Suggestion: The DNC or someone should put up a website with info about ALL town halls. Good information ahead of time to inspire maximum attendance and participation, links for streaming – and afterwards: an archive of photos, video and news articles on each town hall.
Not all the town halls are sponsored by the DNC or the state Democratic parties. My local Indivisible chapter organized one for Sen. Thom Tillis during a Senate recess. (They had a big cardboard cut out since of course he did not show up!)
They had a technical glitch, so it wasn't live-streamed as advertised, but they did post a video recording promptly on YouTube:
Part of we talked about last night is that many other orgs including local parties and Indivisible are now also doing Town Halls and that this has become a thing, a common tactic being used throughout the country by many different actors. Akin to the Tesla Takedowns or Hands Off rallies. It's not really possible for the DNC to aggregate all those in one place.
This is a good resource. Thanks, Simon. I am pleased that several of these upcoming town halls are in Indiana. We have more than our fair share of truly terrible Electeds, so it is really important to show them that their constituents are paying attention and are not happy.
What Arctic suggests is a huge undertaking which requires dedicated staff. I would also add a listing of protests outside of town halls, like the one I attended, along with probably 350 other people on April 23rd which was directed at Senator Todd Young. The point here would be to emphasize how widespread is the dissatisfaction and to encourage more people to join these events.
There are already several comprehensive listings of protests.
The substack "We the People Dissent" has been posting a list of protests for the upcoming week every Thursday. It is a dynamic list and you can submit other protests not on their list and they will add them. Here is link to today's post:
Note about Telsa Takedowns: Because of the strong possibility of counter protesters, it is likely that some Tesla takedowns are no longer being publically posted. For example, our local Indivisible chapter has started a Visibility Brigade where mebers can sign up to be on an email list to get notified of Tasla Takedowns or popup protests on busy street corners during high traffic periods. Indivisible Charlotte also has a private FaceBook group.
You can also create your own Mobilize search at https://www.mobilize.us then click on the filter Icon. You can add a search term (e.g., Tesla), select an event type from a dropdown list, specify a location (zip code or city, state) and a date or date range.
Simon--one thing the DNC *could* do is use a calendar platform that lets participating orgs put events on the calendar in a common, shared format (we used one called Sched for Connected Educator Month and it worked really well, but if course there are others). Most will let you set things up such that the DNC can approve what calendar submissions get approved or disapproved (ie not published automatically).
If the DNC doesn't want to take on that responsibility, either because of the time involved or because of the potential political fallout from either having to refuse listing or including events that turned out badly, they could always outsource the work of building and managing the calendar to a third party and just play an advisory role.
In any case, this could create a single location that better captures the full scope of what's going on in the town hall movement without the DNC having to do all the legwork itself, which you're right is not realistic.
PS Of course, developing such a calendar also raises the prospect of alerting Republicans about what's going on, but (a) only if it's in a fully public location, as opposed to available to participating orgs only (who then get the word out about what's available to their members) (b) if it's publicly available to everyone and the crowds who show up are still predominantly anti-Trump, no one can say they were astroturfed/packed/rigged by our side (c) I assume this risk already exists if we're holding these things in red districts (and the DNC has a publicly available calendar of those) (d) it seems like we're reaching a point where more and more interaction between us and Trump supporters is going to be necessary going forward.
Rachel Maddow was a daily voice [THE daily voice, maybe] for those of us who protested and a shedder of light to the rest of the world (and government officials) emphasizing that these events were taking place and that were significant.
No individual or news organization or government representative with the power to get media attention has taken that baton and run with it. With Maddow gone from 5 days of reporting on these events with images/videos, it has left a void. Like we are told about contacting our representatives in Congress and in our states, i.e. that it is the relentless, daily contacting of our representatives that is important, more important than a single call/email, for otherwise they assume the public pressure is off of them, wonder if the lack of daily reporting on protests will have the same effect on our representatives and change the momentum with the public at large.
