Trump Is Far More A Saboteur Than A President, Senator Kaine/Others Are Introducing A New Resolution To Rescind The Tariffs And Rein In Trump

Hopium Paid Subscribers Gather Tonight at 7pm ET/Founding Members Friday at 1pm ET

Morning all. We are now in an extraordinary economic and geopolitical crisis. Trump implemented his madman tariffs last night at midnight. Here’s Politico this morning:

HE REALLY DID IT: President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs came into force at midnight, and this morning we awaken to a different world. The free trade system that America has embraced and nurtured since the mid-1930s has been officially torpedoed by direct order of the president. America’s trade barriers are now higher than at any point in the past 100 years, and key trade partners Canada, China and Europe are all preparing to hit back. And Trump made clear last night that this is not the high-water mark, with tariffs on the pharmaceutical industry coming next.

This is Trump’s America: You all saw the chart — now it’s reality for importers (and soon, shoppers) across the country. A 104 percent tax on cheap consumer goods from China. A 46 percent tax on cheap clothes made in Vietnam. A 24 percent tax on Japanese machinery and electronics. A 20 percent tax on European food, drink and goods. It’s unclear exactly how quickly these and many others tariffs will filter through to product pricing and consumer demand … but filter through they surely will.

Trump laps it up: During an epic 90-minute speech to the NRCC last night, Trump wore the 104 percent tariff on Chinese goods as a badge of honor. “They’ve ripped us off left and right,” he told the crowd. “But now it’s our turn to do the ripping.”

As we proceed, let’s be clear about a few things…..

First, there is no scenario where America is stronger, richer, more prosperous, more safe, more free on the other end of this. The “wait and see” attitude from Congressional Rs is a form of national suicide. Trump is lighting the world on fire and simply our leaders must now be focusing on one thing - reining in this madman and rescinding these tariffs as soon as possible. What we are seeing is more appropriately described as “sabotage” than some kind of “plan.”

There is no bigger lie that Trump has ever told that there is somehow something better on the other side of this.

Next, their “plan” apparently is to renegotiate trade agreements with hundreds of angry countries simultaneously. It’s a huge, ridiculous, insulting, fucking joke. The gang running the government over a signal chat, getting punked by Putin, golfing on Fridays, making measles great again and sending innocent people to gulags by mistake thinks it can renegotiate the fundamental way we trade and interact with every single country in the world all at the same time. That’s the plan folks. It’s insane.

Third, Trump’s “plans” and recklessness are undermining the fiscal integrity of the United States. The coming recession and economic slow down will dry up revenue and cause the costs of welfare programs to balloon. The degradation of the IRS will cost America hundreds of billions of revenue now every year. The budget “plan” Rs are advancing now in Congress will further starve the government of revenue and cause the deficit to explode. The destruction of the fiscal integrity of the US and likely loss of the dollar as a reserve currency on purpose, as a matter of strategy, is another emerging pillar of Trump’s ongoing sabotage. Here’s Leader Jeffries working hard right now to make their fiscal recklessness a far more salient issue:

Fourth, to make all this worse Trump does not even have the legal authority to levy these tariffs. Like his dismemberment of the US government and his disappearing of legal residents of America to foreign countries, he is acting outside of the Constitution and the law. So these tariffs are not just an economic and geopolitical crisis, they are also the most serious Constitutional crisis America has ever experienced. The moment we are now in - mad leader doing wildly destructive things without seeming to understand what he is doing - is exactly the kind of moment our Founders successfully, in their brilliance, were able to forestall for Americans for almost 250 years. But are here, now. And we must fight.

So, what now? A few things. Our typical actions and campaigns are below. Job one today for everyone here is to call your Senators and House Rep and demand they rescind the tariffs immediately. Be loud, be aggressive, be intense. Convey the seriousness of the moment in your communications. We can no longer hold back. And…..

1 - I will be discussing all this tonight at our regular Hopium paid subscriber gathering at 7pm ET. Sign up here.

