Morning all. Last night our community gathered for our weekly assessment of where we are in the fight against MAGA and for our democracy and freedoms. You can find a video recording above, and a rough transcript here.
The bottom line from my talk - our goal now must be to force Trump to accept responsibility for the extraordinary global mess he has made; and act like an American President and bring the nations of the world together to fix it.
Trump has no good or easy options left in the Middle East. As we reviewed yesterday the American people have turned hard against the war, and there is no appetite for escalation and ground troops - nor is any operation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz a guaranteed success. He cannot cut and run for it would leave Iran in charge of the Strait, and with an unacceptable control over the global and US economies and the politics of the region. So the only path forward for us as a nation is for our vainglorious, arrogant, addled leader to accept that he has brought disaster to the world and to America and begin a long, hard and humiliating process to re-open the Strait and bring a rough peace back to the region.
I am skeptical that he can pursue this third option, for as we’ve discussed of late, Trump is at a point in his Mad Kingy delusions that he cannot negotiate with any one, over any thing - he can only dictate, attack, and demand that his foes YIELD and BEND THE KNEE. Which is why our Democratic Congressional leaders must try to work with willing Republicans to chart a course out of this epic disaster regardless of what Trump says or does in his speech tonight.
This ridiculous war may be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back. For it increasingly appears that Trump has lost the consent of the governed, and I think he’s very close to losing the legitimacy it takes to lead a nation. His economic and domestic policies have slowed our economy, caused prices to rise, put the nation on an unsustainable fiscal path - and been rejected by the American people; his mass deportation policies illegally terrorized our communities and shot two Americans dead on our streets - and been rejected by the American people; his rancid cover up of the Epstein scandal is a moral and political outrage - and been rejected mightily by the American people and many in his own coalition; his war has further weakened our economy, damaged global stability and even global food supplies, and is now causing not just prices to rise here but interest rates and mortgages too - and this too has been rejected by the American people.
Simply, Trump has been a disaster for America and the world, and a new and better course must be found, as soon as possible.
As we reviewed in yesterday’s main Hopium post this failed, illegal, ridiculous war has begun doing significant damage to Trump’s already deeply damaged brand and Republican electoral prospects this November. We’ve seen a series of polls this week with him in the mid 30s, not even in the high 30s or low 40s (CNN, UMass, Reuters/Ipsos, Econ/YouGov); he has dropped in all the polling averages; Dems are getting very encouraging polling in the Senate battlegrounds, confirming that the Senate is also now very much in play and the 2026 electoral map has dramatically expanded.
Trump has dropped 3 points in just the last few days in the FiftyPlusOne poll average, and now sits at the lowest level of his second term:
And as bad as all this is - weakening economy, rising inflation, DHS/ICE quagmire, Epstein/Epstein/Epstein, failed war, cratering polls, Paxton likely now to beat Cornyn in Texas - things are likely to get worse for the Republicans in the coming weeks if Trump cannot end the conflict in the Middle East and turn the global economy back on. For in addition to the energy shocks, the fertilizer shocks, the worsening damage to the global economy and stability, three more things are coming - second order disasters like the reduction of helium supplies; a worsening domestic health care shock as Republican cuts to the ACA and Medicaid start really being felt across the country; and the growing realization that after these ongoing historic disasters and plummeting poll numbers Trump can no longer effectively lead the country or even the Republican Party.
In hindsight, Senator Thune’s decision to defy Trump last week and unanimously pass a bi-partisan DHS appropriations bill without ICE/CPB funding or the SAVE Act was perhaps a bigger moment in the cracking of the regime than we all understood at the time; and why Speaker Johnson, and the White House, so aggressively and recklessly lashed out at him. Again, for those wondering whether the two parties could come together in some sort of national unity government to wrest control from or more directly challenge the madman-in-chief, Thune’s act of rebellion was perhaps a sign of the growing realization of how grave the crises are that Trump has created for the world, and for the Republican Party, this November.
Finally, we will need to accept that we are now in a “whatever it takes” election, and plan accordingly. We must anticipate that Trump knows he is failing and losing and no longer has an easy path to recovery; that he and his party do not feel bound by law or the norms of democracy; that his unprecedented corruption will yield unprecedented spending by allies to keep Republicans in power; that foreign allied governments, like Russia, will do also do whatever it takes to keep Republicans in power, and that Trump has taken down defenses that would make foreign intervention more challenging; and that he will be putting extraordinary pressure on the legacy media to align itself fully with MAGA. We must accept that all of is going to happen. That he will keep ushering outrageous Executive Orders like he did yesterday to prevent a free and fair election and eventually a peaceful transfer of power. That he and his allies will do “whatever it takes” to stay in power, end American democracy, and crown him King.