Wish someone (a government official or well-known personality with ambition(?) or newscaster) would do a daily briefing on the PUBLIC'S efforts to save our democracy. Just a 5 minute daily briefing to highlight and recognize citizens' engagement.(Videos, pictures and locations would help.)
WE the PEOPLE are trying to get this done and we need our efforts magnified.
Remember how important it was for the press/new organizations to report on social causes and injustices (Vietnam war, civil rights marches, 4 dead in OHIO) to move the needle toward justice and change? It is still important.
Simon, during last night’s online Hopium gathering, you mentioned a PowerPoint presentation that you had made that went viral. Would you kindly consider sharing a link to this presentation? (If you have already done so, I missed it.)
I have a couple of quick questions for fellow protesters and rally goers:
As you protest along a street, have you experienced or witnessed trucks swerving toward you and getting very near the curb to then create large amounts of black smoke from their exhaust pipe to cover protesters?
Police in Sarasota, Florida call it their expression of free speech. Any comments?
The new Pope is from Chicago, Illinois- the first American Pope. I am not a Catholic, but I am a descendant from Protestants, Jews and my cousins are Catholic. I teach Bible study to adults in a Protestant church.Am so excited that his "platform" is social justice, not unlike Pope Francis. Wonderful that something refreshing and good has come into the world. Pope Leo XIV.
Actually saw someone wave an American flag, doubt that anyone saw a flag waving from our country since we are a pariah in the world until the new Pope's nationality was announced. Feel inspired today DEI is alive and well in the world. We need to have our country brought back into the fold.
Have been on the streets of Walnut Creek, Cal. for the last 6 weeks and have seen NO trucks or any cars for that matter, swerving towards the sidewalk... hate to say it but is probably a Florida thing...???
Yes. Sort of. At the Hands Off demonstration April 5 (800 turned out in Sonora CA) one truck did what one of my more experienced people thought was a “diesel bomb.” I was far enough away to avoid the fall out.
Michelle, at our street-side protest in Cedar Rapids, Iowa last week, there were some vehicles (8 or 10?) over the course of two hours that gunned their engines to make smoke and noise while driving past, but they were all safely proceeding straight down the roadway (they were just idiots, not scary idiots).
There were a few pick-ups that did this, but mostly it was older “muscle car” type vehicles— you know, the kind with the large hoods that some have speculated might be compensating for something.
Yes. I've been doing Tesla protests since Feb. and there have been a couple of incidents where white guys in big jacked up trucks swerve to the sidewalk curb where protesters are standing. I haven't seen exhaust pipe black smoke discharged. It's not an expression of free speech, it's aggression and childish anger and a desire to "own the libs".
Well, then maybe there should be a designated con owner at these events who, whenever something like this happens, holds up a sign, as they pass by and look out to admire theur handiwork, that says:
BIG TRUCK
SMALL HANDS
A different person every time. A child holding it up would really own them.
I've heard surprisingly little about this kind of hostility at protests, including via people's own posts about their experiences. What I've seen is nothing so overtly threatening, more the occasional handful of MAGA counter protesters or passing cars flipping protests off.
Wonder if ppl are silent about the hostility at protests because they don't want to give others ideas in that highlighting it might escalate the number of occurrences and increase the possibility of someone getting hurt. It might also discourage ppl from attending protests. Who knows!
Michele: to answer your question, I have lived in the South my entire life, so pick up trucks (we own one ourselves), revvining engines w/smoke, loud tailpipes (no mufflers), and driving to intimidate others is a thing. Personally, I think the big tricked-out, loud trucks symbolize all that these insecure men are lacking, if you get my drift. That being said, I've only been to 3 protests, and have not noticed anyone (yet, but know it could happen) driving toward/swerving toward the crowd here in GA. At some of the rallies, commercial trucks have honked in a supportive way-- almost always being driven by African-American men. At one rally, a truck slowed and filmed us as if to intimidate us or report us to someone. I consider this jerk behavior and tend to agree it is protected under 1st Amendment rights. However, it will, sadly, be a different story if some a**ho** swerves toward the crowds, loses control, and plows into the crowd injuring protestors.
