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Sunday Hopium - As Trump's Powers Ebb He's Growing More Wild, Desperate And Dangerous

Our Resolutions Project is making exciting progress - great work all!

Simon Rosenberg

Aug 17

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Morning all. Here with my coffee writing to you from newly occupied DC. Yes, somehow, we are now going to get National Guard from Ohio, South Carolina and West Virginia to add to the enormous mix of Federal officials already here. Just lovely. All this for a city that already has more police per capita and spends more on its police per capita than any city in the country. Again, contrary to Trump’s insane rants, crime has plummeted in DC and is not rising. Crime is a fraction of what it was thirty years ago. As journalist Philip Bump wrote this morning about OH, SC, WV:

The FBI reported that fully 43 cities in those three states had higher rates of violent crime in 2024 than did D.C. More than 1.2 million people live in those cities, including more than 900,000 in Ohio alone. Yet that state’s National Guard is being deployed to D.C. to protect the capital’s 700,000-odd residents. Half a million Ohioans live in cities with higher homicide rates than D.C. Unfortunately for them, they won’t get to see National Guard troops on their streets — just on their TVs, standing around outside the Lincoln Memorial.
Or maybe the lesson here is that this isn’t really about crime at all.

But here we are. For as I wrote yesterday this wild and dangerous late August spiraling is a sign of the disquiet in his mind, of a desperate need to do something to make him feel STRONG and POWERFUL as he sundowns, the economy slows, inflation rises, his administration fails and he grows more unpopular and distant:

There is something desperate about all this. Why can’t he play golf for a few weeks? He’s an old man with health problems. His gait was very wobbly yesterday, and as John Bolton said he looked very, very tired. My own take on why we are all here, why I am writing today rather than gardening and filling my bird feeders, is that Trump is aware that his powers are ebbing. He is in political, physical and cognitive decline. Elon emasculated him, repeatedly. He and his agenda are wildly unpopular. No matter how much he rages the economy is slowing down, prices are rising and the deficit exploding. ACA premiums are skyrocketing and our health care system is starting to buckle. An ideological follower of his fired 500 rounds - 500 - at the Center for Disease Control a few days ago. He still has not negotiated a single trade deal, not ended the war in Ukraine or Bibi’s murderous spree in Gaza. Putin keeps manhandling and humiliating him. House Republicans defied him in August, subpoenaed the Epstein files from the Department of Justice and then had to adjourn early to prevent further damage. He cannot make Epstein, Maxwell and his sordid past go away. Democrats have begun to step into their power.

This photo was taken yesterday. No burnt orange for the public, just him. An old and ridiculous man:

A few more bits of data from that brutal new Pew poll I shared a few days back, the worst poll of his 2nd term in office. He is not just losing the support of the public, he is losing his power to persuade. Look at the support levels of his two major domestic initiatives - 32% and 38%. More than 60% of the public is not currently supporting either his tariffs or his big ugly bill.

He has also lost the big argument about what he is doing to the Federal government:

Hopium is going to slow down a bit these next two weeks. I will still be publishing but there will be less analysis and as I am going to take a break, travel a bit and tend to some longer term improvements I’ve been working on for our community. Our next paid subscriber events will take place that first week in September when Congress returns.

For those of you in New Mexico I will be in Albuquerque this Friday afternoon for a fundraiser for the great grassroots group BlueCD2 New Mexico. Excited to head back to Santa Fe to see family and celebrate my oldest son’s 25th birthday (hard to believe). For those in Minnesota note I will be joining Minnesota Dems for a fundraiser on Wednesday, Sept 17th in St. Paul. Excited for that one too.

If you are looking for a podcast today be sure to check out my new interview with Kendall Scudder, the Chair of the Texas Democratic Party. It’s a lively look at the big battle unfolding in Texas and what’s likely to come next. My weekly talk is also still fresh and packed with insights into our current moment. All of our interviews and podcasts can be found the Hopium site under the Podcast tab and on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify too. My recent discussions with Anne Applebaum, Leah Litman, Nathan Heller and Colette Delawalla and Dr. Jeremy Berg were particularly informative and interesting if you haven’t gotten to them yet.

