Greetings all. The proud, plucky patriots of this remarkable community gathered last night for our regular Wednesday night get together. It was a lively affair, as they usually are. Here is some of what we discussed:
Greater MAGA Is Weakening - Putin has lost Orban, Syria, and is failing in Ukraine. Both Bibi and Trump have lost their war in Iran, and their political projects at home have taken enormous hits. Bibi trails in his October 26th election, and Trump trails in his November election. Zelenskyy has emerged as an inspirational global freedom fighter. Taken together these are important and welcome developments in our fight to ensure there is a new birth of freedom here and everywhere in the years ahead……
Democrats Are On Track To Have A Good Election - For the past twenty months there has been one election - Democrats have continuously overperformed their 2024 results in special and state/local elections and Republicans have struggled. In recent primaries far many more Democrats voted than Republicans in state after state. Polls are finding that heightened intensity too. Here’s Reuters/Ipsos this week:
The polling across the country continues to be very encouraging for us. Today, FiftyPlusOne has us with a 92% chance of flipping the House, and a 57% chance of flipping the Senate. This is up from 90% and 54% a few weeks ago.
Perhaps the most encouraging data of the week comes from Alaska. Here’s the current results in their top-4 Senate primary. Peltola is ahead of the incumbent Dan Sullivan by 8 points, and Democrats over 50% when all votes are tallied. David Leslie has endorsed Peltola and dropped out the race, giving her a clear shot this November. For an incumbent Senator to only get 41% after spending a lot of money is, um, really bad…..
In the Governor’s race Tom Begich endorsed Jonnthan Kreiss-Tomkins giving Democrats a real shot at winning here too. Note that no Republican candidate got over 10% of the vote, confirming how weak and fractured the Rs are in Alaska this year:
Note - when I last wrote about Alaska I thought it was the top two candidates who got to go through to the general election. It is the top four. Sorry about that everyone.
As Bad As Things Are For Trump And The Rs, They Are Likely To Get Worse - In my talk last night we reviewed much of the information I put into yesterday’s post: Trump’s Clown Show Has Become A Raging, Dangerous Global Dumpster Fire. My argument is this: Trump has created a series of crises - economic, fiscal, in our health care system, “Farmageddon,” in our national security - that are likely to get worse between now and the election.
Diesel is close to an all-time high:
Oil prices are back up in the upper $90s a barrel:
Prior to these renewed energy shocks consumer confidence was already at it’s lowest reading in the last 65 years:
And then there is this - Trump the rapacious, Trump the greedy, Trump the betrayer appears to be hording his bundle of ill-gotten cash:
From this remarkable story:
Theories about what Trump wants to do with the money cover a broad range of possibilities, including protecting his political influence in the next presidential race by passing on the money to his chosen successor and saving up for legal fees, postpresidential travel, events and pet projects, such as his library. Trump’s Miami library is projected to cost at least $1 billion, the most expensive presidential library construction to date.
The person with knowledge of internal discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about those conversations, said Trump and his team believe their ability to rake in massive donations will take a hit after the midterm elections, giving the president an incentive to keep hold of the money he has raised so far.
Fundraising accounts associated with the president — such as his super PAC, and funds for his inauguration, White House ballroom and Freedom 250 events — have been inundated with donations from companies looking to get in Trump’s good graces, a dynamic that is likely to change as he becomes a lame duck.
Additionally, in the last few weeks of an election the party out of power usually gains a few points. So, yes, my friends, as bad as things are for Trump and the Rs now - and they are bad - they are likely to get worse.
**Countering Trump’s Ferocious, Desperate Effort To Rig The Elections And Prevent A Peaceful Transfer Of Power - **Here at Hopium we do more and worry less, and when it comes to countering Trump’s increasingly desperate and wild efforts to rig the election and prevent a peaceful transfer of power there are a few things we can do today, right now:
1 - Marc Elias is a doing a live briefing on Trump’s attack on mail ballots tonight at 6pm ET. Sign up here. Learn more, get smarter.
2 - Become an Early Vote Champion, and help drive the early vote in your networks, communities, organizations, and with friends and family. For when we vote early it makes it more likely we win and harder for them to cheat. Learn more here.
3 - Sign up to be a Democracy Protector for your state party. The new state party/DNC national program to protect our elections launched yesterday. The next live, open training is next Wednesday night at 8pm ET. Sign up here, and become part of this vital program that the Hopium community has helped get off the ground.