If I were to swerve my car, nearly going off the road, in front a police officers I imagine the cops would pull me over and at the very least give me a breathalyzer test and warning for reckless driving. Guess it's a matter of context...do it in front of a bunch of old ladies protesting is free speech...doing it anywhere else is worthy of further investigation.
I read (somewhere -?) that some MAGA guys are purposely retooling their trucks to spew out massage amounts of black smoke. Like f-u to Dems and environmentalists. Purposely polluting the air.
How are the state legislative contests in VA and NJ shaking up for November? Those often don't get enough attention until we approach closer to election time?
How much do you want to bet that we will still be running on Joe’s last budget come the end of the year? Continuing resolutions until we retake the House would be quite an interesting - and sadly for these clowns not outside the realm of possibility - outcome.
What kind of odds to you put on them passing anything, let alone a *big, beautiful bill*?
I would love to see the GOP limited to continuing resolution! However, we still have the problem of Trump illegally blocking/pocketing Congressional budget allocations – and Congress refusing to assert its own authority.
What has the world come to when Bill Gates is the voice of the poor? I've had a cautious respect for Gates for a long time (esp being a MSFT shareholder), and love all the work his foundation has done and does now, but for him to be America's conscience is something I never thought I'd see :-).
I thought the same thing. He was such a jerk at one time but now, unlike Bezos and Zuckerberg, he’s at least willing to speak out. I have to give him that.
Simon - you published a recap immediately the election with some numbers on voters in swing state counties that swung the House to the GOP & Electoral College to Trump. Please republish this with details so we can focus our efforts more intensely.
Not sure I know what this is - can you try one more time?
And what's important is that we are now in a completely new environment, and our strategies should not be driven by what happened in 2024. Trump's coalition from that election has already unraveled, and yesterday a poll came out in MI with his job approval 41-56%. Meaning he's now toast there.
This is good to hear. After listening to an interview with Gov. Whitmer on Pod Save America, I was a bit concerned that people would be up on him after the naval base thing. Best outcome would be that the jobs stay there, Big Gretch is up, and everyone still blames him for all of the bad stuff.
Awesome! I live in MI and was stunned MI went to Trump. It was hard for me to believe. It had to be a close race with the Arab voters and the No Commitment issue. Looks they & others have realized their big mistake. YAY!
Just watching this video now. Happy to increase my financial support as Hopium grows. Thanks. Great message(s) today. Hoping to find a judge or lawyer who is willing to draft Articles of Condemnation which I would plan to distribute here in Philadelphia on the Fourth of July.
Noel, I saw this information on tRump’s approval rating state by state. It’s from MSN a couple days ago, and I didn’t see specific info on how the polling was done, but perhaps it will be of interest to you.
My Thursday congresspersons call script that anyone can riff off of:
- Calling re: CECOT detainee called “Cristian.” His name is Daniel Lozano-Camargo. he’s 20 y/o.
- He was working at a car detailing biz in Houston but the regime has decided that he’s a quote, “terrorist” b/c he’s a Latino guy w/ tattoos. No need to show any evidence to anybody. A terrorist is whoever they point at and say “terrorist.” Super convenient.
- He had an asylum case & had been granted a work permit. He had an order prohibiting his removal from the US.
- Trump appointee Judge Stephanie Gallagher has ordered the regime to facilitate his return
- The regime’s excuse to not bring him back was that they’ve concluded his asylum claim would ultimately be denied.
- But that ignores the fact that paying a foreign dictator to incarcerate a person for life is not a lawful outcome of any asylum case.
- Imagine that- you come to the US to seek asylum, and if you lose, that means the US pays El Salvador or Libya to incarcerate you in a concentration camp until you die? Absurd. Violates the 5th & 8th Amendments.
- Want to hear Congressional Dems talking about this. Bring Cristian back.
