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All Hail Our New Emperor Of The Americas, Pepper Joins The Acton Ticket In OH, Mark Kelly Is A Great American Patriot

Hopium Paid Subscribers Gather Tonight at 7pm EST, Founding Members Friday at 130pm

Simon Rosenberg

Jan 7

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Morning all. So here we are. Frustrated by the dramatic failure of his domestic agenda, of his soaring unpopularity, of the stunning blue wave that brought election blow outs of his party across the country this fall and winter, of his struggle to contain the Epstein scandal, of the fraying of his Congressional coalition, of his declining health and ebbing powers, our ailing and unhinged leader has turned his attention abroad, declaring himself Emperor of the Americas, Lord of the Western Hemisphere.

As such, our leader has determined and decreed, that the Constitution, domestic US law, the UN Charter, international law, and Senate ratified treaties with other nations no longer apply in our new Imperial age. The era of law is behind us now. American democracy, the post WWII rules-based order, the Four Freedoms, Pax Americana are now relics of a bygone era. We are entering a new age now. An age of force, of power, of MANLY STRENGTH. Stephen Miller declared the arrival of this new age on CNN on Monday night. Here are his words:

Well, what the President said is true. The United States of America is running Venezuela. By definition that’s true. Jake, we live in a world in which... you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else... but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world.

Here is the video:

Here is how one Italian scholar described Trump unbound and unhinged in the New York Times today (gift link):

There does seem to be one organizing principle, however, said Nathalie Tocci, director of an Italy-based think tank, the Institute of International Affairs. “U.S. foreign policy now is imperial, and consistently imperial,” she said. “It’s not simply pursuing an American empire in the Western Hemisphere, but Trump accepts the very notion of empire, which is why other empires can exist.”
Such a worldview allows for not only an American empire, but also Russian and Chinese ones, she said. They can manage their own regions as they see fit, “and they can coexist without stepping on each other’s toes” or even choose to cooperate, Ms. Tocci said. “Certainly,” she added, “it’s more comfortable for Putin and Xi Jinping to be their imperial selves where that’s the new norm.”

It reminds me of this infamous moment:

"I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. ... Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything."

Yes, Donald, and Stephen, and Marco, and Pete, and JD, and Elon, and Karoline, and Pam, encouraged by the extremist Roberts Court and a supine Congress - no one worse than Senate Leader Thune - they all now believe they can just “do anything.”

And to be very, very clear - as we discussed here and here there is no version of this new Imperial age that leaves America more prosperous, more safe, and more free. We are entering what is going to be a tragic and difficult period for America, which is why it is more important than ever that we keep fighting all this sabotage, plunder, and betrayal with everything we got.

As for our daily calls I would prioritize two today - call your House Member and encourage them to vote for the discharge petition that will extend the ACA subsidies another three years; and call your Senators and demand they vote for the Kaine war powers resolution on Venezuela that would get the Senate on record - as it did with the tariffs - against Trump’s new incredibly unhinged and dangerous global ambitions. These votes are likely to take place in each chamber tomorrow.

House Republicans enter this consequential month is an even more precarious state. With the sudden death of California Congressman LaMalfa on Monday, the House now sits at 218-213. We will gain a Member in late January with a special election in Texas making it 218-214. The special elections to fill MTG’s seat will not take place until March, and Rep. LaMalfa not until May or June. With another Rep, Rep. Baird of Indiana, having a serious car accident over the holidays, the Rs are now functionally at 217, with Rep. Tom Massie being an unreliable vote. Here’s Politico:

LaMalfa’s death and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation this week left the GOP with a bare 218 votes for at least until early March. With Baird’s indefinite absence and the unreliable support of libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Speaker Mike Johnson has to confront a day-to-day struggle to maintain control of the House.
His leadership circle, for instance, quickly had to calculate whether they would have enough Republicans in attendance to clear a procedural vote Wednesday allowing them to pass on a critical government funding package and several other bills this week.
“We keep saying we are one breath away from the minority — that’s more true today than ever,” another House Republican said.

Senator Mark Kelly has released a powerful new video on social media. Given the events of recent days it is now clear why the regime was so angered by the brave video from the six Members of Congress calling on our military to disobey unlawful orders. For those unlawful orders were already being acted upon by the Pentagon………..

