Trump And Trumpism Were Already Failing. The Iran Fiasco May Be Causing Something Akin To A Collapse

I am going live with Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen tomorrow at 915am EDT to talk about all this.....

Morning all. That Trump is no longer mentally competent isn’t really a question. For to understand how we got to where we are as a country you have to start by accepting that he is mad, and that he believes that he has the power to bend reality to his match his own imagined and fantastical world.

We see it on issue after issue. Trump says the economy is booming and prices falling; that foreign governments pay his tariffs; that he can just “take” other nations, like grabbing a pig-in-a-blanket from a waiter’s tray; that the 2020 election was stolen; that Iran would yield as the Venezuelan regime did due to overwhelming POWER and MIGHT and not attack the US, the Gulf Arab states, and close the Strait of Hormuz; that vaporizing USAID would not kill 15 million people, including 5 million children; that Americans would accept and welcome terror forces thrust on their communities in order to rid the nation of “those people”; that they are reforming the ACA, Medicaid, SNAP and not gutting them; that laws no longer apply to him and his regime; that tax cuts pay for themselves; that Putin wants peace; that truth itself is his to determine, and that all of us should be bending the knee to him, daily, like some medieval king.

In many ways the central project of Trumpism is this daily construction and defense of this imagined world so dear to him; of maintaining the fiction of Oz; of the pretending that indeed the orange Emperor has no clothes. The “play’s the thing” Shakespeare once wrote. And so it is with the Trump regime. Every day.

The problem with all of this for Dear Leader, of course, is there is an objective world out there that he cannot bend to his malevolent will. People and nations have agency. Facts are stubborn things. Tariffs are in fact a tax on all of us and have re-ignited inflation, slowed the economy, and tanked his approval rating; nations do not want to be “taken” by him, and Iran was never going to follow the fantastical “Maduro model”; Americans did not accept the lawless assault on their communities; farmers and small business have been badly hurt by his tariffs, his mass deportations and now his war; the Supreme Court both invalidated his tariffs and blocked him from sending troops into our cities; a court just ruled that Bobbie Junior’s MAHA vaccine mysticism is illegal and dangerous; and of course the ghost of Epstein continues to torment our mad leader from his grave.

Trumpism has failed as a project because at its core it is mad, dismissive of truth and fact and reason, an imagined world at war with the real one. And the real one keeps winning, and Trump - and all of us - keep losing

Whether this ongoing process of him losing this battle with reality; of his ill health, age, and decline; of the cascading disasters he is creating is all causing him to drift further away from all of us must become a central concern now. I want to review two moments in the past few days. First, this post, where he imagined that a coalition of “War Ships” was coming to his aid:

Or yesterday, when he told reporters that he had spoken to a former US President who said they wished they had bombed Iran. Reporters confirmed that no former US President spoke to Trump in the last few days. He imagined this conversation.

I know, it’s locker room talk they argue. Just things MAGA boys say and do. Or, perhaps, Trump is really decompensating and failing apart under the weight of his cascading failures, global humiliation, and soaring unpopularity.

Talk of his removal from office should have begun when that infamous interview with the NYT was published in January. In it he admits to his madness, saying the only check on his power was “in his own mind” - not rule of law, not physics, or truth, or mortality. It was literally an admission of his madness. Or when he declared himself the President of Venezuela:

Signs of decay, collapse, failure are all around him today. His Chief of Staff, who has kept that place together, has found a graceful way out of the dumpster fire. The Iranians have launched a remarkable global English campaign mocking him and the US, one that he has raging against in recent days. Here is their latest video:

A top deputy to Tulsi Gabbard, a super MAGA loyalist, Joe Kent, resigned in protest today over the Iran War. This is explosive, debilitating, regime is failing stuff (NYT gift link):

Joe Kent, one of the United States’ top counterterrorism officials, announced his resignation on Tuesday, citing his opposition to the Iran war and what he said was Israel’s influence over the Trump administration’s policies.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Mr. Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, wrote in a social media post. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

Mr. Kent’s post included a resignation letter addressed to President Trump, in which he argued that Israeli officials drew the United States into the conflict with Iran.

In the letter, Mr. Kent wrote about what he saw as a “misinformation campaign” by high-ranking Israeli officials and the news media, which he said had undermined Mr. Trump’s “America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.”

A veteran of the Iraq war, Mr. Kent said that the arguments in support of attacking Iran, and promises of a swift victory, echoed the debate over going to war against Iraq in 2003.

Mr. Kent also referred to his late wife Shannon, a military cryptologist killed in Syria.

“As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives,” he wrote.

Mr. Kent has been a key adviser to Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and has been a voice advocating inside the administration for a more restrained foreign policy.

Politico’s lead story right now is just brutal for the regime:

Here’s the top of the story:

When the U.S. started firing Tomahawk missiles at Iran late last month, many of President Donald Trump’s allies hoped it would be a quick, surgical operation, similar to last year’s strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities or the ouster of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in January.

Though uneasy, they were reassured by the belief that Trump’s open-ended objectives gave him the flexibility to declare victory whenever he saw fit.

Now, more than two weeks into the campaign, some of those allies believe the president no longer controls how, or when, the war ends. They fear Iran’s attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, which have rattled global crude markets and threaten broader economic distress, are boxing Trump into a situation where escalating the conflict — potentially even putting American boots on the ground — becomes the only way to credibly claim victory.

“We clearly just kicked [Iran’s] ass in the field, but, to a large extent, they hold the cards now,” said one person close to the White House, who like others in this story was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the war. “They decide how long we’re involved — and they decide if we put boots on the ground. And it doesn’t seem to me that there’s a way around that, if we want to save face.”