That’s some of what we talked about last night. Watch or listen when you can. Share it with others. Hit “like” above so more will see it. Become a paid subscriber to Hopium to support our vital work. And yes, for as Marc Elias told us a few weeks ago the single most important thing we can do to prevent Trump’s electoral fuckery from succeeding is to win this November by an overwhelming margin….and you know what that means!
It’s time……
Our Daily Mantra:
There is nothing Trump and MAGA wants more than for us to be fighting with each other and not with him. We have one job now - elect as many of these wonderful candidates running for the House and Senate as we can. It’s where our focus must be. It’s a year of opportunity for us across the country. We must seize it, together.
Make your plans to vote early, and ensure everyone you know is voting early too! It’s one of the most important things you can do this election season. Early voting starts in Virginia in 16 days!
**Our Winning The House Campaign **- Donate | $1,166,100 raised, $1,250,000 goal (new stretch goal) | Donate to all twelve of our initial wave of House challengers with a single contribution split twelve ways | Get to know Jamie Ager (NC-11), Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Rebecca Cooke (WI-03), Elaine Luria (VA-02), Sean McCann (MI-04), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), Chaz Molder (TN-05), Jonathan Nez (AZ-02), Janelle Stelson (PA-10), Shannon Taylor (VA-01), and Sarah Trone Garriott (IA-03) by watching our recently recorded Hopium interviews.
Friends, if these twelve courageous candidates win, the House will flip, even with Callais and their rancid mid-decade redistricting. So eyes on the prize here everyone!
Winning The Senate - $810,100 raised, $1,200,000 goal - Donate | This new 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).
Our working total includes what we’ve raised for these six so far through direct donations to their campaigns. You can watch our interviews with each of these exciting candidates and/or contribute directly to any of them directly here.
**Winning The House - The Second Wave Fund **- Donate | $342,100 raised, $500,000 goal - We’ve launched a second House fund, one supporting candidates who’ve emerged from late, primaries and need a bit more help.
Our newly expanded list now features Rebecca Bennett (NJ-07), Bob Brooks (PA-07), Cait Conley (NY-17), Johnny Garcia (TX-35), Bob Harvie (PA-01), Dr. Richard Pan (CA-06), Denise Powell (NE-02), Bobby Pulido (TX-15), Manny Rutinel (CO-8), Dr. Amish Shah (AZ-01), Randy Villegas (CA-22), and Marni von Wilpert (CA-48).
A donation to the Second Wave Fund is split evenly among these twelve, and more as other worthy candidates emerge from their primaries. Our total above includes money we’ve raised for directly for each candidate. You can watch interviews with these great candidates here.
Winning The House - The Third Wave Fund - Donate | $29,100 raised, $500,000 goal | We’ve launched this new fund for candidates who have emerged even later from primaries and need a bit more help as we work to expand our map and go deeper into tough terrain. Our initial list - and it may grow - is Christina Hines (MI-10), Lindsay James (IA-02), Jake Johnson (MN-01), Jessica Killin (CO-5), Nancy Lacore (SC-01), and Brian Poindexter (OH-7).
The “Winning” link in each state brings you to a page that includes interviews and more information about the opportunities we have in each state.
**Winning Georgia ***- *Donate | $36,800 raised, $250,000 goal | Our Winning Georgia campaign splits a contribution three ways among Senator Jon Ossoff, gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms, and the Georgia Democratic Party and it’s great Chair, Charlie Bailey.
Winning Iowa - Donate | $39,100 raised, $250,000 goal | Our Winning Iowa campaign splits a contribution three ways among Josh Turek for Senate, our gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, and to the Iowa Democratic Party and it’s great Chair, Rita Hart
**Winning Maine **- Donate | $84,100 raised, $250,000 goal | Our Winning Maine campaign splits a contribution evenly among Troy Jackson for Senate, Hannah Pingree for Governor, and the Maine Democratic Party and its Chair Charlie Dingman
Winning Ohio - Donate | $199,100 raised, $250,000 goal | Our Winning Ohio campaign splits contributions evenly among Sherrod Brown, the Acton-Pepper ticket, and the Ohio Democratic Party and its terrific Chair, Kathleen Clyde
Winning Wisconsin - Donate | $18,600 raised, $250,000 goal - Our Winning Wisconsin campaign splits contributions evenly among David Crowley for Governor and the Wisconsin Democratic Party and it’s legislative victory fund. Our community has invested heavily in getting helping Wisconsin Democrats flip both state legislative chambers and finally get a trifecta. Now we must finish the job!
Keep working hard all. We have a country to save, and elections to win all across the country, together! - Simon