Here in Virginia, there are now Democratic candidates for all 100 House of Delegates seats in the 2025 elections. By contrast there are Republican candidates for only 70 seats.
"After news of DeBellis’ candidacy surfaced online, Loudoun County GOP Chairman Scott Pio voiced his frustration on social media — not at Democrats, but at his own party.
“'Oh Look! Democrats competing in every single seat in Virginia. Yet, the Republicans are missing 30 seats,' Pio wrote on X, referencing data from the Virginia Public Access Project showing Republicans fielding candidates in only 70 House races."
I have done training in deep canvassing with David Fleischer and gone door to door. Simon is correct that people do not vote simply on “issues” they vote based on emotion
Often a final question posed to a voter was “ who do you think about when you cast your ballot?”
The College of Cardinals has chosen a new Pope! I’m hoping it is someone who will continue the positive development we saw under Pope Francis.
A reactionary Pope after 12 years of Pope Francis would be most unfortunate! I pray the MAGA influence has not reached as deeply inside the College of Cardinals as they would like. (This article lists five MAGA favorites: Raymond Burke, Péter Erdő, Gerhard Müller, Robert Sarah and Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Although it’s unclear why that last name is on their list.)
It looks like someone Francis promoted to potentially be his successor. I think it is a good sign. Having an American as pope who seems to be on the side of refugees and immigrants might have some good political implications. I am hoping we see the conservatives angry about the choice, then I'll know it is good news.
My very first Substack read was a Hopium breakdown on just how small the Trump & GoP margin of victory was even though they like to pretend it's a mandate. You outlined the few counties (3792 voters) and swing state votes (116,000) that gave Trump the victory in Electoral College. I never saw any follow-up identifying the states and counties responsible for the disastrous fallout of the result. Somehow we should be letting these communities know what they birthed!!!
I found a good article on that issue in the last couple of days -- but can't find it again now.... How changes in the voting laws -- that allowed ballots to be thrown out (like just happened with the Judge in North Carolina) allowed Trump to carry states (like Texas) that he otherwise would have lost -- this was a good analysis -- not sure if I can find it again....
BETTER INFO ON TOWN HALLS
Suggestion: The DNC or someone should put up a website with info about ALL town halls. Good information ahead of time to inspire maximum attendance and participation, links for streaming – and afterwards: an archive of photos, video and news articles on each town hall.
I second that comment on the DNC setting up a webpage to showcase all town halls...especially the streaming.
Not all the town halls are sponsored by the DNC or the state Democratic parties. My local Indivisible chapter organized one for Sen. Thom Tillis during a Senate recess. (They had a big cardboard cut out since of course he did not show up!)
They had a technical glitch, so it wasn't live-streamed as advertised, but they did post a video recording promptly on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@IndivisibleCharlotte
Here's the link to the People's Town Halls, the DNC/State Chairs/DCCC project - https://democrats.org/peoples-town-halls/. They do list all upcoming events.
Part of we talked about last night is that many other orgs including local parties and Indivisible are now also doing Town Halls and that this has become a thing, a common tactic being used throughout the country by many different actors. Akin to the Tesla Takedowns or Hands Off rallies. It's not really possible for the DNC to aggregate all those in one place.
This is a good resource. Thanks, Simon. I am pleased that several of these upcoming town halls are in Indiana. We have more than our fair share of truly terrible Electeds, so it is really important to show them that their constituents are paying attention and are not happy.
What Arctic suggests is a huge undertaking which requires dedicated staff. I would also add a listing of protests outside of town halls, like the one I attended, along with probably 350 other people on April 23rd which was directed at Senator Todd Young. The point here would be to emphasize how widespread is the dissatisfaction and to encourage more people to join these events.
Maybe its a huge site allowing approved heads of orgs to post.
There are already several comprehensive listings of protests.