2 - Trump has lost his standing with the public and is also in the process of losing his legitimacy as the leader of the United States of America. We reviewed the polls yesterday. He has fallen very far, very fast. Here are three credible polls released in the last few days:

Morning Consult 46%-52% (-6)

Economist/YouGov 43%-51% (-8) new this morning, 5 point drop since last week!

Navigator 43%-53% (-10)

Reuters/Ipsos 43%-53% (-10)

Civiqs 42%-54% (-12) - new this morning, ugly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Civiqs’ latest daily track. Trump is losing altitude, fast

It needs to be noted that Biden was hovering between 54%-56% disapproval when he left the Presidential race last summer. Trump is almost there now.

I think we have to talk more about Trump’s loss of legitimacy, and whether he can continue on as a leader of this country regardless of what happens next. It’s not only due to the unprecedented destruction and weakening of the country, it’s also because he has abandoned the Constitutional order that has been in place for 238 years. He isn’t acting like an “American President,” and thus we should not treat him as one. He continues to assert powers he does not have and that no leader of a democracy could ever have. He ignores the law and the Constitution. He and his team are engaging in unprecedented, world-altering levels of corruption. He and his team engage in the most dramatic abuse of power America has ever witnessed, daily, repeatedly, whimsically. His vaporization of USAID will cause millions and millions to die, perhaps as early as this year. He shows deference to a hostile foreign power, ceding our sovereignty those who seek to destroy us.

Trump has become everything that this country was founded to create an alternative too 250 years ago. He is the most un-American American there has ever been. No one who has betrayed us more in all of our history. We need to understand him as something more akin to a foreign adversary who has temporarily seized control over the country. He spits on the graves and memories and inspiration of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and FDR in every crazy, illiberal step he takes. He is far more an American saboteur than an American President.

He wants a fucking military parade on his birthday.

3 - We Need A Letter to America. It is time now for the proud patriots in Washington to make clear in 2-3 pages the “abuses,” “injuries,” and “usurpations” and “let Facts be spoken to a candid world.” It is time now.

I also want to propose something that all of you can start discussing in your communities, with your local electeds - the idea of turning July 4th into a celebration of America and our Constitutional order, and an implicit rebuke of Trump and mad kings. One way of doing this is for Democratically controlled legislatures, county and city councils to spend the week running up to July 4th introducing, debating and passing “resolutions of disapproval.” These efforts could involve all the prominent Democrats in the state, create days of media attention around the return of a mad king, evoke the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, and become a national teaching tool that reminds the American people in communities across the country why America was established in the first place. It could become a grand and necessary civic lesson for a new generation of Americans who are now facing circumstances akin to what Americans faced in the early 1770s when proud American patriots used these kind of locally-passed condemnations as a way for building understanding and support for independence. I discuss this idea a bit more in my A Letter To America proposal.

4 - Let’s Rally Behind A New Resolution Being Offered By Senator Kaine And Other Senators Today - Senator Kaine released this statement last night:

Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR), U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) were joined by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in announcing their intent to file legislation to repeal the cost-raising, across-the-board tariffs President Donald Trump announced on April 2, which will cost the average American household nearly $4,000 a year and have already led to significant market declines and raised the odds of a recession. Once filed, the legislation will be privileged, meaning it will receive a vote before the full Senate.

The announcement follows last week’s Senate passage of legislation led by Kaine and Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mark R. Warner (D-VA) to repeal Trump’s tariffs on Canada.

“No President has the authority to unilaterally impose such sweeping across-the-board tariffs without congressional approval,” said Kaine. “President Trump’s tariff strategy is raising costs on American families, threatening alliances our national security depends on, and creating opportunity for China and other adversaries to take advantage of global instability. The time is now for Congress to reassert its authority in matters of international trade, and I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join us.”

On April 2, Trump announced tariffs on imports from all countries around the world. In response, nations are exploring aggressive countermeasures on goods imported from the U.S.

Text of the resolution is available here.

While we should be encouraged by the progress the Grassley-Cantwell bill made earlier this week, this new Kaine resolution is a better and more effective way to challenge Trump’s unconstitutional tariff madness. In your calls/contacts encourage your Senators to jump on board this resolution.

If all goes well I will be interviewing Senator Kaine this afternoon and will release a recording as soon as it is completed. Fingers crossed!