Hopium community member and Resolutions Project champion Deborah Potter sent in this update:

Our amazing report is that we have 63 resolutions passed or moving in 20 states! John of Elk Grove, CA shared his inspiring resolution In Support of Our Migrant Neighbors. Other resolution updates were posted by Michael G. Baer (CA), Anne from Maine, Roxanne Jensen (CO), Stephen in NYC and Mark Roberts (MA). Thank you all!
Please enjoy these patriotic words from the Bernalillo County Commission's blog posted after signing their resolution. It’s called “Bernalillo County Commission Defends the U.S. Constitution and Separation of Powers:”
“We have all witnessed over the last few months how this administration is undermining the tenants of our constitution and the rule of law in ways that we never imagined,” says Chair Eric Olivas. “They are damaging our communities through unlawful immigration enforcement and detention, cutting Medicaid for thousands of our residents, causing havoc in federal agencies meant to protect and serve citizens across the nation, allowing overreach by large corporations and threatening voting rights.”
“Our nation was founded on the preamble, articles and amendments of the constitution that specifically outline the separation of power between the Executive, Administrative and Judicial Branches to ensure our democracy is not taken hostage,” says Commission Vice-Chair Adriann Barboa. “This resolution is a formal document in support of our Congressional Delegation member’s efforts to stop, delay or reverse many of these actions taken by this administration.”
“Our democracy is based on the constitution which was ratified in 1788 and provides the structure and function of the federal government, checks and balances, federalism, limited government, and popular sovereignty,” says Chair Olivas. “Each member of this body swears an oath to the U.S. Constitution and we all have a duty to protect and defend the constitutional rights of residents who are now being harmed by the blatant violations of our constitution.”

Indivisible of Massachusetts is now recommending our resolutions project to their statewide membership. Amazing! It builds on the momentum of Rachel Poliner’s work getting a terrific resolution debated and passed by the Boston City Council a few weeks ago. Look at this wonderful headline I just found from the Boston Herald:

Here is how the MA Indivisible call to action begins:

How to Adopt a “Resolution Opposing Autocracy” in Your Massachusetts Town/City.
This is a unique action, and one we hope you will SERIOUSLY consider doing because it has a BIG impact potential! - Get your local City Council or Select Board to adopt a Resolution Opposing Autocracy and demand that the MA Legislature adopt certain bills to combat the Trump Regime.

I promoted this new initiative on Bluesky yesterday too.

Great work everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, Let’s Keep Going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Support Hopium’s Priority Candidates And Party Committees - A reminder that Election Day, 2025 is a little less than three months away and early voting starts in Virginia in less than six weeks - September 19th!

Donate, volunteer, learn more about our candidates and opportunities here. I consider all these options must dos for anyone serious about winning this year and next year...

Mikie Sherrill NJ Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $53k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Rep. Sherrill
Abigail Spanberger VA Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $170k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Abigail Spanberger
Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $25,000 Labor Day goal, $250,000 goal, $22,000 raised- Donate | Learn More | Volunteer
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $48k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer
Hopium House 7 (2026) - $250,000 goal, $182k raised - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer, Watch My Interviews With Our Great Members

Our updated fundraising goals are now for the end of the year, December 31st, except for the 2025 races, which are now for Election Day, 2025. As background to this work learn about 1) our big recommendations to the family coming out of the 2024 elections 2) the many important wins we had together last cycle 3) my latest thinking on where we are and the path forward for the Hopium community.

Our Recommended Actions - We are prioritizing three actions today. You can get our full list of recommended actions here. Let’s get to it:

1 - Call Your Senators and Member Of The House And Demand They Act Upon Our Four-Part Agenda - While it is recess we need to be loud this week, very, very loud. Make the case for our emerging four part agenda, and demand they 1) Stand with Ukraine and work to block Trump’s selling out of the West to Putin 2) Roll back Trump’s terrible tariffs 3) Block the expansion of ICE and the use of the military on our streets 4) End the war on science, higher education and the public health of the American people, and demand the removal of wacko Bobby Kennedy from the leadership of HHS.

2 - 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 63 (!!!!) 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.

3 - 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 Election Day, 2025. 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 and fall 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. A further note - if you want to up your support of Hopium a powerful way to do it is to buy group or gift subscriptions for others.

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

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