The substack "We the People Dissent" has been posting a list of protests for the upcoming week every Thursday. It is a dynamic list and you can submit other protests not on their list and they will add them. Here is link to today's post:
https://open.substack.com/pub/thepeopledissent/p/hundreds-ways-to-resist-this-week?r=1aiy5t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
The Big List of Protests: https://theblop.org/ - it is searchable by location and date
Telsa Takedowns: https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/teslatakedown
Note about Telsa Takedowns: Because of the strong possibility of counter protesters, it is likely that some Tesla takedowns are no longer being publically posted. For example, our local Indivisible chapter has started a Visibility Brigade where mebers can sign up to be on an email list to get notified of Tasla Takedowns or popup protests on busy street corners during high traffic periods. Indivisible Charlotte also has a private FaceBook group.
50501 has a website (https://www.fiftyfifty.one/) but also posts a lot of events on their Subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/50501/)
People Power United also has a substack (https://www.newsletter.peoplepowerunited.org/) which has an events tab that takes you to their Mobilize page.
You can also create your own Mobilize search at https://www.mobilize.us then click on the filter Icon. You can add a search term (e.g., Tesla), select an event type from a dropdown list, specify a location (zip code or city, state) and a date or date range.
Simon--one thing the DNC *could* do is use a calendar platform that lets participating orgs put events on the calendar in a common, shared format (we used one called Sched for Connected Educator Month and it worked really well, but if course there are others). Most will let you set things up such that the DNC can approve what calendar submissions get approved or disapproved (ie not published automatically).
If the DNC doesn't want to take on that responsibility, either because of the time involved or because of the potential political fallout from either having to refuse listing or including events that turned out badly, they could always outsource the work of building and managing the calendar to a third party and just play an advisory role.
In any case, this could create a single location that better captures the full scope of what's going on in the town hall movement without the DNC having to do all the legwork itself, which you're right is not realistic.
PS Of course, developing such a calendar also raises the prospect of alerting Republicans about what's going on, but (a) only if it's in a fully public location, as opposed to available to participating orgs only (who then get the word out about what's available to their members) (b) if it's publicly available to everyone and the crowds who show up are still predominantly anti-Trump, no one can say they were astroturfed/packed/rigged by our side (c) I assume this risk already exists if we're holding these things in red districts (and the DNC has a publicly available calendar of those) (d) it seems like we're reaching a point where more and more interaction between us and Trump supporters is going to be necessary going forward.
Rachel Maddow was a daily voice [THE daily voice, maybe] for those of us who protested and a shedder of light to the rest of the world (and government officials) emphasizing that these events were taking place and that were significant.
No individual or news organization or government representative with the power to get media attention has taken that baton and run with it. With Maddow gone from 5 days of reporting on these events with images/videos, it has left a void. Like we are told about contacting our representatives in Congress and in our states, i.e. that it is the relentless, daily contacting of our representatives that is important, more important than a single call/email, for otherwise they assume the public pressure is off of them, wonder if the lack of daily reporting on protests will have the same effect on our representatives and change the momentum with the public at large.
Wish someone (a government official or well-known personality with ambition(?) or newscaster) would do a daily briefing on the PUBLIC'S efforts to save our democracy. Just a 5 minute daily briefing to highlight and recognize citizens' engagement.(Videos, pictures and locations would help.)
WE the PEOPLE are trying to get this done and we need our efforts magnified.
Remember how important it was for the press/new organizations to report on social causes and injustices (Vietnam war, civil rights marches, 4 dead in OHIO) to move the needle toward justice and change? It is still important.
Yes. It’s often hard to find out what’s happening. They seem to have no trouble getting in touch to request money. A great idea I hope they do it.
Simon, during last night’s online Hopium gathering, you mentioned a PowerPoint presentation that you had made that went viral. Would you kindly consider sharing a link to this presentation? (If you have already done so, I missed it.)
I was referencing one I did in May of 2022. Almost three years ago now.
Yes, I realize it was some years ago...
Let me see if I can dig it up.
