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Thursday, March 19, 2026
“Stunning Interference”
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The War Must End Now
The War Must End NowTrump has had his fun. The cost of the war has become far too great, and it must end now.
Morning everyone. There’s a lot going on but there is one essential story right now - our old, addled, Epstein desperate leader miscalculated; his illegal war is a disaster for America and the world; and it must end as soon as possible. The “win” now for Trump is him having the humility to end it, somehow, whatever are the words that flow from him that no one will pay attention to any way. The war has now officially spiraled out of control, as wars do; the damage being done to our global energy and food supplies has become earth-shatteringly dangerous; the cost to the economies of nations, and global stability, has become too dear. If this ridiculous war goes on much longer the costs will start to become incalculable; and it will because this one man, this historic, vainglorious fuck up, enabled by a corrupt Supreme Court and cowardly Republican Congressional leadership, imagined himself an Emperor and just went for it. Because it was a Friday, and he needed something to make himself feel STRONG and MIGHTY for things on the home front were not breaking his way. And so he went to war. And it went to shit, almost immediately. There is really only one thing that matters to the American people now - the war must end, and Trump must be reined in or leave office. For he is a dangerous man, perhaps the most dangerous in human history, and we must continue to rise up and demand our leaders fight to mitigate the extraordinary damage he is doing to America, and the world.
I think our national discourse is not accurately portraying the threat to America and the world this war - and a completely out of control Trump - has become. As I’ve been writing here our economy was already headed towards recession and rising inflation prior to the war; the Pentagon is already requesting $200 billion more funding - $200 billion for three weeks of war; spiking oil, gas, and commodity prices are hurting consumers across the world and putting millions of small businesses and farmers at risk; equity prices continue to fall throughout the world, leaving all nations poorer; the costs of repairing the damaged Gulf energy infrastructure could easily be in the hundreds of billions. I could go on and on but simple the cost of all this is not worth whatever it is Bibi and Trump are doing to Iran. There is no possible justification for this, and the war must end. Here’s Brent crude futures this morning. Up and up and up:
Here’s gas in the US today. Up $1.16 a gallon, 43%!!!!!, this year. Almost none of this price spike had yet shown up in all that terrible economic data we reviewed yesterday:
Here’s that new inflation data we got yesterday. It’s scary data, all pre-war:
And then there are the direct costs of the war to the American people - already at $200 billion and counting. Trump is just spending hundreds and hundreds of billions without Congressional authorization. It’s without question the greatest abuse of Presidential power in our history:
Meanwhile Trump has becoming increasingly unstable, as has his regime. His utterances each day about the war are outrageously incoherent. MTG has become an outspoken opponent, a former cultist now challenging the cult; Noem fell; Bovino “retired"; Kent resigned in protest; Susie Wiles is leaving; Gabbard changed her story during the course of the day yesterday; Kennedy is being reined in; Bondi threw a temper tantrum last night; Hegseth’s wild, bloodthirsty pressers have become prime war crime trial evidence; and Trump is in process of being rebuffed by Senate Republicans on his rancid SAVE Act. The regime has begun to crack under the weight of their profound failure, soaring unpopularity, and clear betrayal of everything Trump promised in the election (No Wars, lower prices, etc). My overwhelming sense now is that Congressional Democrats have to accept that we are in a period of discountinuity. This moment is not like any one we’ve ever experienced. We need to fight him in new and more ambitious ways, take risks, rise to the moment. An example of how we need to play the game now is what Leader Jeffries and House Democrats did yesterday by launching a discharge petition to fund the parts of DHS not involved in the illegal, and illiberal, assault on our communities. They are leaning into the fight, not running from it:
For the next big funding fight is going to be their outlandish request for at least $200 billion to fund the war, a war that was never authorized by Congress. Trump has spent at least $200 billion for this war, without authorization, while also doing tens of trillions of damage to the global economy. As we are doing with DHS/ICE, we must make very clear what it will take to get our vote for this funding. Here’s my working list:
Yes, I know, Simon, this is too much. We can’t ask for all that. My point is that something like this should be our agenda now; we have to stop playing defense, being tactical, and start going on offense, being far more strategic. Trump and his regime have failed, and it has begun to crack up. The scale of his failure, recklessness is only just beginning to be felt. The March inflation data is going to devastating for Trump. Things could get far worse in the Middle East, things could spiral further out of control. We need more of this:
We are in a national and global emergency now, brought about by one man and his cowardly enablers, and our leaders need to rise to the moment. We need to make clear who we are, what we are fighting for, and then go fight like hell for it, every day. We need to be the proud American patriots this moment requires, and now…… Let’s Get To Work People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DC Event Next Tuesday - Next Tuesday I am co-hosting an event for Anderson Clayton and the North Carolina Democratic Party in DC, in the neighborhood near the National Cathedral. It runs from 6 to 8pm, and tickets start at $100. Learn more here and come hang out with me and Anderson next Tuesday! A reminder that I am traveling this week and our two regular get togethers - Wednesday night and Friday afternoon - aren’t happening this week, but will resume at their normal times next week. Winning The Midterms, Competing In Red States and Red Places, Expanding The MapHopium’s Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $339,000 raised, $400,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Donate to all twelve of our endorsed House challengers with one click | Learn More | Enjoy our new conversations with Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Mayor Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), and Janelle Stelson (PA-10) and learn more about the eight candidates we just added to our campaign here. We will be meeting the rest of our newly expanded slate of intrepid House candidates in the coming weeks. It’s a great crew! This fundraising total includes funds already raised with our friends at FridayAction for a joint event we’re doing later this month. James Talarico For Texas - $32,200 raised, $100,000 March 31st goal - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More | Watch my recent interview with Rep. Talarico Mary Peltola For Alaska Senate - $51,500 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More. | Watch my new interview with Mary Peltola Winning Ohio - $80,500 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! Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $89,300 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my conversation with Gov. Cooper Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $143,600 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my inspiring conversation with Senator Ossoff Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $420,800 raised, $500,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Join our new 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 $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 28thThere 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:
This week our calls should clearly focus on reining in the illegal war in the Middle East and ICE here at home, rescind the tariffs, and on blocking the “SAVE Act.” Keep working hard all. We have a country to save and an election to win, together! - Simon You're currently a free subscriber to Hopium Chronicles By Simon Rosenberg. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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“Stunning Interference”
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