The concern among some Trump allies is that ensuring the free flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz could require securing parts of Iran’s shoreline, a step that would almost certainly mean putting American troops on Iranian soil.

“The terms have changed,” said a second person familiar with the U.S. operation in Iran. “The off-ramps don’t work anymore because Iran is driving the asymmetric action.”

The dynamic is fueling anxiety among the president’s “America First” allies, who worry he is drifting toward the kind of open-ended Middle East conflict he has long railed against. With Iran able to disrupt global oil supplies and drive up gas prices at the pump, some Republicans fear the conflict could soon become a political liability for a White House already grappling with voter frustration over affordability ahead of the midterm elections.

Here’s the current home page of The Guardian right now - more Trumpian failure, idiocy, and incompetence, all for the world to see:

G. Elliott Morris has a new analysis out today called, are you ready -

"Trump has lost working class whites”

Holy he is even losing working class whites now Batman!

Today’s Punchbowl is reporting that House Republicans are in full freak out over the fleeing of Hispanic voters and what it means for the mid-terms. A few days ago Mike Johnson literally said they needed to “course correct” (my favorite term!) on mass deportations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (gift link).

Today’s Economist/YouGov is full of ugly data:

Trump job approval on Iran 36%-56%. Iran War justified 31%. Support Iran War 33%. Support for ground troops - 14%. Confident in Trump in International Crisis 32%.

Here’s my regular breakdown of their data over time:

Let me be clear about where we are. Things were not going Trump’s way. Epstein, our election success, a terrible economy, rejection of the ICE terror campaign, ugly polls. He seized Maduro, and found a life line - regime change, assert his POWER and STRENGTH on the world, play with the big toys at the Pentagon, become God Emperor. No more limits. Do whatever I want. He tried to seize Greenland and was rebuffed. So he went into Iran, defying decades of understandings and experience about the risks, believing as he repeatedly said - this would be just like Venezuela. Easy peasy. Decapitation, the regime concedes, he takes the oil, all good. In and out. Build a Triumphal Arch on The Mall. God Emperor status confirmed. But instead we get a global fiasco, global humiliation, and an American economy already weakened due to his batshit crazy domestic agenda now hurdling towards recession and a new inflation spiral - and what is almost now certainly going to be a very, very bad midterm for him and the Rs.

He promised no forever wars and launched a forever war. He promised lower prices and he raised them. He promised a strong economy and we are getting job loss. He promised to drain the swamp and has ushered in an age of unprecedented corruption. He promised to make us strong and respected in the world and instead he is making China and Russia great again and us a laughing stock. This week rather than fixing all the messes he has created he is creating a new one - more humiliation by the Senate’s rejection of his rancid “make sure no one can voter any more” bill. As I wrote a few weeks ago the real State of the Union is that everyone is tired of all his bullshit.

Those little cracks we’ve seen in recent months are becoming very, very big ones and today it just feels like he and the regime are cracking open and coming apart. His madness has led him and our nation to ruin and it is no longer possible to pretend otherwise. A dam is breaking. A straw is breaking the camel’s back. The curtain is being drawn from the Wizard, and yes, we are all seeing that that orange emperor isn’t wearing any clothes (sorry for that image peeps).

Well done everyone.

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

I’ll be live with the Contrarians tomorrow at 915 am EDT. Join us here. I am traveling this week so no paid or Founders gatherings. We will be back to our regular schedule next week.

DC Event Next Tuesday - Next Tuesday I am co-hosting an event for Anderson Clayton and the North Carolina Democratic Party in DC, in the neighborhood near the National Cathedral. It runs from 6 to 8pm, and tickets start at $100. Learn more here and come hang out with me and Anderson next Tuesday!

Winning The Midterms, Competing In Red States and Red Places, Expanding The Map

Hopium’s Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $328,800 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 - $31,500 raised, $100,000 March 31st goal - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More | Watch my recent interview with Rep. Talarico

Mary Peltola For Alaska Senate - $50,400 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More. | Watch my new interview with Mary Peltola

Winning Ohio - $78,900 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!

Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $88,300 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my conversation with Gov. Cooper

Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $142,500 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my inspiring conversation with Senator Ossoff

Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $417,100 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, and catch interviews with 5 intrepid state party chairs leading us into battle this year.

Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $10,000 to each of our five state parties.

Advocate For The Hopium Agenda/Pass Resolutions Of Condemnation In Your Community/Sign Up For No Kings on March 28th

There are a few more ways to go to work in the coming days - call your leaders and advocate for elements of our working, ever evolving Hopium Agenda; bring resolutions that condemn our Mad King and lets facts be spoken to a candid world to your state or local government; sign up for a No Kings event and watch my new interview with Indivisible’s Ezra Levin, a driving force behind No Kings.

Here’s our working Hopium Post-Iran Disaster Agenda:

• Work To End This New Gulf War, And Trump’s Global Imperial Ambitions

• Make Clear We Support Ukraine and Europe, Not Russia

• Roll Back The New, Illegal Tariffs

• Rescind The Trump Tax Cuts, Claw Back The Extra ICE Funding

• Make The US A Clean Energy Superpower, Fight For True Energy Independence, And Lower Energy Prices For The American People

• Keep Fighting To Rein In ICE, End Mass Deportation

This week our calls should clearly focus on reining in the illegal war in the Middle East and ICE here at home, and on blocking the “SAVE Act.”

Keep working hard all. We have a country to save and an election to win, together! - Simon