Knowing you, if it was out of date at all, Kamala would be president ;)
Yes Simon, please show us that pp again. Was it WITH DEMS THINGS GET BETTER? it’s brilliant and I use it when I write letters or make calls.
A non sequitur
I have a couple of quick questions for fellow protesters and rally goers:
As you protest along a street, have you experienced or witnessed trucks swerving toward you and getting very near the curb to then create large amounts of black smoke from their exhaust pipe to cover protesters?
Police in Sarasota, Florida call it their expression of free speech. Any comments?
The only black smoke I’m seeing these days is from the Vatican Conclave.
Funny. Not helpful…but funny.
Speaking of which: White smoke is now rising!
!!!!!!!!
Loved the movie; not a fan of the reality :-)
When will we get the reveal??
Keep posting!
See fresher post above (or below, depending on how you sort).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/may/08/new-pope-conclave-vatican-white-black-smoke-papacy-catholic-cardinals#top-of-blog
Appreciate the feedback. Thanks friends (even you, ArcticStones)
The new Pope is from Chicago, Illinois- the first American Pope. I am not a Catholic, but I am a descendant from Protestants, Jews and my cousins are Catholic. I teach Bible study to adults in a Protestant church.Am so excited that his "platform" is social justice, not unlike Pope Francis. Wonderful that something refreshing and good has come into the world. Pope Leo XIV.
Actually saw someone wave an American flag, doubt that anyone saw a flag waving from our country since we are a pariah in the world until the new Pope's nationality was announced. Feel inspired today DEI is alive and well in the world. We need to have our country brought back into the fold.
Well said.
The new Pope also has Black, Haitian immigrant ancestry.
Have been on the streets of Walnut Creek, Cal. for the last 6 weeks and have seen NO trucks or any cars for that matter, swerving towards the sidewalk... hate to say it but is probably a Florida thing...???
Yes. Sort of. At the Hands Off demonstration April 5 (800 turned out in Sonora CA) one truck did what one of my more experienced people thought was a “diesel bomb.” I was far enough away to avoid the fall out.
Michelle, at our street-side protest in Cedar Rapids, Iowa last week, there were some vehicles (8 or 10?) over the course of two hours that gunned their engines to make smoke and noise while driving past, but they were all safely proceeding straight down the roadway (they were just idiots, not scary idiots).
There were a few pick-ups that did this, but mostly it was older “muscle car” type vehicles— you know, the kind with the large hoods that some have speculated might be compensating for something.
Yes. I've been doing Tesla protests since Feb. and there have been a couple of incidents where white guys in big jacked up trucks swerve to the sidewalk curb where protesters are standing. I haven't seen exhaust pipe black smoke discharged. It's not an expression of free speech, it's aggression and childish anger and a desire to "own the libs".
that's all that free speech is anymore
Well, then maybe there should be a designated con owner at these events who, whenever something like this happens, holds up a sign, as they pass by and look out to admire theur handiwork, that says:
BIG TRUCK
SMALL HANDS
A different person every time. A child holding it up would really own them.
I've heard surprisingly little about this kind of hostility at protests, including via people's own posts about their experiences. What I've seen is nothing so overtly threatening, more the occasional handful of MAGA counter protesters or passing cars flipping protests off.
yep I've got some middle fingers too.
Wonder if ppl are silent about the hostility at protests because they don't want to give others ideas in that highlighting it might escalate the number of occurrences and increase the possibility of someone getting hurt. It might also discourage ppl from attending protests. Who knows!
Michele: to answer your question, I have lived in the South my entire life, so pick up trucks (we own one ourselves), revvining engines w/smoke, loud tailpipes (no mufflers), and driving to intimidate others is a thing. Personally, I think the big tricked-out, loud trucks symbolize all that these insecure men are lacking, if you get my drift. That being said, I've only been to 3 protests, and have not noticed anyone (yet, but know it could happen) driving toward/swerving toward the crowd here in GA. At some of the rallies, commercial trucks have honked in a supportive way-- almost always being driven by African-American men. At one rally, a truck slowed and filmed us as if to intimidate us or report us to someone. I consider this jerk behavior and tend to agree it is protected under 1st Amendment rights. However, it will, sadly, be a different story if some a**ho** swerves toward the crowds, loses control, and plows into the crowd injuring protestors.
