Trump's Global Crisis Worsens - Where Is Congress?

Tomorrow is the last day of the first quarter, and a critical fundraising deadline. Let's close strong these next two days everyone!!!!!!!!!

Greetings everyone. We have an important job to do over these next two days - donate whatever we can to our endorsed candidates.

Federal and state candidates are required to file public reports on their fundraising each quarter. The strength of our candidates (and party more broadly) will be assessed through these reports. So for the next two days we will be focusing on our candidates, and I will be bringing you a series of new interviews with candidates we’ve not yet heard from this cycle. My ask today is I hope all of you will consider donating something - $10, $25, or more - to a candidate or party committee of your choosing. All of our endorsed candidates are on the front lines, the true battlegrounds, that space where their races or states could make the difference between us being in the majority or minority in both Congressional chambers. Give, donate whatever you can by the filing deadline of 11:59pm tomorrow night.

Spend time these next few days with our endorsed candidates and party committees. Watch the videos, get to know them a little better, and please consider donating whatever you can by midnight tomorrow night. While we’ve hit or are close to some of our fundraising goals for the quarter, we are short in others. Head below, and do what you can today!

One of the reasons we have to be so focused on winning these elections this November is that Trump is without any question the worst leader America has ever had, and we urgently need a new and better course.

Let’s start with Punchbowl News’ top story today:

Republicans grab ownership of DHS shutdown

The House and Senate are both out for the next two weeks. Their absence is pretty remarkable given the Department of Homeland Security is still shut down. We’re publishing AM editions only this week. But we’ll have alerts for premium subscribers if there’s any news.

Let’s be abundantly clear — this record-breaking, 44-day DHS funding impasse has turned into a political disaster for Republicans.

At one point, Republicans seemed to be breaking through with their message that Democrats instigated the DHS fight over undocumented immigrants. But now, House and Senate Republicans are publicly warring with each other over who’s at fault for last week’s debacle. The GOP-run Congress has left town until mid-April, while President Donald Trump was forced to issue an executive order to pay TSA employees.

Trump’s poll numbers have taken another hit thanks to the Iran war (although he now has an even freer hand with Congress gone). The president is considering using thousands of U.S marines and ground troops to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, potentially drawing out the conflict for weeks or months.

Back home, gas prices are still soaring. Inflation remains a problem, and interest rates look like they may be heading upward, too. Wall Street is in correction territory. The S&P 500 is down 7% this year, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is off more than 6%.

Capitol latest. Congress doesn’t return until April 13, when the DHS shutdown will be nearly two months old.

Congress should not have recessed without getting this Homeland Security appropriations bill, now six months late, passed. But more importantly, Congress should not have recessed for Donald Trump’s illegal, ill-thought out war in the Middle East has created a grave global crisis, one that America began and one that America must bring to an end as soon as possible.

Governments and the people of the world are going to get very loud in the coming days for Trump is doing enormous damage to the economies of every country in the world, and creating a level of instability that is not being captured in our domestic discourse right now. We are now in a crisis that rivals COVID or the global financial crisis of 2008-2010 - and it is all because of one old, addled, idiotic, vainglorious old man.

Their delusions and extremism have prevented the White House and Republican leaders from understanding the gravity of what is happening now here and around the world. And so they went home…..

The total cost of the war is now over $17 trillion:

The twin energy and fertilizer shocks the war has brought has now begun to threaten the stability of countries who are significant importers of either. I asked Claude to do a roundup of news from around the world, which you can find here. Here are two excerpts (hot links and sources are in the linked post):

THE FERTILIZER CRISIS — THE HIDDEN EMERGENCY

This has become a major story since last night’s roundup. The conflict has restricted about 30% of global urea trade. Urea export prices from the Middle East have surged about 40%, from under $500 to over $700 per metric tonne — close to 60% higher than this time last year. The US is already close to 25% short of fertilizer supply for this time of year.

About a third of all fertilizer shipped globally passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Critically, unlike oil, there are no strategic international fertilizer stockpiles.

It is now the spring planting season, when farmers typically purchase fertilizers for the next harvest. If they cannot secure enough supply — or if prices are too high — crop yields could decline. The world’s least developed economies have the least capacity to absorb these shocks and will feel the effects most strongly.

Country-specific fertilizer impacts:

• Ethiopia gets over 90% of its nitrogen fertilizer from the Gulf through Djibouti. “The planting season is now. The fertilizer isn’t there.”

• In India, the government has prioritized urea for domestic use, but some plants are still running below capacity due to natural gas shortages.

• Brazil — which gets 85% of its fertilizer from imports — is especially vulnerable.

• China, the world’s largest producer of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, is prioritizing domestic supply; urea shipments from China probably won’t resume until May.

