Trump And Trumpism Are In Trouble As Republicans Are Growing Weary Of Defending The Indefensible

This has been a remarkable week of rebukes, losses, and humiliations for our sundowning and failing leader

Morning all. We don’t know when the fever is going to break, when the curtain will be pulled back from the Wizard, when people come to realize that the orange Emperor has no clothes, when we hit our “have you no decency, sir” moment but I feel like we are closer to that point today than we’ve ever been. Choose your own way of describing it - ebbing powers, lame duckery, the circle of defiance is growing, courage is contagious, - whatever we call it feels like this dynamic is growing more powerful.

The bottom line - Republicans are growing weary of defending the indefensible. Trump has gone too far, done too much harm to the country, farmers and small businesses are struggling, prices just keep rising, and our health care system is breaking. He’s been far too corrupt and venal, is in clear physical and cognitive decline, is selling out our allies and emboldening our adversaries, lawlessly abandoning the Constitution, waging war against communities across the country, and even tearing down the East Wing to build himself a fucking gilded, imperial ballroom. And voters are pissed, Trump’s approval has cratered, Republicans are getting blown out everywhere. It’s an unbelievable and dangerous shitshow, and even Rs, as we’ve been seeing in recent weeks, are starting to buckle - for taken together it is just too much. They can’t sell all this to voters. It’s become clear Trumpism isn’t working and in different ways all across the country Rs are starting to say enough. The regime is weakening and defiance spreading.

Look at this letter a Republican state senator in Minnesota sent to Trump last week. Something like this would have unimaginable a few months ago.

I feel like the Noem hearing yesterday was an important window into this gathering storm of opposition, the Trump fever breaking, reality and our democracy re-asserting itself, all with a little whiff of that “holy shit I did bad things and could get in trouble” sentiment in the air. We heard the righteous and compelling outrage from Rep. Delia Ramirez in last night’s post (it’s a true must watch). But we also saw it in three other vital moments from the hearing. The first is from Rep. Dan Goldman who just throws her lawlessness and lawbreaking in her face in an incredibly powerful way:

The second was from Rep. Seth Magaziner. Just watch this:

The third is from a career FBI executive who, as you will see, literally cannot defend the indefensible, and doesn’t even really try:

In recent weeks the Senate voted to roll back Trump’s terrible tariffs; in what was one of most significant rebukes of a sitting President in history Congress voted almost unanimously to force Trump to end his disgraceful cover up of the Epstein crimes; yesterday the House voted to overturn one of his executive orders; Indiana Republicans gave him the middle finger on redistricting; Senate Rs have launched an investigation into Pete Hegseth for WAR CRIMES; it’s become clear Noem has also committed a series of extraordinary crimes and human rights violations; Rep. Haley Stevens has introduced articles of Impeachment against Bobbie Junior; judges are growing more ambitious in their rulings and language…….

NYT homepage this morning

And as I’ve said, for all this growing awareness of what an ongoing “you have to be kidding me” shitshow Trump and Trumpism actually are - think MTG’s revelations and break from Trump - it’s all going to get worse in coming months as every legislature, city and country council, the US House and Senate, all reconvene to legislate, debate, and govern against all these Trumpian harms. The failure of Trumpism, his fundamental betrayal of all of us, is growing to become far more evident and retreating into the warm comfort of the Fox News bubble far, far harder. The economy in every state is weaker. Revenues are down. People have lost jobs. The tariffs and enormous cuts to health care and food assistance programs have done enormous harm to families in every state. Farmers and small business are struggling. Utility prices are soaring everywhere, as are housing prices. Communities across the country are being assaulted by unaccountable masked men pretending to be police. Families and communities are suffering, and people are pissed - everywhere.

All of this “carnage” is going to be thrown into the face of every Republican, at every level of government, in the coming months; and they will be forced to govern against it all. Some will keep defending the indefensible. But others will choose not too, and will start calling on the Republicans in Congress and Trump to fix the incredible mess they have created. The rebukes, the humiliations, the losses Trump has suffered these last few months may be just the beginning of a gathering storm of opposition that forces him to course correct; and if we work very hard begins the necessary process of bringing accountability to a group of people who desperately deserve it.

