Morning all. The week ahead will be an important one for America and the world - the UN General Assembly kicks off on Tuesday morning, Trump gives his annual UN speech later that day, and China’s leader Xi comes to Washington for a three day state visit on starting on Wednesday night.
There are reports this morning that last night Trump may have decided to launch a major military defense of Saudi Arabia from the Iranian-aligned Houthis, thrusting us ever deeper into the widening conflict in the Middle East.
Whatever we learn today about what Trump has decided the main story of the week will be a world coming to terms with America’s decline as a global power and the shocking madness, fecklessness, and foolishness of our leader and his government.
As the world gathers in New York this weekend the Russia-Ukraine war is escalating and Russia’s tactics growing more barbaric; Europe has moved to war-footing these past few days, warning of imminent Russian attacks against European/NATO targets; the war in the Middle East has spiraled, moving further and further away from a peaceful resolution; battered by spiking energy prices, inflation, and rising interest rates global governments are seeing their balance sheets dangerously deteriorate; a warming planet continues to ravage communities across the world; dire warnings about the threat of AI are called a “hoax” by our ailing, addled, corrupt, leader…….
The time, the moment requires strong American leadership. And here is what got yesterday from our “Secretary of War” and the “Department of War Rapid Response” Twitter feed - embarrassing buffoonery 1,300 miles away from the Pentagon, a visual confirmation of the abdication of serious American global leadership……
Embassies throughout Washington are waking to this front page story in The Washington Post today, a confirmation that a deeply corrupt American President cannot be trusted to lead on one of the consequential issues of our age…..
The Guardian has a similar story on its front page right now:
Absence, madness, and a world that feels like it is coming apart due to it all. That is what global leaders will find when they come to the United States this week. I am angry this morning that it has come this far. That Trump and his ridiculous enablers have refused to take responsibility for the damage they’ve caused and found a way to course correct. The scale of their idiocy and betrayal remains breathtaking, staggering, world-altering.
The necessary course correction is falling to us. It begins with winning this November election by as big a margin as possible. Flipping the Senate has become far more important for we need to ensure that the message we send this November is a clear and unambiguous rejection of Trump and his venal regime. As we discussed this week, together:
things are eroding for Trump and the Republicans. We had a very encouraging week of polling. Here’s one of my favorite bits of data from the week. RCP is Real Clear Politics, the site used by every Republican political operative in the country. This is what they are seeing:
The commentariat and the discourse turned very bullish for us this week. Here’s one of the most influential election forecasters, Larry Sabato, this morning:
This morning’s FiftyPlusOne forecast puts our chances of winning the House at 97%, and at 65% of winning the Senate:
Let us close with inspiration from Abraham Lincoln:
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God,
shall have a new birth of freedom-- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
For yes, my friends, it is that time….
Two big things you can do in addition to supporting our intrepid candidates:
Become an
Early Vote Championin your networks, communities, and organizations.Sign up to become a
Democracy Protectortoo. Our next training is next Wednesday at 8pm ET.
More of this, please. Thank you Pete!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
**Our Winning The House - Stake In The Ground Fund **- Donate | $1,309,100 raised, $2,000,000 goal (new stretch goal) | This is our #1 fund, updated now with new intel to include the twelve most competitive races where money and volunteers is most needed (largely due to the expense of the district, and understanding now where Republicans have decided to spend and contest). If we win these twelve races the House flips - period.
Our * Stake In The Ground Fund* now includes Jamie Ager (NC-11), Rebecca Bennett (NJ-7), Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Cait Conley (NY-17), Sarah Trone Garriott (IA-03), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), Christina Hines (MI-10), Brian Poindexter (OH-7), Bobby Pulido (TX-15), Manny Rutinel (CO-8), and Randy Villegas (CA-22). You can meet all there remarkable candidates by
Our Winning The Senate Fund - $965,100 raised, $1,500,000 goal - Donate | This fund splits a single donation to our six candidates must likely to flip a Senate seat this November - Sherrod Brown (OH), Roy Cooper (NC), Troy Jackson (ME), Mary Peltola (AK), James Talarico (TX), and Josh Turek (IA). These are the majority makers in the Senate this cycle.
You can watch our interviews with each of these exciting candidates and/or contribute directly to any of them here. Our fundraising total includes money we’ve raised directly for each of the six candidates.
**Our New Growing Our House Majority Fund *- Donate | $468,100 raised, $1,000,000 goal | We’ve combined our Second and Third Waves Funds and added some candidates from our OG Winning The House Fund in a new fund we are calling * Growing The House Majority. The idea is simple. We win the House with the first fund. We grow our majority with this one.
This fund now splits a contribution evenly among 18 candidates - Bob Brooks (PA-07), Rebecca Cooke (WI-03), Elaine Luria (VA-02), Sean McCann (MI-04), Johnny Garcia (TX-35), Bob Harvie (PA-01), Lindsay James (IA-02), Jake Johnson (MN-01), Jessica Killin (CO-5), Nancy Lacore (SC-01), Chaz Molder (TN-05), Jonathan Nez (AZ-02), Dr. Richard Pan (CA-06), Denise Powell (NE-02), Dr. Amish Shah (AZ-01), Janelle Stelson (PA-10), Shannon Taylor (VA-01), and Marni von Wilpert (CA-48). You can watch interviews and learn more about these great candidates here.
**Our Wining The States Series **- Due to space limitations for today we’ve moved our state “Winning” series to this new page. Head there to make state specific investments in Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin!
Note that in any of our campaigns that aggregate donations you can tailor your contribution to a chosen subset of the candidates or even a single candidate by clicking on the “customize amounts” link just above the “$25, $50….” part of the ActBlue page.
Support The State Parties’ Election Protection Program - Donate | $64,900 raised, $100,000 new stretch goal | We’ve launched a new, targeted fundraising campaign to help get the new election protection program of the State Democratic Parties, one this community helped develop, off the ground.
Help Hopium Close Strong - $73,000 raised, $100,000 new stretch goal | We’ve launched a new fundraising drive for Hopium to allow us to expand our programming in these final critical days of the 2026 election and free up a bit of my time to support the State Parties’ Election Protection program. It will allow me to add some additional capacity here and make sure the vital State Party program is successful.
Remarkably my friends we hit our initial goal of $50,000 this week - in just a few days - and have stretched our goal of this targeted fundraising campaign to $100,000. A huge, huge thank you to everyone who has chipped in here - I am humbled and energized by this rousing show of support for Hopium - and am starting the process now of bringing on some additional help for the home stretch.
Here are the ways you can support Hopium today:
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Become A Paid Subscriber, Upgrade To Founding Member*,
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Donate Directly To Hopium* - You can do that
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Mail A Check To Hopium HQ* - Send a check of any amount to 5185 MacArthur Blvd, NW, #600, Washington, DC 20016. Checks should be made out to “Hopium Chronicles by Simon Rosenberg.” Donations to Hopium Chronicles are neither tax-deductible nor tax-exempt.
Finally, self-report all the good trouble you are making each day in our paid subscriber chat below…..
Keep working hard all. We have a country to save, and elections to win all across the country, together! - Simon
