Winning In An Evolving Political Battlefield
A New Hopium Chronicles Project
4/5/26 - We’ve launched a new project at Hopium to study, discuss, and counter anything Trump might do to illicitly retain power in an election that is breaking hard against him and the Republicans Party. We are launching this project to demystify Trump’s tactics, make them less “scary,” and more widely understood; and by making them more widely understood we make it far less likely they will be successful.
This year we are running against a political party that no longer feels bound by law or democratic norms; has already openly conspired with a hostile foreign power to win an election, and launched an insurrection to try to overturn another one; and has a desperate, corrupt, failing leader who fears prison and ruin if we win. We were surprised and unprepared for Russia’s intervention in 2016, and Trump’s assault on our elections in 2020 and 2021. We cannot be surprised and unprepared this year. Or scared. It is just the work we must do, like making phone calls and writing postcards and giving money to campaigns. The battlefield evolves, and so do we. It is key to how we will win in 2026 and take back Congress in 2027. Together.
So dive in. Read, watch, listen and let’s get to work everyone……
Readings
Timothy Snyder, Thinking About - “The Next Coup Attempt: And How To Stop It” (Link)
Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic - “The First Post-Reality Campaign: Hungary’s Viktor Orbán is waging cognitive warfare on a new scale” (Link)
Cheeseman, Bianchi, & Cyr, Foreign Affairs - “The Illiberal International: Authoritarian Cooperation Is Reshaping the Global Order” (Link)
Benjamin Wittes, Lawfare - “The Enduring Truths Of The Mueller Report” (Link)
Lawrence Nordan and Katie Lurie, The Brennan Center - “Foreign Influence vs. Foreign Interference in Elections” (Link)
Carrie Kahn, NPR - Iran Propaganda Machine Trolls Trump (Link)
Simon Rosenberg, Hopium Chronicles - “Winning In An Evolving Political Battlefield” (Link)
Conversations
Conversations (2025)