Okay, let’s get to work people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopium Conversations - Go deeper and get smarter with experts, elected officials and others on the front lines:

• Dr. Rob Shapiro on Trump Declares War On The World (the tariffs)

• David Rothkopf on Trump’s Dangerous Foreign Policy

• David Leopold on Yes, People Are Disappearing in America

• Rep. Don Beyer on Fighting DOGE More Effectively

• Justice Allison Riggs on Stopping The GOP From Stealing A NC Supreme Court Seat

• Jon “Bowser” Bauman on Trump’s Attacks on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid

• Casey Michel on The Unprecedented Corruption Of The Trump Regime

• Dr. Michael Mann on The Right’s War on Science

• Jane Kleeb on The New Leadership Team’s Plans For The DNC/State Parties

• Hopium House 7 Discussions with Reps. Derek Tran and Janelle Bynum

Recommended Hopium Actions and Campaigns - We’ve launched some new actions and campaigns, and are for now retiring a few old ones…here we go!

1 - Demand Congress Take Back Their Tariff Authority From Trump - Call/contact your Senators and House Member today and demand they override and roll back these incredibly dangerous and destructive tariffs. Starting today insist they sign on to the new Kaine resolution!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 - Fight The Trump-Musk Attack On Our Government, Our Privacy And Our Constitutional Order - Encourage your Senators and Representatives to follow Senator Booker’s lead and let Facts be be submitted to a candid world in a joint Senate-House Letter to America; to hold their own hearings; to 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 several weeks ago). 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.

3 - Loudly Protest Trump’s Embrace of Russia and Abandonment of NATO and 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 and NATO 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. See my new essay on the need to support our allies and not surrender to Putin, and my new interview with Rep. Adam Smith, the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, one of the most important foreign policy voices in our party.

4 - Our Work In The States, The Spring Offensive - I am going to rework this section as so much has happened since we called on our community members to organize in the 17 most vulnerable Republican House seats. Rallies and protests have exploded across the country and the “Hands Off” events this weekend drew extraordinary crowds. The DNC/House Dems/State Parties have kicked off People’s Town Halls in all 50 states. I have come to believe that we should be leaning on our state and local electeds to pursue these organized “condemnations” of the Trump regime and their betrayal of America. Let’s start talking now about what we are going to do on July 4th, a day with all of a sudden much more importance.

Paid subscribers should self-report their actions today in our daily chat. So inspired by how hard so many of you are working. I want to make a special plea to all Hopium readers in states with Republican Senators - please make your calls, every day. Even 50 to 100 people calling every day in every red state can make a difference. We have hundreds of Hopium subscribers in every state in the country and it’s critical that we all do our part now.

Next, for those wanting to do more traditional political/campaign work we have four Hopium-backed efforts we're rallying behind:

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 $76,000 so far towards our June 30th goal of $250,000 - thank you all. Let’s keep working it for Abigail!

Help Allison Riggs, Anderson Clayton And The NC Dems Stop The GOP’s From Stealing A Supreme Court Seat - A few weeks ago we began a campaign to raise $50,000 for Justice Allison Riggs, 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.

If you want to go deeper into the GOP’s rancid effort to steal a Supreme Court seat watch my new interviews with Justice Riggs and Anderson Clayton, the inspiring Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

We’ve raised $36,000 so far towards our June 30th goal of $50,000 - thank you everyone!

Support The Hopium House 7 - We’ve begun our work to help flip the House next year by supporting and shoring up the 7 newly-elected battleground House Dems we helped elect last year. Catch our interviews with Derek Tran and Janelle Bynum and give to all 7 through a single donation on our new ActBlue page. Learn more about this important effort here.

We’ve already raised over $57,000 towards our $250,000 June 30th goal - thank you all!

Thank Senator Booker For Standing Up For America - Senator Booker is up for re-election next year and many of you asked if they could channel their support and appreciation for him through Hopium. So I’ve set up an ActBlue fundraising page for him with a goal of raising $100,000 by June 30th. We’ve already raised $18,000 - thank you all. Let’s be there for Senator Booker as he been there for us at this critical time.

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