Morning all. On Tuesday a Turkish child development graduate student on the way to a break-the-fast Ramadan dinner with friends at the Tufts University Interfaith Center was stopped by masked plain clothes Homeland Security (Interior Ministry) agents, put in an unmarked SUV and taken away. Despite a Judge’s order to keep her in the Boston area Rumeysa Öztürk is now in an immigration detention facility in Louisiana and has been ordered deported. No warrants, no due process. Another student gone. There are several videos of her seizure by Homeland Security. I think this one is the best (sound on):  This Salon piece does a good job summarizing what we know about the unfolding events. While we don’t yet know what drove Homeland Security to take Ms. Ozturk from the Tufts campus to Louisiana there has been much attention to an op-ed she co-authored for the Tufts Daily (yes, a student newspaper) in the midst of the Israel-Gaza campus protests a year ago. It was co-authored by 3 other Tufts graduate students, and endorsed by 32 more. I strongly encourage everyone to read her op-ed to see if you can find something in there worthy of removal from the a free country that treasures it’s First Amendment heritage. You can find it here. I am a Tufts alum and will be tracking this story closely. For more on Trump’s extraordinary assault on immigrants, the First Amendment and our Constitutional order watch my new discussion with prominent immigration attorney, David Leopold - Yes, People Are Disappearing in America. Hegseth, Gabbard Must Go - We got our first poll on Signalgate (Treasongate, Idiotgate, Dipshitgate) and it suggests that this fiasco has already become a very serious political problem for a President whose poll numbers have already taken a big hit. Note that the question asked is about as charitable to Trump’s team as one could craft, and that, already, a majority of Republican voters think it’s a serious problem:
Calls for Hegseth to go grew yesterday. Here is Rep. Adam Smith, the Ranking Member Of The House Armed Services Committee, calling on Hegseth to go. For the mild-mannered friend of Hopium this is a very, very strong statement:  For those of us who have wanted to see Democrats raise their game I think we should be encouraged by how forceful and aggressive Democrat’s have been this week in challenging Trump’s endangering of our national security. I do think something has changed in Washington this week. That Trump is a madman, that the idiots and extremists he put in charge can’t be trusted to govern, and that they are doing enormous harm to the country became much harder to ignore. And Dems are finding a higher gear. Watch my new conversation with author, commentator and podcaster David Rothkopf for an in-depth review of all the ways Trump’s “foreign policy” is making America weaker, less safe and more vulnerable to attack than we’ve been in generations.
Here is the lead story in the NYT right now:
Here’s a story from the current Washington Post homepage:
Learning How To More Forcefully Articulate, Denounce And Challenge Trump's Dangerous Weakening Of America - I spoke to our plucky and patriotic paid subscribers last night and offered a comprehensive take on where we are now. A recording of my talk and the Q and A period is above, as is a transcript for those who would rather than read than watch or listen. Two key takeaways from my talk this morning. First, this new scandal is a very serious one, and it is going to further degrade Trump’s increasing degraded brand. I think two of the key pillars of Trump’s appeal to his non-MAGA voters (20-25% of those who voted for him) - that he would bring prosperity, greater opportunity and a better life; and that he would effectively run the government, make it more efficient, save money, be a “reformer” - are starting to come undone. We’ve discussed here that he has already lost that “better life” pillar, as voters have come to believe that Trump means tariffs, higher prices, more struggle for families. Now I think the combination of Musk’s reckless rampage on the US government and the historic buffoonery of Signalgate is undermining the “run Washington like a business/reform” pillar. Without these two pillars what is left for voters to see is the Trump we’ve known all along - sadistic madman, extremist, betrayer of the country and the the worst and most dangerous man America has ever produced. What is left is historic and profound ugliness. Next, I returned to something we’ve been discussing of late - the need for our leaders to learn how to condemn and denounce as part of our tool kit. As we did in the 2024 campaign, we are simply not adequately capturing in our rhetoric or actions the danger Trump represents, or that his agenda will, without question, leave America a diminished nation, less prosperous, less safe and less free. That what the big Trump project is about is not to make us great, but to do harm to us all and this great country that has been a light for so many for so long. So I tried something new in the video last night, a way of trying to get to the threat. I read something that I had written earlier in the day, which is below. I hope you will watch and let me know what you think. For we have to learn how to say NO to Trump in new and more powerful ways, no to his rancid regime’s ongoing betrayal of America, no to his ridiculous effort to turn this country in something that looks more like Russia than the United States of America. Together, we must now say NO
