Trump's Government Has Failed, His Powers Are Ebbing, And For The Good Of The Country Democrats Must Become More Ambitious Now
People are pissed and we need to keep fighting
Good morning everyone! Yes, we had a very remarkable election this week. Our best since 2020, maybe since 2018. It was a blue wave. We won with enormous margins all across the country. It was a clear and necessary repudiation of Trump and the Republican Party. This is what we hoped for, what we fought for these last few months. And it happened. Congratulations everyone. It’s a really big deal (see my latest video and post, Blue Wave, Enormous Margins, Clear Repudiation Of Trump, for more).
It’s a big deal for Trump is now a diminished figure in our politics, and it is going to become harder for them to keep the illusion of his STRENGTH, POWER AND MANLINESS in tact. For he is, to use Hopium terms, now
a loser now, not a winner. A failure, not a success. Weak, not strong. A villain, not a hero. A clownish big blubbery baby man with ridiculous imperial desires, anything, anything but a commanding American President
As his governing failures have mounted, his approval rating falls, his health and mental state deteriorate, his public utterances and performances more unhinged and delusional, as the curtain gets pulled back from the Wizard, as we come to realize the Orange Emperor isn’t wearing any clothes our understanding of him looks more like this incredible clownish scene from the desecrated, gilded Oval yesterday:
As we’ve been discussing here as the perception that his powers had begun to ebb grew cracks would start to appear in his support here in the Capital. Which is what is happening now. We’ve seen it in the House vote to release the Epstein files in July; in Johnson’s absurd and comical decision to keep the House from returning; in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s daily taunting of them; in the calls by House Republicans to cut a deal on the ACA subsidy cuts; in the three Senate votes last week to roll back the terrible tariffs; in their voters not showing up for their candidates on Tuesday; in what was a rough day for Trump in the SCOTUS arguments on the tariff case on Wednesday; in another humiliation for the DOJ when a jury came back with a “not guilty” verdict against the DC sandwich guy yesterday; in his own admission on Wednesday that the shut down has hurt him and the Republican Party; in Judges growing more ambitious in their rulings, like the one from yesterday requiring Trump to pay full SNAP benefits TODAY:
A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to release full funding for November’s food assistance benefits by Friday. It comes after the partial funding disbursed by the Agriculture Department earlier this week had yet to reach those who qualify for the benefits.
“The court was clear that the administration had to either make the full payment by this past Monday, or it must ‘expeditiously resolve the administrative and clerical burdens it described in its papers,’ but under no circumstances shall the partial payments be made later than Wednesday, November 5th, 2025,” Judge John J. McConnell Jr. said in his oral ruling Thursday. “The record is clear that the administration did neither.”
McConnell said USDA “cannot now cry that it cannot get timely payments to beneficiary for weeks or months because states are not prepared to make partial payments. USDA arbitrarily and capriciously created this problem.”
The Justice Department is appealing the decision to the court of appeals, according to court filings (LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
We won these elections this past week, my friends. Bigly. Now we will have to win the battle in these coming months over his destructive agenda, and roll back as much of it as we possibly can. We will need to make the little cracks that have emerged really big ones.
The way I am thinking about this is that it is time for Senate and House Democrats, and perhaps other national Democrats too, to lay out a clear agenda for what we are fighting for in these budget negotiations, in the budget fight and elections next year, and for when we win back power in 2027 and 2029. Here is my working sketch of what an agenda could look like:
Roll back Trump’s terrible, illegal tariffs that are re-igniting inflation, driving up prices, shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to working people, hurting small businesses and farmers, reviving tyrannical “taxation without representation,” and alienating governments and people throughout the world and fully fund SNAP FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Defend our democracy, rule of law, and our liberties by blocking the expansion of ICE, restoring due process for immigrants across the country, vigorously defending the 1st Amendment, warring against his outrageous targeting of his domestic political opponents, and ending the use of the military on our streets and the unlawful occupation of our cities
Fight Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; reverse - not delay - the cuts to the ACA and Medicaid; support and co-sponsor Rep. Haley Stevens’ effort to Impeach and remove Robert Kennedy
Stand with Ukraine and our European allies, and far more forcefully challenge Trump’s traitorous efforts to sell out the US and the West to Russia and China
For where we are now is that it’s clear that
the tariffs were a mistake
gutting our health care system, attacking bio-medical research, unraveling our vaccine regime was a mistake
cutting the clean energy subsidies and raising electricity costs for Americans was a mistake
unleashing an unaccountable ICE on the American people was a mistake
vaporizing USAID and committing 15 million of the poorest people in the world to death was a mistake
withdrawing our support from Ukraine was a mistake
Trump killing people in small boats on the high seas is an outrageous mistake
tearing down the East Wing of the White House and building an imperial ballroom is a mistake
electing Trump and empowering MAGA was a mistake
And our job now is go fix all these mistakes and restore opportunity for the American people and prosperity for the nation, protect our democracy and our liberties, improve our health care system, accelerate the transition to a clean and inexpensive energy future, stand with our allies and fight for democracy throughout the world, and win back as much power as quickly as we can.
I don’t know how much our Congressional leaders can rankle from a weakened and unpopular Republican Party in the coming months but we’ve already seen Republicans saying they want a deal on the ACA subsidies; the GOP Senate voted to roll back the terrible tariffs last three times; and the Supreme Court may, may, declare the tariffs illegal. What else can we get? I don’t know - but I think we need to be ambitious now, and fight to get as much as we can. Whatever we don’t get this year we come back next year and keep fighting for more. And then we campaign on what is left to do and work to make even more happen when we flip the two chambers next year and regain control of Congress, and rinse and repeat throughout 2027, 2028 and 2029.
What do you think? Sound like a plan? For I don’t know about you but I am not willing to accept this unbelievable ongoing betrayal of everything that has made America great for almost 250 years.
On Tuesday night Governor-elect spoke of New Jersey’s state motto, “liberty and prosperity.” It’s a great potential rallying cry for what we need to do next. For the great lesson of this election is that people are pissed and we need to keep fighting. Fighting for them, and this great country.
Now, Let’s Get To Work Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this weeks big wins possible!
Friends, I’ll be doing a lot of live and in-person events recapping in the coming days, and will be hosting many guests here as well. Check our Events page for the latest schedule and links. Recordings of these events can always be found under the Podcast tab on the main Hopium site and on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify too.
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Defending America, Winning The Big Arguments With Trump - We have two recommended actions today:
1 - Call Your Senators and Member Of The House And Demand They Act Upon Our Four-Part Agenda - We need to be loud people, very, very loud and make the case for our emerging four part agenda. Demand that your Senators and House Member work to:
Roll back Trump’s terrible, illegal tariffs that are re-igniting inflation, driving up prices, shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to working people, hurting small businesses and farmers, reviving tyrannical “taxation without representation,” and alienating governments and people throughout the world and fully fund SNAP FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Defend our democracy, rule of law, and our liberties by blocking the expansion of ICE, restoring due process for immigrants across the country, vigorously defending the 1st Amendment, warring against his outrageous targeting of his domestic political opponents, and ending the use of the military on our streets and the unlawful occupation of our cities
Fight Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; reverse - not delay - the cuts to the ACA and Medicaid; support and co-sponsor Rep. Haley Stevens’ effort to Impeach and remove Robert Kennedy
Stand with Ukraine and our European allies, and far more forcefully challenge Trump’s traitorous efforts to sell out the US and the West to Russia and China
2 - Bring “Resolutions Of Condemnation” To Your Community - 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. Be sure to check out our new discussion with Deborah Potter and Rachel Poliner who have passed resolutions in New Mexico and Boston. They offer practical advice on how to get a resolution passed in your own community.
Remarkably, members of this community have passed or are advancing 85 (!!!!) resolution projects in 23 states + DC. Can we get to all 50 states by the end of the year?
Finally, please self-report your activities to our daily paid subscriber chat. These reports help inspire all of us to do more and fight harder!
Keep working hard all, and remember Hopium is hope with a plan. We don’t just hope tomorrow will be better than today.
We do the work to make it so.
- Simon
I watched Lawrence O’Donnell last night and he stated the loss of USAID has already accounted for the loss of 600,000 lives. I believe he said 2/3 of these were children. When histories of the Trump years are written someday, the sheer loss of life under his rule will no doubt be staggering.
Simon, thanks for the uplifting discussion!
BTW, we're watching Youngkin try to create his non-MAGA personality so he can run for VA Senate against Mark Warner. He moved quickly on SNAP and is being nicey-nice to Spanberger. Another Republican who's moving away from Trump. He's slippery and slimy, but you don't need to be a weather man to see which way the wind blows.
Two queries: Is there anything we can do to help with Tennessee's special election? I read MAGA Mike Johnson might be holding Adelita Grijalva's swearing in until he gets an R vote to counter hers?? Also, I live in Montgomery County, MD. Is there anyone I should be bugging about the Resolution of Condemnation that I thought was going to be introduced?
I contacted Senator Schumer's office to urge him to stand strong and not squander this week's victory. I called Congresman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen with the same message.