Time To Open Up "A Second Front" Against Trump, Dems Raising Their Game, Channeling Our Love Of Country Into Action

Welcome New Subscribers/Hopium Paid Subscribers Gather Wednesday Night

Morning all. Big day today. Trump comes back to the building he and his followers attacked a little more than 4 years ago in his first attempt to overturn the Constitutional order of the United States of America. In a new Greg Sargent podcast out this morning I talk about the urgent need for Democrats to open up a “second front” in our efforts to counter Trump. Our “first front” of driving the economic narrative of Trump = higher prices, more struggle for you and your families is already taking hold in the electorate and driving his disapproval rating up and weakening his hold over Congressional Republicans. Our “second front” needs to focus on Trump’s ongoing betrayal of the country and his illegal, unconstitutional, treasonous attack on the US government and the American of the Four Freedoms. As we discussed with Dr. Michael Mann yesterday there is great urgency to opening up this second front as Trump-Musk are breaking things now that will be very hard if not impossible to repair.

You can listen to my talk with Greg here. Get to it when you can. It’s a spirited, timely and thoughtful discussion.

I am also pleased to share a new podcast discussion I had with Leigh McGowan, better known as PoliticsGirl. While we cover some of the same ground as Greg’s pod, in this one we spend much more time diving into what we and our elected leaders can be doing to counter Trump. It’s a great conversation, and hope you can get to it too when you have the time.

A reminder that I am doing a live town hall meeting with historian Heather Cox Richardson tomorrow at 4pm ET, and Hopium paid subscribers gather tomorrow night at 7pm ET. For more info and registration information head to our new Events page on the main Hopium site.

More On The Trumpian Shitshow - Tesla is down more than 6% today, and over 215 points since it’s December high. It is a bit of good news in a dark week.

To learn more about what Trump’s new, reckless tariffs will do to the country and to consumers watch my recent discussion with Dr. Rob Shapiro, Trump’s Tariffs Mean Higher Prices, A Weaker America and Global Chaos. To learn more about why Trump has moved the world closer to a new world war see this essay from Dr. Timothy Snyder.

That Trump implemented these tariffs when inflation was rising, the economy slowing, consumer confidence plummeting and the markets already spooked seems like an action deliberately designed to hurt the country, our economy and all of us. Look at the new GDP forecast from the Atlanta Fed. If this forecast proves to be true the US economy is in freefall right now even before these disastrous tariffs hit:

There is a profound madness to what is happening now in Washington that we simply must start talking more directly about. Trump and Musk seem comfortable in initiating mass death in developing countries across the world, leaving millions of Ukrainians to die and ethnic cleansing Gaza; the vaporizing of our alliances; the breaking of our economy; causing extraordinary economic pain for almost every American; cutting health care for over 80m Americans and endangering Social Security; having their HHS Secretary recommend Cod Liver Oil to counter a huge, growing measles outbreak; the abrupt firing of millions of workers; the disassembly of the US government; all the while leaving America more vulnerable to some kind of attack by a hostile foreign power than at any time in over two hundred years.

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We must open up that second front. We must expand our conversation with the American people about they are doing to all of us, the reputation of America and to the global democracy movement. Our leader has gone completely mad and is bringing ruin to America and the world. There is great urgency to all this now.

Dems Are Raising Their Game - We are starting to see a lot more fight from Congressional Dems now. Last Friday House Dems filed their first amicus brief in a leading law suit challenging Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional usurpation of Congress’s powers. Yesterday I was on a call where Senator Elissa Slotkin gave a preview of her rebuttal to Trump tonight and I very encouraged with what I heard. Last night House Dem Leader Hakeem Jeffries sent the following letter to his colleagues (link). Note the aggressive engagement with new pro-democracy media and the announcement of the first Dem-led hearing:

March 3, 2025

Dear Colleague:

I write with respect to President Donald Trump’s scheduled address on Tuesday to a Joint Session of Congress. Given my responsibilities in the House, I plan to attend the speech, along with other members of the Democratic leadership, to make clear to the nation that there is a strong opposition party ready, willing and able to serve as a check and balance on the excesses of the administration.

The decision to attend the Joint Session is a personal one and we understand that members will come to different conclusions. However, it is important to have a strong, determined and dignified Democratic presence in the chamber. The House as an institution belongs to the American people, and as their representatives we will not be run off the block or bullied.

Throughout the week, there is a series of events planned in connection with President Trump’s speech, beyond the traditional Democratic response. On Tuesday, my office and the Democratic Policy & Communications Committee have arranged for multiple engagement opportunities with both the legacy press and new media outlets, platforms and social media influencers. It’s important that every single member of the Democratic Caucus participate in the day-long engagement, both before and after the President’s speech, so that we can flood the zone with our values, ideas and policies that are focused on making life better for everyday Americans.

At the same time, we must also continue to elevate the stories of everyday Americans who are being harmed in real time by House Republicans and the Trump administration. In this regard, all House Democrats are encouraged to stand together on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. on the East Front Capitol Steps for an event featuring the voices of the American people.

On Thursday, the Steering and Policy Committee will launch the first in a series of hearings that House Democrats will conduct on the Hill and throughout America. The hearing will begin at 9:00 a.m. in HVC 215, featuring everyday Americans who rely on Medicaid for their healthcare. The House Republican budget threatens to inflict the largest cut to Medicaid in history, which will devastate children, people with disabilities and older Americans. Democrats are fighting back, and the hearing will highlight the real-life implications and human toll of the extreme MAGA Republican budget.

