it when you can……
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For more on our big election wins Tuesday night watch my discussion with Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen and review yesterday morning’s Hopium post, which incudes a recording of my recent discussion with the man of the moment, James Talarico.
For more on challenging Trump’s new war watch our new discussion with Rep. Adam Smith, Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Texas Dem Chair Kendall Scudder is dropping by at 230pm EST to talk about their encouraging primary night, and what comes next for battleground Texas. You can join us live here. Going to be a good one!
Let’s Get To Work People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winning The Midterms, Competing In Red States and Red Places, Expanding The Map
Hopium’s Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $285,600 raised, $400,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Donate to all twelve of our endorsed House challengers with one click | Learn More | Enjoy our new conversations with Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Mayor Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), and Janelle Stelson (PA-10) and learn more about the eight candidates we just added to our campaign here.
We will be meeting the rest of our newly expanded slate of intrepid House candidates in the coming weeks. It’s a great crew! This fundraising total includes funds already raised with our friends at FridayAction for a joint event we’re doing later this month.
James Talarico For Texas - $20,000 raised, $100,000 March 31st goal - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More | Watch my recent interview with Rep. Talarico
Mary Peltola For Alaska Senate - $42,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More. Amazing start everyone!
Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $82,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my conversation with Gov. Cooper
Winning Ohio - $67,600 raised, $250,000 goal - Our new campaign splits contributions evenly among Sherrod Brown, the Acton/Pepper ticket, and the Ohio Democratic Party. Donate today and help us turn this critical 2026 battleground blue! | Watch my conversation with David Pepper, who does a great overview of the opportunities we have in Ohio this year. Note a generous donor has sent $21,000 worth of Hopium-infused contributions directly to the candidates which are not included in our on-line goal tracker.
Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $390,400 raised, $500,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Join our new campaign to expand our map by investing in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas. Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $10,000 to each of our five state parties.
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $136,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my inspiring conversation with Senator Ossoff
Advocate For The Hopium Agenda/Pass Resolutions Of Condemnation In Your Community/Study The Spangerberger And Padilla Speeches
Two more ways you can go to work in the coming days - call your leaders and advocate for elements of our working, ever evolving Hopium Agenda; and bring resolutions that condemn our Mad King and lets facts be spoken to a candid world to your state or local government.
This week our calls should clearly focus on reining in both the illegal war in the Middle East and ICE here at home.
Keep working hard everyone. The momentum is with us, and we need to keep fighting as hard as we can - Simon