Now, Let’s Get To Work People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In two new essays (here, here) I talk about how one of the ways we win the 2026 midterms is by providing early support to our candidates and parties to allow them to staff up now, be loud now, define the terms of the debate now, before the inevitable onslaught on AI slop, Russian disinfo, and Trumpian lies funded through bribes and corruption wash across the land. The midterms could be won or lost in these next few months - not in the fall of 2026 - and we need be fighting now with everything we got.

Winning The Midterms - Support Our 2026 Candidates

• Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $58k raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my conversation with Gov. Cooper

• Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $102k raised, $250,000 goal, - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my inspiring conversation with Senator Ossoff

• Hopium Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $38,000 raised, $50,000 goal - Donate to all four 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)

Expanding The Senate and Electoral College Maps, Winning In Red States and Red Places (2026-2032)

• Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $226,000 raised, $250,000 goal - Join our new campaign to expand our map by investing in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas | Donate to all five state parties in a single contribution | Enjoy my conversations with Alaska Chair Eric Croft, Florida Chair Nikki Fried, Iowa Chair Rita Hart and Texas Chair Kendall Scudder | Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $10,000 to each of our five state parties!

Winning The Big Arguments With Trump, Making Hopium Stronger - We have two recommended actions today:

1 - Call Your Senators and Member Of The House And Demand They Act Upon Our Five-Part Agenda - We need to be loud people, very, very loud and make the case for our now five part agenda:

1. 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; demand Congress rebuke/issue a no confidence vote on his current efforts to force Ukraine to surrender

2. Congress must stand forcefully for rule of law in the Caribbean - these illegal strikes must end; no war can be waged without Congressional approval; there must accountability for those who have broken the law

3. 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

4. Defend our democracy, rule of law, and our liberties by blocking the expansion of ICE; restoring due process for immigrants across the country; vigorously defending the 1st Amendment; warring against his outrageous targeting of his domestic political opponents; ending the use of the military on our streets and the unlawful occupation of our cities; stopping the unprecedented corruption; and by forcing the Administration to finally comply with Congress, end the rancid cover up, and release all of the Epstein files

5. Fight Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; reverse - not delay - the cuts to the ACA and Medicaid; support and co-sponsor Rep. Haley Stevens’ effort to Impeach and remove Robert Kennedy

2 - Celebrate America, Our Constitution, Our 250th Birthday By Bringing Our Resolutions Project To Your Community - Next year, on July 4th, America celebrates it’s 250th birthday. We need to make this holiday, a celebration of our Declaration Of Independence from a mad king, our day, and not allow it to become his.

One way we can do this is by bringing our Resolutions Project to your community or state. Imagine if by July 4th of next year a large number of towns, counties and states had passed formal resolutions, in the spirit of our Declaration of Independence, defending our Constitution and condemning the “injuries,” “abuses,” and “usurpations” of our mad king. For as our Founders wrote in the Declaration:

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

So far Hopium members have introduced or passed resolutions in 85 communities in 23 states. In the coming days we will be convening to discuss how to bring this campaign to more places and start planning to Own The Fourth next year.

Still drawing inspiration from this passage from FDR’s Four Freedoms speech:

In times like these it is immature--and incidentally, untrue--for anybody to brag that an unprepared America, single-handed, and with one hand tied behind its back, can hold off the whole world.

No realistic American can expect from a dictator’s peace international generosity, or return of true independence, or world disarmament, or freedom of expression, or freedom of religion - or even good business.

Such a peace would bring no security for us or for our neighbors. “Those, who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

As a nation, we may take pride in the fact that we are softhearted; but we cannot afford to be soft-headed.

We must always be wary of those who with sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal preach the “ism” of appeasement.

We must especially beware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American eagle in order to feather their own nests.

I have recently pointed out how quickly the tempo of modern warfare could bring into our very midst the physical attack which we must eventually expect if the dictator nations win this war.

Finally, please self-report your activities to our daily paid subscriber chat. These reports help inspire all of us to do more and fight harder!

Keep working hard all, and remember Hopium is hope with a plan. We do not hope tomorrow will be better than yesterday. We do the work to make it so - Simon