As Trump's Powers Ebb We Must Keep Fighting For "The Last Best Hope On Earth"Katie Phang Joins Us Today At 215pm ET To Review And Make Sense Of This Consequential Week in American Politics
Morning all. Wow, what a week. To review it all the brilliant Katie Phang is joining us live today at 215pm ET. Join us by clicking on this link a little before 215pm or adjust your Substack settings so you will be notified whenever one of our live events start. These live events are open to the public so feel free to share the link with your networks or folks you think might be interested in joining us or learning more about Hopium. As we head into the weekend have a few things for you to review to help make sense of it all:
And a reminder that all of our discussions can be found under the Podcast tab on the main Hopium site, and on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify too. Core to my current take on things is that as he declines physically and politically, and his powers ebb, Trump’s public appearances have grown increasingly desperate, comic book level authoritarian, untethered and unhinged. His wild performances themselves are a manifestation of his decline. Here’s video of his visit to the Federal Reserve’s renovation yesterday, a move designed to show HIS STRENGTH AND POWER to Fed Chair Jerome Powell to get the Fed to bend the knee. Trump is so degraded now he cannot even pull of a simple event down the street from the White House. Just watch. One commentator called it “Curb Your Authoritarianism” -  Remarkably, after this extraordinary week, Trump is traveling abroad today not to talk about NATO, or the Ukraine war, but to - can we laugh at loud? - promote his golf properties. Here is how one newspaper in Scotland is greeting him:
Trump’s disastrous week was capped yesterday with the release of the worst poll of Trump’s second term, this one from the storied Gallup organization. Trump clocks in here at 37%-58% (-21), and in the 30s - incredibly - in those issues most important to voters:
The polling these past two weeks for Trump and the Rs have been brutal. Sharing two other bits of data that I think really matter as we head into the weekend: The coalition that elected Trump in 2024 has unraveled:
Democrats have a meaningful and significant enthusiasm advantage right now, something we’ve seen in the various special and local elections this year, and in current polling in the NJ and VA statewide elections too:
As encouraging as all this we must be on guard, and find a better way to talk about, Trump’s clear commitment to ending American democracy and building an authoritarian state. The public discourse has failed to capture the gravity of what’s happening, or the very real possibility that as his physical, cognitive and political powers ebb he will grow more and more mad, authoritarian and dangerous. We had glimpses of that this week with his wild attacks on former President Obama; with his ongoing deeply corrupt manhandling of the Department of Justice; with his batshit crazy visit to the Fed; with his demands for MORE CONGRESSIONAL SEATS from Texas. His daily ignoring and trampling of the rules, norms and laws of our centuries old democracy has become normalized, routine, no biggie. Together, we need to find a way to change that in the coming months. I talked about the need to do so in my Wednesday post and it is at the core of our A Letter to America initiative. Many of you are bringing this necessary conversation about Trump’s abandonment of the Constitutional order to our communities by advancing Resolutions of Condemnation (amazing work all). So while we should be pleased with his decline and struggles, our dramatic success in the courts, and our repeated demonstration of electoral strength this year, we simply must find a way to make his ongoing assault on our democracy and our liberties a much more important part of our discourse in the days ahead; and in doing so keep mitigating the damage he’s doing and make it far less likely he is successful in ending the “the last best hope of man on Earth.” Let us end today with the inspiration of Lincoln’s call to action in his Second Inaugural Address in 1862. These are powerful, powerful words that still speak to us 163 years later:
Now, Let’s Get To Work People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Here at Hopium we like to do. Here we are proud, plucky, patriots but we are also put your head down, grind it out, get shit done doers. Trump and Republicans have stumbled, and given us a big opportunity now to tell our story and win back power. While are there so many things people can do to advance our cause I am partial to two sets of activities - supporting our candidates and party committees, and calling/contacting elected officials every day. So what follows is our recommendations to make sure your time and money are being put to the highest and best use in this time of national emergency…… Support Hopium’s Priority Candidates And Party Committees - Just set new fundraising goals for Labor Day, now remarkably six weeks away. Election Day is less than four months away and early voting starts in Virginia starts in less than two months - September 19th! Donate, volunteer, learn more about our candidates and opportunities here….
Our Recommended Actions - Here are other actions you can take outside of our direct electoral work: 1 - Call your Senators and Rep To Demand They Revoke Trump’s Terrible Tariffs - Congress simply must take back its tariff authority that Trump has illegally and unconstitutional seized and dangerously abused; and at the very least they must stop what will be Trump’s ruinous new tariff increases slated to start on August 1st. Trump’s economic plan has failed, and we need to find a better way forward. 2 - Fight Trump’s Inhumane Immigration Escalation And His Broader Assault On Our Liberties - We must do more here, and I will be working to put together a strategy for us in the coming weeks. In the meantime watch my recent discussions with David Leopold Joe Garcia, Leon Krauze and Senator Chris Van Hollen for more. 3 - 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. Remarkably, members of this community are now advancing 50 resolutions projects in 20 states. Can we get to all 50 states by the fall election? Our newly updated Resolutions page includes a new chat for folks to report in on their progress or seek counsel from those interested in launching a resolutions project in their community. This is one way to fight back against Trump’s unprecedented abandonment of our Constitutional order. 4 -Volunteer To Help Your State and/or Local Democratic Parties Stand Up Voter Registration Efforts And Support “Organizing Summer” - In the presentation he made to our community recently Tom Bonier made a persuasive case that Democrats must once again make partisan voter registration a national priority. State and local Democratic Parties are in the planning stages to take this on. Members of our community should consider contacting their state and local parties and offer to help stand up these vital efforts in the coming months. The DNC, the DSCC, the DCCC, the DGA and the ASDC have announced a major “Organizing Summer” project. Learn more about it here. For more on what the DNC and state and local parties are intending to do this election cycle see my recent interviews with DNC Chair Ken Martin and ASDC President Jane Kleeb. 5 - Support Brave US Government Scientists Fighting To Protect Our Global Scientific Leadership - Staff at 3 of the most important US science agencies - NIH, EPA and NASA - have now courageously filed letters of discontent against their leadership. Learn more and sign your name to support these remarkable initiatives, and do you part to fight to main America’s global scientific leadership! For more watch my interviews with Colette Delawalla, Executive Director of the advocacy organization Stand Up For Science; and Dr. Michael Mann, a world leading climate scientist, and author of the forthcoming book, Science Under Siege. 6 - Review and Comment On Hopium’s Working Agenda - Many of you have noted that we must do more than oppose, we must also propose and make clear to the American people what they will get if they put us back in power. To that end, with input from many of you, I’ve drafted an initial 2026 Agenda. Check it out here, offer comments and improvements, take it into your communities and create discussions and debates about who we are, and what story we want to tell to our voters this fall and next year. 7 - Grow Hopium And This Wonderful Community Of Proud, Plucky, Patriots - We’ve set a goal of trying to grow the Hopium community from the 152,000 we are now to 175,000 by Labor Day. Do what you can to encourage your friends, family and colleagues to become a summer subscriber to Hopium, free or paid. If each current paid subscriber brings in just one new subscriber this summer we will hit our goal. To encourage the growth of our community annual paid subscriptions are 10% off through Labor Day. Use that link to buy gift or group subscriptions, and join our new referral rewards program too. 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! Been impressive to see how many of you remain involved in local, in person protests of all kinds in your communities. Keep it up!!! Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you, and a fight it truly is - Simon You're currently a free subscriber to Hopium Chronicles By Simon Rosenberg. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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Friday, July 25, 2025
As Trump's Powers Ebb We Must Keep Fighting For "The Last Best Hope On Earth"
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