• Fertilizer makers in Malaysia are suspending new orders due to supply-chain disruptions.

The World Food Program’s deputy executive director put it bluntly: “In the worst case, this means lower yields and crop failures next season. In the best case, higher input costs will be included in food prices next year.”

Here’s Claude’s morning summary of how the energy crisis is now effecting Asian countries. There are similar stories coming from energy starved Europe:

ASIA — SEVERE AND WORSENING

Philippines — Officials have switched to a four-day workweek to cut fuel consumption and reduce government energy use by a fifth. Offices have been told to switch off computers during lunch breaks and keep air conditioning no lower than 24°C. The Philippines is in talks with the U.S. about obtaining permission to purchase oil from sanctioned countries.

Sri Lanka — Reintroduced a QR code-based fuel authorization system requiring vehicle owners to register online before buying fuel. Cars are capped at 15 liters per week, motorcycles at 5 liters. A four-day work week is also in place for government and public education employees.

Bangladesh — Closed universities, turned off light displays for Eid-al-Fitr celebrations, and stationed troops at oil depots to prevent hoarding, while turning to China and India for diesel imports. Initial fuel caps were briefly suspended for the Eid holidays but the broader crisis continues.

India — Invoked emergency powers to redirect liquefied petroleum gas supplies from industrial users to households. Prime Minister Modi told Parliament the country must prepare much as it did during COVID. Restaurants in Mumbai and Bengaluru are discussing shutting a few days a week to manage LPG shortages.

Japan — Confirmed on March 27 it is lifting caps on coal power generation, allowing older and less-efficient plants to operate at full capacity for up to a year starting in April. Japan has also begun its largest-ever release of emergency oil reserves.

South Korea — Removed its 80% operating cap on coal-fired generation and announced a record release of 22.46 million barrels from strategic reserves. Is also considering limiting exports of naphtha used in plastics manufacturing.

Thailand — Restarting two coal plants that were decommissioned last year. Announced a temporary price cap on diesel and has banned oil exports (except to Cambodia and Laos). Thailand and South Korea have both imposed limits on refined-fuel exports, further tightening regional supply.

China — Directed its top refiners to suspend exports of diesel, petrol, and jet fuel. China supplies 40% of Australia’s jet fuel; Vietnam, the Philippines and Bangladesh also rely on Chinese fuel. The collateral damage across the region has been significant.

Vietnam — Has urged people to work from home and asked refineries and fuel distributors to keep fuel supplies high. Vietnam holds less than 20 days of oil reserves.

Pakistan — Introduced a four-day working week for government employees, with 50% of staff working from home on rotation.

Myanmar — The ruling military junta introduced an “odds and evens” fuel rationing system. The UN reports oil shortages are disrupting transport, businesses, and humanitarian operations.

Indonesia — Faces an acute dilemma: if it ends subsidies, living costs spike and panic could follow. Its oil reserves stand at only about 20 days.

Taiwan — President Lai Ching-te announced plans to restart two of the island’s shuttered nuclear reactors — a dramatic reversal given his party’s longstanding “nuclear-free homeland” platform.

Cambodia — Thailand’s export ban has contributed to shortages that have closed nearly a third of Cambodia’s roughly 6,000 gas stations.

Australia — Mines are warning of suspensions due to dwindling diesel supplies. Grain growers are facing fuel delivery cutbacks ahead of the planting season.

Here’s Brent crude this morning - the highest of the war so far. Means gas and diesel prices here - and inflation and interest rates - are going to keep rising.

I want to remind everyone what happened the last time Trump faced a dangerous global crisis:

His utterances each day about the war and the global crisis he has created make as much as sense as “light inside the body” during COVID. Here’s his latest, which includes direct threats of war crimes and talks he keeps imagining that no one believes are taking place:

Congressional Republicans meanwhile are now fighting with each other; have recessed for two weeks while the rest of the world is freaking out and our economy weakens; and have begun looking at further cuts to health care to pay for this illegal, ridiculous, and dangerous war!!!!!!

No political party in American history has deserved to be removed from power more than these destructive extremists, which is why, my friends, it is….

Time To Get To Work Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopium’s Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $408,300 raised, $450,000 goal (new q1 stretch goal) - Donate to all twelve of our endorsed House challengers with one click | Enjoy our new conversations with Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Mayor Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), and Janelle Stelson (PA-10) | Learn more 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 $95,000 for our House candidates - amazing, amazing stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With FridayAction’s help we’ve hit our $400,000 goal for the quarter - great work everyone! We’ve set a new stretch goal of $450,000 for tomorrow - can you help us get there?

James Talarico For Texas - $36,500 raised, $100,000 - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More | Watch my recent interview with Rep. Talarico

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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

• 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.

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