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Sherrill Rocks Her Debate, Rs Have Chosen Shutdown and Chaos, The World Comes To New York And A Very Different America

Yes On 50 is up 51%-34% in new poll, keep voting early good people of Virginia!

Simon Rosenberg

Sep 22

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Morning all. Next Tuesday, September 30th, is the last day of the current fiscal year for the US government. A budget for the next fiscal year that runs from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, is supposed to be passed and in place by then. Without it the government runs out of money and operations are curtailed. Of course, in all the Trumpian chaos, Republicans haven’t passed a budget. In fact, because of Republicans, we never passed a budget last year either. This year’s budget is just a carry over from the previous one passed in the winter of 2023, and it has been extended through a series of what’s called “continuing resolutions” that just continue the current spending levels of the government for an agreed upon time. Right now we have nothing resembling a fiscal year 2026 budget on the horizon, no budget negotiations, no agreement on a continuing resolution (yes we would be extending that budget passed two years ago even further) and Republicans have sent everyone home this week in both chambers. It’s an extraordinary level of recklessness and dysfunction, though perhaps on brand for Trump’s reign of sabotage, plunder, and betrayal.

To be clear a week out there have been no negotiations between the Democrats and Republicans. Even though Trump and the Senate Rs need 60 votes to pass a budget that would require getting the vote of 7 Democrats, the Rs have been imperially unwilling to even sit down and talk to Democrats. What Democratic Leaders have asked for to pass a continuing resolution next week to keep the government open - not a budget, that comes later - is a repeal of the big ugly bill’s cuts to the ACA and Medicaid and a guarantee that the regime will follow the law and honor the budget as passed.

As I wrote to you on Saturday I think Trump enters these budget negotiations in a very weak position. He, his agenda, and his regime are very unpopular; current polling suggests the Rs will be blamed - appropriately - for a shut down; and Democrats enter this phase of the negotiations unified. I don’t know where all this goes but 2 points today: 1) we must message that the Rs have decided to shut the government down, dishonor our democratic traditions and create chaos 2) our narrative about what we are fighting for in the budget negotiations must expand beyond the cuts to health care.

Here at Hopium we’ve been encouraging our leaders to fight for four things, and believe a far more inspiring narrative and rallying cry are needed for the titanic legislative battle ahead:

Roll back Trump’s terrible, illegal tariffs that are re-igniting inflation, driving up prices, shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to working people, hurting small businesses and farmers, reviving tyrannical “taxation without representation,” and alienating governments and people throughout the world
Block the expansion of ICE, restore due process, defend the 1st Amendment, and end the use of the military on our streets and the occupations of our cities (need to revise and update this one, make it bigger to account for Trump’s escalating assault on our Constitutional order)
Fight Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; reverse - not delay - the cuts to the ACA and Medicaid; demand the removal of extremist Robert Kennedy from HHS
Stand with Ukraine and our European allies, and far more forcefully challenge Trump’s traitorous efforts to sell out the US and the West to Russia and China

Democrats need to increasingly view this moment as the beginning of the 2026 general election campaign, turn on the party committees and state parties, ask all of us to engage and amplify, and use these next few months to tell a simple and powerful story about who he is and who we are. Something like the following may be needed:

If we believe their tariffs are raising prices and harming working Americans then we need to fight to roll them back.
If we believe that the tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy in the big, ugly bill threaten the fiscal integrity of the United States then we need to fight to repeal them.
If we believe that a supercharged ICE and military on our streets are a threat to our liberties then we need to fight to curtail its expansion and put clear guard rails on these dangerous activities.
If we believe that their attacks on our global scientific and academic leadership are doing irreparable harm to the country then we need to ensure that the funding for this research is restored and preserved, and our courageous scientists honored.
If we believe that the gutting of the most ambitious legislation to combat climate change in history will warm the planet faster and make the US less competitive in the tech battles of the future then we should fight to restore these far-sighted and vital provisions.
If we believe that Robert Kennedy and the cutting of the ACA and Medicaid is doing extraordinary harm to our public health then we need to fight to restore the funding and stop the sabotage.
If we believe that the cuts to our soft power and intelligence agencies threaten our security then we should fight to restore their funding and programmatic ambitions.
If we believe that Trump and his team are breaking laws then we should make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice and relevant state law enforcement agencies.
If we believe that Trump is a national emergency and a clear and present danger to our democracy then we must act with great urgency and fight 24/7/365.

Do your part today by calling your Senators and Rep and demand they work to pass our agenda (or whatever you think is needed now), keep the government open, undo the damage and do right by all of us.

New Poll Shows Yes On 50 Up 51%-34% - We got an encouraging poll this weekend from California:

This data suggests that if we do the work to drive turnout - as many of you are already doing - we can and should win here. It’s why it’s important to folks to volunteer and pull shifts for Yes On 50 no matter where you live. Winning here gives us five more House seats. Heads down, keep working hard all. We can do this people!