Let me know what you think of my big Nos and the need for us to find a higher rhetorical gear to fight this deeply dangerous and unwell man. It’s an initial list and need you help in making it better. Now, let’s get to work everyone…… Recommended Hopium Actions and Campaigns - While we have made many recommendations to Democrats in recent months for how to raise our game and fight harder and smarter, let’s focus on our current four recommended sets of actions for how we can best channel our love of country and our frustrations into concrete action today: 1 - Fight The Trump-Musk Attack On Our Government, Our Privacy And Our Constitutional Order - Encourage your Senators and Representatives to let Facts be be submitted to a candid world in a joint Senate-House Letter to America; to hold their own hearings; to file criminal referrals for Musk and his malicious posse to DOJ/FBI and amicus briefs in the court cases regarding the usurpation of their Constitutional authorities or file suits of their own (House Dems began doing this several weeks ago). Encourage them to hold a daily morning press conference to more aggressively challenge Musk’s ransacking of the USG that is making America less prosperous, less healthy, less safe and far less respected in the world. 2 - Loudly Protest Trump’s Embrace of Russia and Abandonment of NATO and Europe - Let your electeds know you are outraged by traitorous Trump’s selling out of Zelenskyy, abandonment of Europe and embrace of Putin; and that we cannot accept this level of appeasement of someone who is a clear enemy of America and the West, and certainly not an ally. Demand that Trump not let his Saudi meeting w/Putin become our Munich; demand that he not become our Neville Chamberlain; demand that we rejoin our European and NATO allies in support of Zelenskyy and democracy here and everywhere. The country is not with Trump’s embrace of Putin and we must be very loud, very, very loud now. See my new essay on the need to support our allies and not surrender to Putin, and my new interview with Rep. Adam Smith, the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, one of the most important foreign policy voices in our party. Part II - do all this and demand that Hegseth and Gabbard resign. Hegseth is obvious. He sent war plans on an insecure chat and simply can no longer be trusted. Gabbard for she is in charge of intelligence for the US, and must take responsibility for participating in and not stopping one of the most significant security breaches in US history. 3 - Our Work In The States, The Spring Offensive - I am going to rework this section in the next few days as so much has happened since we called on our community members to organize in the 17 most vulnerable Republican House seats. Rallies and protests have exploded across the country. The DNC/House Dems/State Parties have kicked off People’s Town Halls in all 50 states. I have come to believe that we should be leaning on our state and local electeds to pursue these organized “condemnations” of the Trump regime and their betrayal of America. Let’s start talking now about what we are going to do on July 4th, a day with all of a sudden much more importance. Paid subscribers should self-report their actions today in our daily chat. So inspired by how hard so many of you are working. I want to make a special plea to all Hopium readers in states with Republican Senators - please make your calls, every day. Even 50 to 100 people calling every day in every red state can make a difference. We have hundreds of Hopium subscribers in every state in the country and it’s critical that we all do our part now. Next, for those wanting to do more traditional political/campaign work we have four Hopium-backed efforts we're rallying behind in addition to our new House Hopium 7: Help Susan Crawford and Ben Wikler in Wisconsin - As a way of honoring our good friend Ben Wikler and supporting this critical April Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, I’m asking our community to donate to the Wisconsin Democratic Party today. The money raised here will make sure Ben has the resources he needs to keep his team in place so they can support this critical statewide race. I know many of you are already deeply involved here - thank you all. Watch our new discussion with Susan and Ben. Thanks to a huge surge of support in recent days we have already raised $209,000 from over 2,400 of you, blowing past our original $50,000 goal and now our stretch goals of $100,000, $125,000 and $150,000. We are now upping this to a new superduper-stretch goal of $225,000 by March 31st. Amazing work everyone!
Support The Hopium House 7 - We’ve begun our work to help flip the House next year by supporting and shoring up the 7 newly-elected battleground House Dems we helped elect last year. You can give to all 7 through a single donation to our new ActBlue page and learn more about this important effort here. We’ve already raised over $32,000 towards our $50,000 March 31st goal - thank you all! Help Abigail Spanberger Win Virginia - Virginia will be one of the big battlegrounds of the November, 2025 elections and we have a great candidate for Governor, Abigail Spanberger. Watch my interview with Abigail, donate, volunteer, and learn more here. Given how many federal employees live in Virginia, this race is also now on the front lines of the Trump/Musk assault on the federal government. We’ve raised more than $69,000 so far towards our March 31st goal of $100,000 - thank you all. Let’s keep working it for Abigail!
Get Anderson Clayton And The NC Dems Fight The GOP’s Attempt To Steal A Supreme Court Seat - Last week we began a campaign to raise $50,000 for Anderson Clayton and the NC Dems. These funds will help the NC Dems get off to a great start in 2025 and help cover the costs of their fight to prevent the Republicans from stealing a Supreme Court seat we won together in 2024. Watch my new interview with Chair Clayton from last week to get an update on the fight over the Supreme Court seat and her plans to win elections and counter Trump this year. We’ve raised $27,000 so far - thank you all! Help Get Ken Martin Off To A Strong Start - In this time of extraordinary challenge we need a strong DNC. Two weeks ago we set a goal of raising $100,000 by March 31st for our new Chair. Incredibly, over 1,400 of you have donated over $102,000 so far. Watch my interview with Ken about what he wants to do with the DNC, and chip in whatever you can to help Ken and the new exciting team at the DNC get off to a strong start! Let’s end today with that passage from Jefferson that speaks so powerfully to this moment:
Keep working hard all. Incredibly proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon You're currently a free subscriber to Hopium Chronicles By Simon Rosenberg. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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Thursday, March 27, 2025
Learning How To More Forcefully Denounce And Challenge Trump's Dangerous Weakening Of America (New Video), A Tufts…
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