“Four generations of my family have served our country. Service is in my blood. The President wouldn’t know anything about that.”

Let’s watch that remarkable video again:

Here’s some breaking news this morning….Amy Acton, our terrific candidate for Governor in Ohio, has named our friend David Pepper as her running mate!

For an overview of Ohio in 2026 and to meet David watch my conversation with him from November.

Speaking of Elon it is time for Democratic party committees and elected officials to stop directing traffic to their posts on X/Twitter. It is time for us to move to Bluesky as our primary social media site, and as I do, direct traffic there.

Look at these extraordinary - and disgraceful - headlines and stories:

Paid subscribers will be gathering tonight to discuss all this tonight at 7pm EST. Register here and I look forward to seeing folks!

Now, Let’s Get To Work People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m excited to announce that in the last days of 2025 we hit our most important remaining fundraising goals - $50,000 for our four intrepid House candidates, and $250,000 for the Audacious Expansion Fund - amazing work everyone!

As you will see we’ve set new goals for those two critical efforts….

Winning The Midterms - Support Our Candidates

Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $63k raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my conversations with Gov. Cooper and NC Dem Party Chair Anderson Clayton
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $108k raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my inspiring conversation with Senator Ossoff
Hopium Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $54,700 raised, $250,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Donate to all four 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)

Expanding The Senate and Electoral College Maps, Winning In Red States and Red Places (2026-2032)

Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $261,000 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. Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $10,000 to each of our five state parties

This recent post recapped our our very 2025 together. In three new essays (here, here, here) I look forward to next year and discuss how one of the ways we win the 2026 midterms is by providing early support to our candidates and parties to allow them to staff up, be loud, define the terms of the debate now, before the inevitable onslaught on AI slop, Russian disinfo, and Trumpian lies funded through bribes and corruption wash across the land.

The midterms could be won or lost in these next few months - not in the fall of 2026 - and we need be fighting now with everything we got.

Winning The Big Arguments With Trump, Defend Our Democracy - We have two recommended actions today:

1 - Call Your Senators and Member Of The House And Demand They Act Upon Our Five-Part Agenda - We need to be loud people, very, very loud and make the case for our now five part agenda:

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; demand Congress rebuke/issue a no confidence vote on his current efforts to force Ukraine to surrender
Congress must stand forcefully for rule of law in the Caribbean and the Pacific - these illegal strikes must end; no war can be waged without Congressional approval; there must accountability for those who have broken the law
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. To put America on a sounder fiscal course due to the enormous deficits brought by Trump’s 2025 tax cuts we should reverse these cuts to the wealthy and corporations
Defend our democracy, rule of law, and our liberties by blocking the expansion of ICE; restoring due process for immigrants across the country; vigorously defending the 1st Amendment; warring against his outrageous targeting of his domestic political opponents; ending the use of the military on our streets and the unlawful occupation of our cities; stopping the unprecedented corruption; and by forcing the Administration to finally comply with Congress, end the rancid cover up, and release all of the Epstein files
Fight Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; reverse - not delay - the cuts to the ACA, Medicaid and our clean energy investments; support and co-sponsor the Stand Up For Science/Rep. Haley Stevens effort to remove Robert Kennedy from HHS.

2 - Celebrate America, Our Constitution, Our 250th Birthday By Bringing Our Resolutions Project To Your Community - This July 4th America celebrates it’s 250th birthday. We need to make this holiday, a celebration of our Declaration Of Independence from a mad king, our day, and not allow it to become his.

One way we can do this is by bringing our Resolutions Project to your community or state. Imagine if by July 4th of next year a large number of towns, counties and states had passed formal resolutions, in the spirit of our Declaration of Independence, defending our Constitution and condemning the “injuries,” “abuses,” and “usurpations” of our mad king. For as our Founders wrote in the Declaration:

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

So far Hopium members have introduced or passed resolutions in 85 communities in 23 states. In the coming days we will be convening to discuss how to bring this campaign to more places and start planning to Own The Fourth next year.

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!

Keep working hard everyone. We have a lot of work ahead of us - Simon

Business Blog

Wednesday, January 7, 2026