Morning. Lot’s going on. This month is shaping up to be a very consequential month in American politics. Let’s get to it….
In Congress Dems Are Starting 2026 On Offense, Trump Very Much On Defense - House Democrats are kicking off 2026 by holding an event today to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Trump’s bloody, failed attempt to overthrow an American election and install himself as dictator.
It begins at 10am EST and can be watched live on Leader Jeffries’ YouTube Channel.
More on what is becoming a remarkably consequential week in Washington, from Punchbowl News:
The House GOP leadership expects a procedural vote on Wednesday and a final passage vote on Thursday on legislation to extend the enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies for three years. Passage of the legislation — forced onto the floor after a revolt by GOP moderates — is an early-year defeat for Speaker Mike Johnson. This will put pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to find a path to extend the expiring tax credits.
On Thursday, the House will vote to overturn President Donald Trump’s first two vetoes of his second term, both of which came during the holiday break. If successful, the overrides would be a rare instance of GOP pushback against Trump.
Across the Capitol, the Senate is expected to vote Thursday on a Democratic-led war powers resolution to end the administration’s efforts in Venezuela…..Kaine is making clear that he won’t stop with Venezuela, as lawmakers are now taking Trump’s threats toward other nations more seriously following what happened in Caracas.
Citing Trump’s increasingly escalatory rhetoric regarding Cuba, Greenland and Colombia, Kaine told us he plans to force similar votes aimed at preventing Trump from engaging in hostilities elsewhere without congressional approval.
Kaine, though, is unsure whether Republicans will join him.
“It might be this. It might be the vote on Greenland. It might be the vote on Cuba. It might be the vote on Mexico. It might be the vote on Colombia,” Kaine said. “You’re gonna see a lot of votes on these things … When it’s repeated over and over again, you’ve got to take it seriously.”
As we’ve discussed here again and again, it is getting harder, much harder, for Republicans to keep defending the indefensible.
As for calls today please call your two Senators and urge them to support Senator Kaine’s war powers vote on Thursday. While it may not pass the House this resolution would put the Senate on record for ending Trump’s dangerous escalation in Venezuela and begin the process of pro-democracy forces formally repudiating the ridiculous, destructive, vainglorious “Donroe Doctrine” that anoints Trump as Emperor of the Americas. (see yesterday’s Hopium post on why pro-democracy forces must now focus on explaining to the American people why this new “doctrine” is such a threat to our prosperity, security, and freedom).
Why is all this needed? Watch the frothing blood lust and madness of Stephen Miller on CNN last night. I know its hard to watch him but you need to see this. At one point he says:
Greenland should be part of the US. By what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? The US is the power of NATO
Here is something the State Department of the United States of America posted yesterday:
Here is a statement our European allies felt compelled to release earlier today:
Here is what Dr. Elizabeth Saunders, Professor of Political Science & Director of the Saltzman Institute of War & Peace Studies at Columbia University, posted this morning about this statement and the Greenland madness:
The Country Is Not Rallying Behind Trump’s Seizure of Maduro - We have three polls now on Trump’s seizure of Maduro (% approve):
40% - Washington Post
34% - YouGov
33% - Ipsos/Reuters
All three polls are coming in at or below Trump's overall approval rating. Simply, this early data tells us that Americans are not rallying behind his Imperial flag, as they didn’t with his other recent strongman actions - the bombing of Iran and the invasion of American cities. As we discussed yesterday there is even less support in the early polling for the US “running” Venezuela.
Elon Musk’s AI Tool, Grok, Allows Users To Produce Child Exploitation Images - Not content with sending tens of millions of people to their death through the vaporizing of USAID, or being the most prolific amplifier of Putin the genocidal maniac’s propaganda in the English language, now we’ve come to learn that Elon The Horrible has been allowing users of his Grok AI tool to produce child exploitation images. Here’s an excerpt from a European Commission release:
The European Commission has announced it is looking into cases of sexually suggestive and explicit images of young girls generated by Grok, the AI chatbot integrated into social media platform X, following the introduction of a paid feature known as “Spicy Mode” last summer.
“I can confirm from this podium that the Commission is also very seriously looking into this matter,” a Commission spokesperson told journalists in Brussels on Monday.
“This is not ‘spicy’. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting. This has no place in Europe.”
On Sunday, in response to growing anger and alarm at the images, the social media platform said the images had been removed from the platform and that the users involved had been banned.
My hope is that the 23 (soon to be 24) Dem AGs take this issue up in the coming days. If you live in a state with blue AG perhaps call them today and encourage them to do so. Last week, while this controversy was raging, Elon joined Trump for dinner at Mar-a-Lago.
The Regime Launches A Monstrous Attack On Vaccines And Our Public Health - Yesterday Robert Kennedy woke up and decided ring in the new year by launching an extraordinary attack on the health of the American people. Here’s the NYT this morning (gift link):
Federal health officials on Monday announced dramatic revisions to the slate of vaccines recommended for American children, reducing the number of diseases prevented by routine shots to 11 from 17.
Jim O’Neill, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has updated the agency’s immunization schedule to reflect the changes, effective immediately, officials said at a news briefing.
The announcement represents a momentous shift in federal vaccine policy, and perhaps the most significant change yet in public health practice by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, who has long sought to reduce the number of shots American children receive.
The states, not the federal government, have the authority to mandate vaccinations. But recommendations from the C.D.C. greatly influence state regulations. Mr. Kennedy and his appointees have made other alterations to the childhood vaccination schedule, but those have had smaller impact.
The new schedule circumvents the detailed and methodical evidence-based process that has underpinned vaccine recommendations in the nation for decades. Until now, a federal panel of independent advisers typically reviewed scientific data for each new vaccine, and when and how it should be administered to children, before making recommendations.
Public health experts expressed outrage at the sweeping revisions, saying federal officials did not present evidence to support the changes or incorporate input from vaccine experts.
“The abrupt change to the entire U.S. childhood vaccine schedule is alarming, unnecessary, and will endanger the health of children in the United States,” said Dr. Helen Chu, a physician and immunologist at the University of Washington in Seattle and a former member of the federal vaccine advisory committee.
Dr. Chu also took issue with the health officials’ claim that the move would increase trust in vaccines and raise immunization rates. It will do the opposite, she warned.
“Already, parents are worried about what they are hearing in the news about safety of vaccines, and this will increase confusion and decrease vaccine uptake,” Dr. Chu said.
Mistrust of vaccines has already led to a steady decline in vaccination rates and a resurgence of preventable diseases like measles and pertussis, or whooping cough. In 2025, the United States recorded more cases of measles than it had in any year since 1993.
Later this month, the country may lose its official measles elimination status, which it has held since 2000.
“Unfortunately, it’s becoming increasingly clear that we can no longer trust the leadership of our federal government for credible information about vaccines, and that’s a tragedy that will cause needless suffering,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the infectious disease committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics.
For more I strongly recommend this Bluesky thread (below) from public health advocate Dr. Greg Gonsalves, and encourage you to lend your name and promote Stand Up For Science’s campaign to remove Bobby Jr. from HHS:
And yes, another Trumpian monster, Pam Bondi, continues her wildly illegal and deeply immoral cover up of the Epstein crimes.
Truly, this regime is full of monsters. Which is why……..
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) - $62k 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) - $107k raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my inspiring conversation with Senator Ossoff
Hopium Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $52,500 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 - $259,000 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 | Enjoy my conversations with Alaska Chair Eric Croft, Florida Chair Nikki Fried, Iowa Chair Rita Hart and Texas Chair Kendall Scudder | Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $10,000 to each of our five state parties
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
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