Morning all. Got another live event today in our “What’s Next” series today at 215pm ET. Joining us will be Hopium friend David Leopold, an immigration attorney and long time immigration policy thought leader. We will be reviewing what has been a very busy few weeks in the courts and of course discuss the dramatic ICE escalation we are seeing across the US. Join us today at 215pm ET by clicking here. Will be a good one.
Excited to share with you a new recording and transcript of an interview I did late yesterday with Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. This is the fifth in our series of interviews with the 23 Democratic AGs on the front lines of the battle against Trump. We dive into the incredible success the 23 Dem AGs have had this year (more here, here and here); review what the recent Supreme Court decision about national injunctions means now that we had a successful class action generated national injunction yesterday (we are in a better place than we thought a few weeks ago); and look ahead to what comes next as the states become an ever more important bulwark against Trump’s rancid agenda of sabotage, plunder and betrayal.
It’s a terrific interview with a very smart and capable Democratic leader, and hope you will get to it when you have the time. The success the Dem AGs have had in blunting Trump is one the big success stories of the pro-democracy movement in 2025 and I’m pleased to be able to continue to share it with all of you.
Remember you can find all of our interviews and podcasts on the Hopium site under Podcast and on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify too. We’ve produced a lot of good new stuff this week for your viewing, reading and listening pleasure this weekend. Note that DNC Chair Ken Martin will be joining us live next Thursday, July 17th, at 215pm. You can join that important discussion by clicking here at 215pm ET. Learn more how to access our live Events on our Housekeeping page. Feel free to invite friends and colleagues to our event with Chair Martin or any of our live events. The more the merrier my friends!
Trump Is Weak Not Strong - As we head into the weekend try to get to my new post and video on the opportunities that the passage of the big ugly gives us in the coming months. It is very foundational to my understanding of where we are now and what comes next for us and the broader pro-democracy movement.
Essentially, I think Trump and the Rs have made huge mistakes; the country is in the process of figuring it out and is unhappy about it all; and we need to be very, very loud now, together, about what they are doing to the country and why we will both keep fighting to mitigate the damage and make things better when back in power. We should view these next few months as a moment of extraordinary opportunity to tell our story and be as aggressive as we can.
Central to that fight will be to define Trump as weak not strong; failing not succeeding; a stone cold loser not a winner. While he abandons and betrays the American people we will keep fighting for them, every day.
As someone who has studied polling for more than 30 years I cannot stress how much Trump has lost control over the national discourse in recent months, despite his clear information superiority and a distressingly complicit national legacy media. His approval rating is hovering at or close to the worst for any President at this point in their Presidency in the history of polling; huge efforts to get his approval rating up in recent weeks - immigration escalation, his sad birthday parade, bombing Iran, the passage of the big ugly - have all failed. What has to be most concerning to the White House is how the public has actually rejected these big initiatives when they were launched - we had far more people on the streets on Trump’s birthday than he did in DC; the country rejected his Iran bombing campaign, something that must have shocked them; and now we just keep getting data showing the country starting to significantly recoil at his inhumane treatment of immigrants (people) here in the US. A new Gallup poll released this morning has pretty remarkable new data (h/t Prem Thakker):
Trump approval on immigration 35%-62% (-27!!!!)
Record high approval of immigration itself (79%-17% overall)
78% of people support a pathway to citizenship (+8 from 2024)
Only 38% support mass deportation (-9 from 2024)
30% want a decrease in immigration (-25 from 2024)
What has begun to happen to Trump is that a large number of Americans are now immediately rejecting his arguments about the things that really matter - the economy, Iran, immigration, his big ugly bill. He has lost control of the national discourse, and a big number, perhaps in the low 50s now, are just no longer available to him and the Rs.
I want to stress that I am surprised that this happened this quickly. I am surprised that his big ugly was so unpopular; that the country has so quickly turned on his immigration policies; that his bombing of Iran was so immediately rejected. These things have been surprising to me. I didn’t expect this kind of erosion of his integrity and strength to happen so quickly as there is just a limit to how quickly buyer’s remorse kicks in, and they still hold a meaningful advantage in the daily info wars. But that Trump sucks, is weak, is failing, is not on our side, has betrayed the country has broken through to the public, even those low political info voters Tara McGowan and I discussed earlier this week. Look at these shifts in those groups critical to Trump’s success last year:
And look at this - this data is incredible. The country is not buying what they are selling, and their political project is failing (via Strength In Numbers). It’s why they are now fighting so hard to get the Fed to lower interest rates. They need something to change this very negative political dynamic that has kicked in….