Mikie Sherrill Has A Strong Debate - From all accounts Hopium-backed New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill had a good debate last night. Here’s one strong moment from last night:

Here’s DNC Chair Ken Martin’s statement from last night:

“I’ve watched hundreds of debates, and Mikie Sherrill’s commanding performance tonight was a testament to the strength of her candidacy. Rep. Sherrill wiped the floor with Jack Ciattarelli, forcing him to try and defend his votes to raise taxes and his support of Donald Trump’s agenda that rips health care away from New Jersey families and seniors while raising costs by hundreds of dollars. While Ciattarelli was on defense, Rep. Sherrill was clearly on offense, once again demonstrating she is a fearless fighter who is ready to tackle New Jersey’s affordability crisis and lower utility costs on day one, invest in public education, and strengthen public transportation. New Jerseyans deserve a governor who will fight for them, and not a Trump crony who only cares about himself and his billionaire donors. Come Election Day, I’m confident New Jerseyans will send a clear message to Donald Trump by electing Mikie Sherrill and Democrats down the ballot while soundly rejecting Jack Ciattarelli.”

Heads down, keep working hard all. We can do this people!

Coming To Terms With Trump’s Mass Killing Of Children As The World Gathers At The UN - Here’s the NYT’s Nick Kristof today reporting from Uganda (gift link):

The Trump administration has claimed that no one has died because of its cuts to humanitarian aid, and it is now trying to cancel an additional $4.9 billion in aid that Congress already approved. Yet what I find here in desperate villages in southwestern Uganda is that not only are aid cuts killing children every day, but that the death toll is accelerating.
Stockpiles of food and medicine are running out here. Village health workers who used to provide inexpensive preventive care have been laid off. Public health initiatives like deworming and vitamin A distribution have collapsed. Immunizations are being missed. Contraception is harder to get. Ordinary people are growing weaker, hungrier and more fragile. So as months pass, the crisis is not easing but growing increasingly lethal — and because children are particularly vulnerable, they are often the first to starve and the first to die.
It’s difficult to know how many children are dying worldwide as a result of the Trump aid cuts, but credible estimates by experts suggest that the child death toll may be in the hundreds of thousands this year alone — and likely an even higher number next year. In short, President Trump’s cuts appear to be by far the most lethal policy step he has taken.

Here’s the latest count of the estimated deaths already this year due to Trump’s gutting of USAID:

Over the longer term it is has been estimated that at least 15 million people will die due to Trump’s actions, many of them children.

As the world descends on New York for the first UN General Assembly since Trump’s election, they will note how much has changed here and around the world, how weakened the global order is that America imagined and built after the carnage of WWII is today. For the UN Charter, and so much of the that world that we built has been built upon FDR’s Four Freedoms. With Trump clearly working to abandon and undermine that order, and America’s democracy here at home, we are entering a new and very dangerous moment for the world. America, America, the great democracy and the great guarantor of human rights is killing millions of children around the world on purpose; is lawlessly killing men in small boats in the Caribbean for sport; is disappearing innocent people into foreign gulags and has deployed the most lethal fighting force in the world against its own citizens; is helping Putin commit genocide in Ukraine and walking from our European allies; is enabling another genocide in Gaza; is through his unilateral tariffs undermining the global economic system that has created more opportunities for people around the world than other system in human history…..the list goes on and on.

A year ago the world came to America the free. This week they are arriving to a new country, to Trump’s America, to a world-altering unfolding tragedy, to America the ugly, dangerous and monstrous.

It is why we must keep fighting.

Now, Let’s Get To Work Everyone!!!

Support Our November, 2025 Candidates and Yes On 50

Mikie Sherrill NJ Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $80k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my new interview with Rep. Sherrill
Abigail Spanberger VA Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $195k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Abigail Spanberger
Yes on 50 (CA) - $50,000 goal - Donate | Learn more, volunteer

Support Our 2026 Candidates

Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $36,000 raised- Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Gov. Cooper
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $71k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my inspiring new interview with Senator Ossoff
Hopium House 7 (2026) - $250,000 goal, $203k raised - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer | Watch My Interviews With Our Intrepid Incumbents

Support Our Audacious Expansion Fund (2026-2032)

Hopium's Audacious Expansion Fund - Investing in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas - $250,000 goal, $33,000 raised - Donate To All Five State Parties | Watch my interviews with Alaska Chair Eric Croft, Florida Chair Nikki Fried, Iowa Chair Rita Hart and Texas Chair Kendall Scudder | Links to be able support each party individually will be up soon and we off to a great start here everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

Take Action, Express Your Love Of Country And Strengthen Our Democracy Through Good Works - We have two recommended actions today:

1 - Call Your Senators and Member Of The House And Demand They Act Upon Our Four-Part Agenda - We need to be loud people, very, very loud and make the case for our our emerging four part agenda. Demand that your Senators and House Member work to

Roll back Trump’s terrible, illegal tariffs that are re-igniting inflation, driving up prices, shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to working people, hurting small businesses and farmers, reviving tyrannical “taxation without representation,” and alienating governments and people throughout the world
Block the expansion of ICE, restore due process, defend the 1st Amendment, and end the use of the military on our streets and the occupations of our cities (need to revise and update this one, make it bigger)
Fight Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; reverse - not delay - the cuts to the ACA and Medicaid; demand the removal of extremist Robert Kennedy from HHS
Stand with Ukraine and our European allies, and far more forcefully challenge Trump’s traitorous efforts to sell out the US and the West to Russia and China

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. Be sure to check out our new discussion with Deborah Potter and Rachel Poliner who have passed resolutions in New Mexico and Boston, and offer advice on how to get a resolution passed in your own community.

Remarkably, members of this community have passed or are advancing 81 (!!!!) resolution projects in 22 states + DC. Can we get to all 50 states by the fall election?

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. Great to see!