If I were to swerve my car, nearly going off the road, in front a police officers I imagine the cops would pull me over and at the very least give me a breathalyzer test and warning for reckless driving. Guess it's a matter of context...do it in front of a bunch of old ladies protesting is free speech...doing it anywhere else is worthy of further investigation.
I'm sure you're right that would happen if you did that driving towards LEO.
I've seen cars swerve and motorcycles rev noisily and let out exhaust -- and I'm in Massachusetts.
I read (somewhere -?) that some MAGA guys are purposely retooling their trucks to spew out massage amounts of black smoke. Like f-u to Dems and environmentalists. Purposely polluting the air.
The police officer I was listening to said that they are deliberating creating the black smoke with some kind of additive.
How are the state legislative contests in VA and NJ shaking up for November? Those often don't get enough attention until we approach closer to election time?
See my comment above.
How much do you want to bet that we will still be running on Joe’s last budget come the end of the year? Continuing resolutions until we retake the House would be quite an interesting - and sadly for these clowns not outside the realm of possibility - outcome.
What kind of odds to you put on them passing anything, let alone a *big, beautiful bill*?
I think their thing is rotten to the core and they are going to have a very hard time doing anything.
I would love to see the GOP limited to continuing resolution! However, we still have the problem of Trump illegally blocking/pocketing Congressional budget allocations – and Congress refusing to assert its own authority.
What has the world come to when Bill Gates is the voice of the poor? I've had a cautious respect for Gates for a long time (esp being a MSFT shareholder), and love all the work his foundation has done and does now, but for him to be America's conscience is something I never thought I'd see :-).
I thought the same thing. He was such a jerk at one time but now, unlike Bezos and Zuckerberg, he’s at least willing to speak out. I have to give him that.
Simon - you published a recap immediately the election with some numbers on voters in swing state counties that swung the House to the GOP & Electoral College to Trump. Please republish this with details so we can focus our efforts more intensely.
Not sure I know what this is - can you try one more time?
And what's important is that we are now in a completely new environment, and our strategies should not be driven by what happened in 2024. Trump's coalition from that election has already unraveled, and yesterday a poll came out in MI with his job approval 41-56%. Meaning he's now toast there.
This is good to hear. After listening to an interview with Gov. Whitmer on Pod Save America, I was a bit concerned that people would be up on him after the naval base thing. Best outcome would be that the jobs stay there, Big Gretch is up, and everyone still blames him for all of the bad stuff.
“Naval base thing?”
A bit under the weather. Forgive me.
Awesome! I live in MI and was stunned MI went to Trump. It was hard for me to believe. It had to be a close race with the Arab voters and the No Commitment issue. Looks they & others have realized their big mistake. YAY!
Yes. The "Uncommitted" voters certainly played their part in swinging the state to the thing.
Just watching this video now. Happy to increase my financial support as Hopium grows. Thanks. Great message(s) today. Hoping to find a judge or lawyer who is willing to draft Articles of Condemnation which I would plan to distribute here in Philadelphia on the Fourth of July.
Noel, I saw this information on tRump’s approval rating state by state. It’s from MSN a couple days ago, and I didn’t see specific info on how the polling was done, but perhaps it will be of interest to you.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/president-donald-trump-s-approval-rating-by-state-in-2025/ss-AA1E9p77?ocid=socialshare&pc=HCTS&cvid=39fcf892ec85410496bc99384580ff27&ei=36#image=51
Please do a live SUBSTACK with a public health expert (ie., Dr. Jeremy Faust) on the destruction of HHS, NSF, NIH, NIOSH, mRNA vaccines, ETC.
Thank you for all you are doing.