What all this means to me is that we are being given an opportunity to tell our story now. People are going to be more open to hearing from us. And I think we should understand that by fighting the Trump horror show we are showing the American people and the people of the world who are we and what we believe:
We are proud patriots who love our country, believe in our great democracy and are willing to fight like hell for it
We believe in an economy that provides opportunity for all not just the wealthy few
We believe that Americans deserve access to affordable quality health care
We believe that Trump’s tariffs are an unconstitutional tax without representation, and should be immediately revoked
We believe in the humane treatment of all Americans, including immigrants; we believe that all people living here have the right to due process; we believe that that ICE should not be getting additional resources to wreck havoc on this country given its outrageous behavior in recent months; we believe the ICE terror campaign should end, immediately
We believe in making investments that will give future generations the opportunities we all have had
We believe climate change is an existential threat, and will work to restore the far-sighted Biden-era policies that were in place
We believe in restoring reproductive freedom to the women and families who no longer have it
We believe that leaders should not leave unmanageable debt to future generations; we believe that the unprecedented corruption Trump has brought to Washington is wrong, and we will seek justice for those who are breaking our laws
We believe in strong and steady American global leadership; we believe in working with not punishing our historic allies; and yes we believe that America should be a champion of human rights and democracy throughout the world
We believe that America should continue to be the light that inspires the world, and commit to not seeing it dim on our watch
All of these things are being conveyed in our fight against Trump and perhaps even a few more I left out. Do we need to be louder, more forceful, say all this with more frequency? Of course. That’s why we need to get to work everyone…..
Now, Let’s Get To Work
Support Hopium’s Priority Candidates - Friends, you all rallied these last few days. We hit our $25,000 June 30th goal for our newly endorsed candidates Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Senator Jon Ossoff - thank you! Our revised fundraising goals are for Labor Day, remarkably, only two months away, with the November elections now only four months away. We can do this people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mikie Sherrill NJ Gov (2025) - $200,000 goal, $35k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch Our Interview
Abigail Spanberger VA Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $153k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch Our Interview
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $200,000 goal, $33k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer
Hopium House 7 (2026) - $250,000 goal, $160k raised - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer, Watch Our Interviews
We also have ongoing campaigns to support the new DNC, Anderson Clayton and the North Carolina Democratic Party and to thank Senator Cory Booker for his spirited leadership in a time of enormous challenge. Lots of choices - do something to support these great candidates and parties today!
As I mentioned I’m in the process of reworking our collective activities, and today have a new number 1….
1 - Call your Senators and Reps To Demand They Stop Trump’s Terrible Tariffs and Pass The Bi-Partisans Russia Sanctions Bill - I will be fleshing this out in coming days but Congress simply must take back its tariff authority that Trump has illegally and unconstitutional seized and dangerously abused; and pass the bipartisan bill (with 82 Senate cosponsors) that would increase sanctions on Russia.
2 - Get The Military Off Our Streets, Fight Trump’s Inhumane Immigration Escalation - Contact your Rep and Senators to demand they fight Trump’s illegal use of the National Guard and Marines in California. Encourage Democrats at all levels of government to a stand with Governor Newsom and the California - for Trump is not just attacking California, he is attacking the rights and freedoms of all of us. See my recent interviews with Joe Garcia, Leon Krauze and Senator Chris Van Hollen for more.
In the coming days I want to work with all of you to do something more explicit about demanding the end of masked, plain clothes “police” snatching people here in America without warrants.
3 - Join Our Resolutions Project - Inspired by the tactics of our Founders, learn about how Hopium members are advancing “resolutions of condemnation” in their communities across the country and consider bringing this initiative to your state, country or city/town. Our resolutions passed in two New Mexico counties two weeks ago, and we now have 44 resolutions moving in 14 states. Amazing stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 -Volunteer To Help Your State and/or Local Democratic Parties Stand Up Voter Registration Efforts And Support “Organizing Summer” - In the presentation he made to our community recently Tom Bonier made a persuasive case that Democrats must once again make partisan voter registration a national priority. State and local Democratic Parties are in the planning stages to take this on. Members of our community should consider contacting their state and local parties and offer to help stand up these vital efforts in the coming months.
For more on the need to make partisan voter registration great again see my recent interview with Jane Kleeb, Nebraska Democratic Party Chair, DNC Vice Chair and President of the Association of Democratic State Committees.
Last Monday the DNC, the DSCC, the DCCC, the DGA and the ASDC announced a major new “Organizing Summer” project. Learn more about it here. I hope to have someone join us in the coming days to help us understand how we can support this exciting new initiative. Organizing to win these 29 Republican held House districts will be one of most important collective priorities for the next 16 months:
5 - Stand Up For Science - Sign on to the critically important Bethesda Declaration and watch my interview with Stand Up For Science’s Executive Director Colette Delawalla. Signing on to the Declaration is one concrete way you can take action today. Another is to back over 700 employees of the EPA who have taken a courageous stand challenging EPA Administration Lee Zeldin this week. You can learn more and sign your name in support of this remarkable effort here.
6 - Grow Hopium - We’ve set a goal of trying to grow the Hopium community from the 152,000 we are now to 175,000 by Labor Day. Do what you can to encourage your friends, family and colleagues to become a summer subscriber to Hopium, free or paid. If each current paid subscriber brings in just one new subscriber this summer we will hit our goal.
To encourage the growth of our community annual paid subscriptions are 10% off through Labor Day. Use that link to buy gift or group subscriptions, and join our new referral rewards program too.
Please self-report your activities to our daily paid subscriber chat. These reports help inspire all of us to do more and fight harder! Been impressive to see how many of you remain involved in local, in person protests of all kinds in your communities. Keep it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you, and a fight it surely is - Simon
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