Our job now is do what you do when you have new challenges - study, analyze, understand, and come up with a plan to make sure that we win and they lose. That is what politics is about every two years. The battlefield always changes. New issues emerge, new tactics are deployed. Trump changed the battlefield in 2016 by accepting Russia’s massive intervention in the campaign. He changed it again in 2020 through his many failed challenges to the integrity of the election and his failed insurrection. He has tried to change the battlefield this time with his failed mid-district redistricting ploy; through his failed SAVE Act; through his seizing of ballots, his capture of media, his new E/O and god knows what else is to come.
I had a long talk about all this with Marc Elias late yesterday, and will be sharing that interview later today. But what we both agreed upon is this:
Job one is to win the election by as much as we can so all of this fuckery matters far less
Next, we must come together and start creating a unified front to ensure we win in this new battlefield For we are strong together than apart
Third, we cannot let them win the “cognitive war” against us, and let these new illicit tactics and threats psych us out. These are challenges to be managed, and overcome, not scary possibilities that cause us to lose sight of the mission. We must at all times make Trump the old man behind the curtain, not the Wizard; see him as naked, and not clothed. Far too often when we talk of these illicit tactics irrational fear overtakes us, and we become complicit in once again making him the Wizard, or donning him with opulent robes. We must take ownership and responsibility for our own roles in the daily information wars, and not do MAGAs work for them.
This last piece is very important. It is why Trump is heading to the Supreme Court today. Why he issued his illegal E/O yesterday. He wants us scared of his MIGHT and POWER. He wants us to see him as STRONG, rather than the weak, pathetic, failed, Epstein desperate man that he has become. Together this community must become leaders in our family to not allow the legitimate fear we have of these illicit, illiberal tactics to become debilitating, to blow us off course, to make us lose sight of the mission. For my fellow patriots, on April 1st, 2026, seven months away from the November election, we must ground ourselves in this fundamental understanding:
We are strong and he is weak. We are winning and he is losing. We are succeeding and he is failing. We can and will flip the House and perhaps the Senate too. And despite their “whatever it takes” tactics a better day, and years and years of accountability, are coming. But only if we keep doing the work brothers and sisters!
That’s what we talked about last night. Now….
Let’s Get To Work People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friends, holy smokes did all of you rise to the occasion these last few days! We raised almost $300,000 for our candidates and state parties in just the last 48 hours. Just incredible. While we did not hit all of our ambitious goals, we did hit two of the most important - $500,000 for the 5 parties in our Audacious Expansion Fund, and $500,000 for our twelve intrepid House candidates working to flip red seats blue. Thank you all!
In the coming days I will start laying out our goals and priorities for the second quarter. We will have new fundraising goals for each of our campaigns; expect lots of interviews with candidates and state party chairs on the front lines of the battle; we will be diving into the April 21st Virginia ballot initiative; and I also want to start having serious discussions about how we approach July 4th and our Resolutions Project (which has been a bit on the back burner admittedly).
We will have time to discuss all this but for now let us rest a bit, for this community busted our butts for our democracy these last few days and deserve a Passover/Good Friday/Easter respite from the noise and Trumpian madness…..
Great work everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winning The Midterms, Competing In Red States and Red Places, Expanding The Map
Hopium’s Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $536,000 raised, $500,000 goal - Donate to all twelve of our endorsed House challengers with one click | Enjoy our new conversations with Jamie Ager (NC-11), Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Mayor Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Sean McCann (MI-04), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), and Janelle Stelson (PA-10) | Learn about the eight candidates we just added to our campaign here.
Huge shout-out to the team at FridayAction. Our event last Wednesday with them has now raised $96,000 for our House candidates - amazing, amazing stuff! That total is included in our new amazing total, as is the money given to each individual House candidate in recent weeks.
James Talarico For Texas - $42,100 raised, $100,000 - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More | Enjoy my inspiring interview with Rep. Talarico as he fights to turn Texas blue
Mary Peltola For Alaska Senate - $73,700 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More | Enjoy my uplifting conversation with Mary Peltola as she fights to turn Alaska blue
Winning Ohio - $113,400 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! This total includes $21,00 sent by a Hopium community member directly to each of our three Buckeye State partners!
Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $99,600 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my conversation with Gov. Cooper as he fights to turn North Carolina blue
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $162,600 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my inspiring conversation with Senator Ossoff
Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $503,000 raised, $500,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Join our 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 $20,000 to each of our five state parties over the past two years.
From upper left, clockwise - Jon Ossoff, Mary Peltola, Jamie Ager, Christina Bohannan, James Talarico, Paige Cognetti
Advocate For The Hopium Agenda/Pass Resolutions Of Condemnation In Your Community
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.
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
End the War on Science, Health and Public Health
Make Clear To American Farmers That We Want To End The War, Repeal The Tariffs, Find Legal Pathways For Farm Workers, And Make Health Care And Energy More Affordable
This week our calls should clearly focus on reining in the illegal war in the Middle East and ICE here at home, and rescinding the tariffs that are doing so much damage to our economy.
And please use the paid subscriber chat to self-report the good trouble you make each day.
Thank you everyone! Let’s keep working hard. We have a country to save and an election to win this November!!!!!!!!!!!!- Simon