My Thursday congresspersons call script that anyone can riff off of:
- Calling re: CECOT detainee called “Cristian.” His name is Daniel Lozano-Camargo. he’s 20 y/o.
- He was working at a car detailing biz in Houston but the regime has decided that he’s a quote, “terrorist” b/c he’s a Latino guy w/ tattoos. No need to show any evidence to anybody. A terrorist is whoever they point at and say “terrorist.” Super convenient.
- He had an asylum case & had been granted a work permit. He had an order prohibiting his removal from the US.
- Trump appointee Judge Stephanie Gallagher has ordered the regime to facilitate his return
- The regime’s excuse to not bring him back was that they’ve concluded his asylum claim would ultimately be denied.
- But that ignores the fact that paying a foreign dictator to incarcerate a person for life is not a lawful outcome of any asylum case.
- Imagine that- you come to the US to seek asylum, and if you lose, that means the US pays El Salvador or Libya to incarcerate you in a concentration camp until you die? Absurd. Violates the 5th & 8th Amendments.
- Want to hear Congressional Dems talking about this. Bring Cristian back.
Thanks for letting us know about this, Pamela, and for the great talking points. Adding it to my rotation :)
Trumplings should replace quislings in our lexicon
Here in Virginia, there are now Democratic candidates for all 100 House of Delegates seats in the 2025 elections. By contrast there are Republican candidates for only 70 seats.
"After news of DeBellis’ candidacy surfaced online, Loudoun County GOP Chairman Scott Pio voiced his frustration on social media — not at Democrats, but at his own party.
“'Oh Look! Democrats competing in every single seat in Virginia. Yet, the Republicans are missing 30 seats,' Pio wrote on X, referencing data from the Virginia Public Access Project showing Republicans fielding candidates in only 70 House races."
https://virginiamercury.com/2025/05/07/democrats-reach-historic-goal-full-slate-in-virginia-house-races/
That is amazingly good news!
wow! that's astounding in VA!
I have done training in deep canvassing with David Fleischer and gone door to door. Simon is correct that people do not vote simply on “issues” they vote based on emotion
Often a final question posed to a voter was “ who do you think about when you cast your ballot?”
Very interesting responses
WHITE SMOKE RISING!
The College of Cardinals has chosen a new Pope! I’m hoping it is someone who will continue the positive development we saw under Pope Francis.
A reactionary Pope after 12 years of Pope Francis would be most unfortunate! I pray the MAGA influence has not reached as deeply inside the College of Cardinals as they would like. (This article lists five MAGA favorites: Raymond Burke, Péter Erdő, Gerhard Müller, Robert Sarah and Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Although it’s unclear why that last name is on their list.)
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/08/maga-media-pope-conclave-conservatives
I look forward to the day when this is no longer worthy of attention :-)
My guess: Luis Antonio Tagle
Pope Francis II.
It looks like someone Francis promoted to potentially be his successor. I think it is a good sign. Having an American as pope who seems to be on the side of refugees and immigrants might have some good political implications. I am hoping we see the conservatives angry about the choice, then I'll know it is good news.
He’s a Social Justice Pope!!
My very first Substack read was a Hopium breakdown on just how small the Trump & GoP margin of victory was even though they like to pretend it's a mandate. You outlined the few counties (3792 voters) and swing state votes (116,000) that gave Trump the victory in Electoral College. I never saw any follow-up identifying the states and counties responsible for the disastrous fallout of the result. Somehow we should be letting these communities know what they birthed!!!
I found a good article on that issue in the last couple of days -- but can't find it again now.... How changes in the voting laws -- that allowed ballots to be thrown out (like just happened with the Judge in North Carolina) allowed Trump to carry states (like Texas) that he otherwise would have lost -- this was a good analysis -- not sure if I can find it again....
“Moms Demand Vaccines” is a fantastic idea. How can we make this happen? I would help!
One could reach out to Moms Demand and get a template for organizing. IIRC, it really was just a couple of people who started it.
Hopium Merch!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!