Last week, House Democrats sent a unified and principled message that we will strongly oppose partisan legislation that undermines the quality of life of the American people. Our focus remains on driving down the high cost of living for everyday Americans and pushing back against the far-right extremism that Republicans have unleashed on the country.

Thank you all for your continued leadership on behalf of the people and in defense of the American way of life.

Sincerely,

Hakeem Jeffries
Democratic Leader

We also got word this morning of two new media campaigns targeting vulnerable House Republicans. The first is from an affiliate of the Dem House Majority SuperPAC which now has ads up in 23 House GOP districts. Here is an example of the ad, this one running in CO-08:

I will try to find a way to get links to all these ads so folks can amplify in their states and districts.

The second ad campaign is from two groups, Families Over Billionaires and Unrig Our Economy, and is running on Fox and Friends all week:

Friends, I am proud, so proud, of how hard all of you are fighting right now. We are Americans. Fighting for freedom and democracy is what we do, who we are - and so many of you here are doing it everyday.

Here are my current set of recommendations for ways you can channel your love of country into concrete and meaningful action today:

1 - Fight The Trump/Musk Attack On Our Government And Our Privacy, End This Historic Crime Spree - Encourage your Senators and Representatives to let Facts be be submitted to a candid world in what I’m calling a joint Senate/House “Letter to America;” hold their own hearings; file criminal referrals for Musk and his malicious posse to DOJ/FBI; and amicus briefs in the court cases regarding the usurpation of their Constitutional authorities or file suits of their own (House Dems began doing this on Friday). Encourage them to hold a daily morning press conference to more aggressively challenge Musk’s ransacking of the USG that is making America less prosperous, less healthy, less safe and far less respected in the world.

2 - Protest, Loudly, Trump’s Embrace of Russia and Abandonment of Europe - Let your electeds know you are outraged by traitorous Trump’s selling out of Zelenskyy, abandonment of Europe and embrace of Putin; and that we cannot accept this level of appeasement of someone who is a clear enemy of America and the West, and certainly not an ally. Demand that Trump not let his Saudi meeting w/Putin become our Munich; demand that he not become our Neville Chamberlain; demand that we rejoin our European allies in support of Zelenskyy and democracy here and everywhere. The country is not with Trump’s embrace of Putin and we must be very loud, very, very loud now.

3 - Organize Against The 17 Most Vulnerable Republican House Members - For those of you who live in AZ, CA, CO, IA, MI, NE, NJ, NY, PA, VA, WI please start talking to your local orgs - state and local Democratic parties, grassroots groups, traditional Dem allies - about mounting a campaign targeting the most vulnerable 17 Republican House Members to urge them to vote against whatever joint House-Senate reconciliation bill emerges in the coming weeks. We launched this new effort two weeks ago and while we should be urging all our Senators and Reps to vote against these emerging plans, those of you can work these 17 House Rs have a special role to play in this next phase of the battle over the budget. As we’ve discussed there is a lot of concern in the Republican House about the size of the Medicaid cuts required in the House outline passed last Tuesday and we need to keep working it people!

4 - Keep Calling Attorneys General In The States - Ask them to protect you and your data, tax returns and privacy, and to keep federally mandated monies flowing to your states and communities. For those in the 19 states that brought the successful Treasury suit thank them and encourage them to keep going. I still believe these 19 states should make criminal referrals of Musk/his posse to DOJ/FBI and raise the stakes.

For those wanting to do more traditional political/campaign work we have four Hopium-backed efforts we're rallying behind right now:

Help Susan Crawford and Ben Wikler in Wisconsin - As a way of honoring our good friend Ben Wikler and supporting this critical April Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, I’m asking our community to donate to the Wisconsin Democratic Party today. The money raised here will make sure Ben has the resources he needs to keep his team in place so they can support this critical statewide race. I know many of you are already deeply involved here - thank you all.

Watch our new discussion with Susan and Ben and thanks to a huge surge of support in recent days we have already raised $103,000, blowing past our original $50,000 goal and now our stretch $100,000 goal. We are now upping this to a new super-stretch goal of $150,000 by March 31st. Amazing work everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Help Get Ken Martin Off To A Strong Start - In this time of extraordinary challenge we need a strong DNC. Two weeks ago we set a goal of raising $100,000 by March 31st for our new Chair. Incredibly, over 1,000 of you have donated over $94,000 so far. Watch my interview with Ken about what he wants to do with the DNC, and chip in whatever you can to help Ken and the new exciting team at the DNC get off to a strong start. We now have a new stretch goal of $150,000 by March 31st after our very strong start for this effort (note that we did have some money clawed back due to an error in the amount someone gave!)

Help Abigail Spanberger Win Virginia - Virginia will be one of the big battlegrounds of the November, 2025 elections and we have a great candidate for Governor, Abigail Spanberger. Watch my interview with Abigail, donate, volunteer, and learn more here. Given how many federal employees live in Virginia, this race is also now on the front lines of the Trump/Musk assault on the federal government. We’ve raised more than $54,000 so far towards our March 31st goal of $100,000 - thank you all. Let’s keep working it for Abigail!

Get Anderson Clayton And The NC Dems Fight The GOP’s Attempt To Steal A Supreme Court Seat - Last week we began a campaign to raise $50,000 for Anderson Clayton and the NC Dems. These funds will help the NC Dems get off to a great start in 2025 and help cover the costs of their fight to prevent the Republicans from stealing a Supreme Court seat we won together in 2024. Watch my new interview with Chair Clayton from last week to get an update on the fight over the Supreme Court seat and her plans to win elections and counter Trump this year. We’ve raised $15,000 so far - thank you all!

Keep working hard all. So proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon