Happy Tuesday all. I start this morning with a clip from the Vice President’s raucous Sunday night rally in Greenville, NC. Listen to the power and intensity of the chant, “We Will Win! We Will Win!”
Last night, at another raucous rally in Erie, PA the Vice President rolled out a new approach to warning about the unprecedented threat of Trump, citing his new comments about using the American military against the “enemy within. She argued “a second Trump term is a huge risk for America. He is increasingly unstable and unhinged. And he is out for unchecked power and control over your lives.” Watch.
And then, in what may be the 2024 campaign’s most important moment so far, Donald Trump abruptly stopped taking questions at his own “townhall,” and stood on stage, nodding to music, for 39 minutes without talking, appearing “increasingly unstable and unhinged.” Here is a brief montage of the shocking set of events. It has to be seen to be believed:
Here’s how the Harris campaign summed up this disturbing night……
Tonight, Donald Trump:
Told his supporters to go out and vote on “January 5th”
Rambled about Hannibal Lecter, a cannibal serial killer who is not real
Acted confused when asked if they should end the event and play a walk off song
Stood frozen and silent on stage as music played for 30+ minutes and the crowd poured out of the venue
Donald Trump had an incident last night, a breakdown of some kind, for all of us to see. As the Vice President said, accurately, he is “increasingly unstable and unhinged.” He is also a rapist, fraudster, traitor and a 34 times felon. And all these issues - his clear cognitive decline, his escalating extremism and violent rhetoric, his sex crimes, his repeatedly betrayal of the county, his ongoing frauds and grifts - all need to be on the table now, in front of voters, not dismissed by a still male dominated national media as new forms of “locker room talk,” that stuff boys do.
Here is Mark Esper, a Trump Defense Secretary, warning that we have to take Trump’s threat to use the military to pursue domestic political enemies - which could include me and others we all know - very seriously. Watch this entire CNN clip from last night:
In my post yesterday I argued that Trump has used “I am leading in the polls” as a tactic to obscure his historic ugliness and danger. What the Harris campaign is doing now, with Trump’s significant assist last night, is to put that ugliness back on the table for voters to see in these closing days. We have to do everything in our power to help them.
One way we can keep helping is by working and winning the early vote. Things still look on track in the 7 battlegrounds, according to TargetEarly. Keep working hard all! We can do this everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Watch My Interview With Janelle Stelson, Above - New and fresh, come watch my interview with Janelle Stelson, our great candidate running in PA-10. Catch Janelle’s update on her quest to flip this seat from red to blue, and meet her cat too! You can donate to all 15 of our intrepid House candidates here or give to Janelle directly here. Janelle is another impressive candidate. The DCCC did a great job recruiting this cycle, and I remain very optimistic about flipping the House in three weeks. Thanks to all of you who have been part of our work to “Win The House” this cycle. We have made a big difference here!
Three Hopium Events This Week:
Wednesday, 7pm ET - Weekly Hopium Paid Subscriber Live Election Briefing. Tom Bonier and Ruben Gallego will be joining us this week. Learn more, register and become a paid subscriber here. Paid subscribers will also received a separate email for registration later today.
Thursday, 715pm ET - Call, Postcard for Tony Vargas (NE-02). Tony will be joining us for an update on his race, and I will be doing a brief overview of the national political landscape for those who come to work. These events have been great - thank you all! Register here.
Friday, 1pm ET - Weekly home stretch gathering of Hopium Founding Members. You can upgrade to a Founding Member here.
More On The 2024 Election -
America is better off today due to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, far far better off
Why I think this election is going to be more like 2022 than 2016 or 2020
The Harris campaign is now using her daily rallies as a way to deliver important closing messages in the election. I strongly recommend that folks subscribe to the Harris-Walz YouTube channel and catch these events live. They will lift you up, and help you stay in touch with the campaign in real time.
Listen to a new NPR piece on polling and the 2024 election featuring me and Tom Bonier. Check out a new USA Today story where I push back on some of the more silly GOP spin of the cycle. Enjoy this Politico story on our success in NE-02, the blue dot.
Check out the many episodes of Closing Strong, my new series on the 2024 election with Tara McGowan and COURIER Newsroom. You can find interviews with Ben Wikler, Ruben Gallego, Jane Kleeb, Anderson Clayton, Josh Stein, Harris-Walz campaign manager Julie Rodriguez and so much more.
Doing More, Worrying Less In The Home Stretch - Heads down, let’s keep working hard all. Be sure to review my new post on our home stretch strategy to close strong and win the election.
My one big ask today - let’s give Ben Wikler and the WisDems some Hopium love! Wisconsin is a true Presidential battleground, Rs have just poured over $20m into the Baldwin Senate race, and we have a chance now with “fair maps” to wrest control of the state legislature away from the extremists. If you want to learn more about why Wisconsin matter so much watch our recent Closing Strong interview with Ben Wikler, the great chair of the WisDems, below. I’ve been texting with Ben and he is thrilled to have our support and reports that they are very pleased with the early vote so far.
Heads down, let’s keep working hard all. Be sure to review my new post on our home stretch strategy to close strong and win the election. For when we fight, we win!
Harris-Walz For President - $1,239,000 raised, $1,500,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | Subscribe to The Harris-Walz YouTube Channel
Our Presidential Checkmate States and Wisconsin - Learn more about our “checkmate” strategy, and support Ruben Gallego and these three front-line state parties:
North Carolina - $817,000 raised, $1,000,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton
Arizona/Ruben Gallego - $468,000 raised, $750,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with Ruben Gallego
Nebraska/Blue Dot - $259,000 raised, $300,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NE Dem Chair Jane Kleeb
Wisconsin Dem Party - $33,000 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Watch Our Recent Closing Strong Interview with the great Ben Wikler
Winning The House - Keeping getting very good vibes from our candidates and House Democratic leadership about flipping the House in a few weeks. We need to keep working it peeps!
Support All 15 With A Single Donation - $1,582,000 raised, $1,750,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer, Learn More and Watch Interviews With Our Candidates
Support The 4 New House Candidates In Our Expanded Target List (Shah, Tran, Bohannan, Stelson, - $99,000 raised, $100,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More.
Donate Directly To A Candidate - You can donate to any of our 15 candidates directly here.
Winning The House Thursdays - This Thursday we gather for Tony Vargas (NE-02), Thursday, at 715pm ET. Register here to postcard or call for Tony and the blue dot. Watch my wonderful interview with him. Recent polls have Tony ahead and we just have to keep working it!
You Can Now Call Or Postcard Anytime, Not Just on Thursdays - I will be doing a broader update on our postcarding and phonebanking program for the home stretch soon - we are still working on a few things.
Meanwhile our plucky community has now mailed over 100,000 postcards into these 15 races over these last several months. Our last day for postcarding given that we are targeting the early vote is this Friday, October 18th. If you head here you can grab more addresses for any of the 15 and help us keep driving the early vote and winning the election in October. At that link you can also find ways to phonebank for our candidates and Harris-Walz too any time - not just on Thursdays.
A big hearty, Hopium shout out to our partners in our Winning The House Thursday events - Markers for Democracy, Postcards4VA, Grassroots Democrats HQ and the DCCC. This has been a wonderful and rewarding project.
Keeping The Senate Blue - this is a brawl my friends, and we just have to keep working it:
Arizona/Ruben Gallego - $468,000 raised, $750,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More
Montana/Jon Tester - $139,000 raised, $200,000 goal (new stretch goal!) - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More
Ohio/Sherrod Brown - $95,000 raised, $100,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More
Wisconsin Dem Party/Tammy Baldwin - $33,000 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Watch Our Recent Closing Strong Interview with the great Ben Wikler
Nebraska/Blue Dot - $259,000 raised, $300,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More
Growing The Hopium Community - We’ve set some goals for the growth of our community so more of us can be doing more and worrying less in the home stretch:
Hopium Subscribers - 107,777 this morning, 125,000 goal
Paid Subscribers - 12,5770 this morning, 14,000 goal (we added 150 paid subscribers since yesterday - thank you all!)
This new effort is off a great start everyone - thank you! Keep working it. Hopium paid subscribers get access to a weekly live home stretch political briefing and Founding Members will have their own small gathering on Fridays. You can become a paid subscriber and help us hit our goals by clicking on the link below. It includes options for gift and group subscriptions, all 10% off through Election Day!
Winning It In October - Finally, we just need to keep educating folks in our networks about the importance of Voting on Day 1, voting early and winning the election in October. On Friday my daughter and I filled out our DC ballots together and dropped them off on the first day our drop boxes opened. It was her first time voting, and while I don’t know who she voted for I have an idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
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