Greetings everyone. Happy Sunday. Early in person voting begins in twelve days. Ballots are being mailed in North Carolina and Wisconsin, and people have already started voting. The general election is here now……
Yesterday I shared the Civiqs daily tracking poll which had Trump at his lowest mark of the cycle. Today the FT’s regular poll also finds Trump at his lowest level so far, just 33% approval….
The biggest drop in approval in the FT’s polling over the past few months has been with Republican voters. Big yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NBC News also released a brutal new poll for Trump this morning, clocking in at 36%-64%. According to NBC it too “marks a new floor for Trump in this poll.”
Our addled, failed leader just keeps crashing through floors and finding new bottoms. As I said in my talk this week - As Bad As Things Are For Trump And The Rs Now - And They Are Bad - They Are Likely To Get Worse - things do just keep getting worse for Trump and the Rs…….
Witkoff and Kushner are meeting with Zelenskyy right now. It is their first trip to Ukraine. For more on the recent escalation we’ve seen in the war see Dr. Phillips O’Brien latest essay. More on all this tomorrow…..
Leader Jeffries is sending a team of House Democrats to challenge the Trump sh*tshow this week in Dallas:
Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced that a delegation of four House Democratic Caucus members will travel to Dallas, TX to highlight our efforts to make life more affordable for the American people and directly counter the falsehoods and extremism that emanate from the Republican National Committee’s so-called midterm convention. The lawmakers will engage with everyday Americans who are drowning in the Republican economy, publicly highlight broken GOP promises, discuss the cost of living crisis and continue to expose the Trump Cartel corruption.
The delegation will include Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee (CA-42); Rep. Jason Crow of the Armed Services Committee (CO-06); Rep. Madeleine Dean of the Appropriations Committee (PA-04); and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove of the Judiciary Committee (CA-37). This team will partner with members of the Dallas area congressional delegation, local community leaders and the Texas Democratic Party when on the ground.
“While swing seat House Republicans try to hide from their record of raising costs on working families, gutting Medicaid to fund tax breaks for billionaire donors and supporting a reckless war of choice in Iran, House Democrats will be present to hold them accountable,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. “Americans are drowning in the failed Republican economy. Rather than taking a single step to lower costs, MAGA extremists are partying with their super rich donors in Dallas. House Democrats remain focused on fighting for an affordable America, ending the cost of living crisis, making healthcare affordable for every single American and holding the crooks accountable.”
The Washington Post has a terrific new recap of the fight against Trump’s outrageous attack on mail voting - Trump is running out of time as he tries to restrict mail voting. I’m going to share a long excerpt for it covers a lot of important ground, and encourage you to read the whole thing:
MADISON, Wis. — President Donald Trump is running out of time in his quest to limit voting by mail, as a judge holds up his plans, and election officials begin sending ballots to voters in two swing states and gear up to send them across the country.
Nearly a third of voters used mail ballots in 2024, and last-minute changes to how they’re handled could lead to undelivered ballots and uncounted votes.
Trump has long argued that mail ballots are prone to fraud, though evidence over many elections and independent investigations suggests mail-in balloting is secure and any fraud is exceedingly rare. Trump regularly votes by mail, including in last month’s primaries in Florida.
A judge has blocked Trump’s plans for now in a legal fight that has made its way to the Supreme Court once and could soon be before the justices again.
The Supreme Court could still upend mail ballot rules, but the president and the U.S. Postal Service are running out of options that don’t involve significant upheaval because tens of thousands of voters will be getting ballots in their mailboxes in the coming days.
Wisconsin’s bipartisan elections board told local officials on Monday they could start putting ballots in the mail, and by Tuesday at least a few already had. And officials in North Carolina mailed ballots to voters on
Friday. Election clerks in other states plan to do the same soon.Those ballots are getting placed in the mail under long-standing policies, not the new ones Trump has spent months trying to impose. Some officials said they wanted to mail ballots as soon as possible because they considered the new rules — which require new approvals and the use of technology that has not yet been deployed
— impossible to follow.“There’s no practical way for Wisconsin clerks to comply,” said Don Millis, chairman of Wisconsin’s elections board.
Millis, a Republican who has helped oversee Wisconsin elections for years, said the president’s proposal would
“hurt the Republican turnout more than the Democratic turnout.”Cities that are home to large numbers of Democratic voters can easily expand early in-person voting opportunities if mail voting is curtailed. Republican-leaning rural communities in Wisconsin don’t have the staffing or budgets to do the same, he said.
Even if the president can win in court, he will have tremendous difficulty changing how ballots are mailed because of timing constraints and logistical obstacles, according to election officials and those who work closely with them.
In a court filing, Tammy Patrick, chief programs officer at the National Association of Election Officials, called making required changes in time for this year’s election “effectively impossible.”
Under Trump’s plans, the Postal Service is seeking to have state and local officials submit lists of voters — possibly multiple times a day — through an online portal that has not yet been made public. An anonymous whistleblower has submitted a report to Congress describing the portal as riddled with errors and at risk of a catastrophic failure.
The plans would also require thousands of jurisdictions to get approval for the design of their ballot envelopes. It’s unclear how long the approvals would take, and election officials say there’s not enough time to redesign them and print new ones if they’re rejected.
Election officials would have difficulty updating the Postal Service on their voter lists because they change so frequently, said Gerry Cohen, a Democrat on the elections board in Wake County, North Carolina. His county receives about 1,500 voter registrations a week, he said.
“Tell me you don’t know anything about elections without telling me you don’t know anything about elections,” he said after reviewing the Postal Service’s plans.
Yesterday we discussed how We Need To Turn Their Furious, Desperate Cheating Into Righteous Anger And Drive Our Early Vote/Election Turnout Through The Roof. Well, look at what people in this remarkable community have begun to do……
Janette posted this on my YouTube channel this morning. She’s already voted!
Here’s what David E. posted on the Hopium chat last night:
Here’s what I’ve been up to, among other things.
Today I wrote a letter to Shasti Conrad, the Chair of the Washington State Democratic Party. I detailed the importance of early voting and asked her to lead a statewide effort to get the message out to county and LD organizations.
I posted that letter on our Whatcom Democrats Google group.
Last week I contacted the Washington State Democrats voter protection hotline. I wanted to know if it’s live (it is). I also asked to volunteer with the State party voter protection effort.
I’ve been making multiple donations, most recently to our Democratic county prosecutor candidate, the Texas Democratic Party, and the Winning the House third wave fund.
I listened to the Marc Elias live video about mail voting.
John A just posted this terrific note on the Hopium chat:
Recently put up my new lawn sign, New York State: "Protect your vote/ Vote Day One/ early voting starts October 24."
And here’s a note Jen M sent to 102 people that she shared on our chat yesterday:
Dear family and friends,
It’s 59 days to Election Day. I know there is anxiety about the state of our upcoming elections.
Trump has undertaken a massive effort to disrupt our election system, both to discourage and distract us, and to try to create enough chaos that he tries to nullify the results. It would be naive to believe the Supreme Court will prevent him, but the good news is we have the power and the responsibility to do everything we can to save our country for ourselves and our children.
The other good news is the Democratic Party has been planning for this, and NBC did a full story about how the election protection defense works. There are many participants: lawyers, secretaries of state, democratic state attorneys general and all the state Democratic parties. The other news is we have work to do as well. There is a link to the article, but it’s behind a paywall so I’ve attached a Hopium piece that quotes it.
[https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/dems-launch-unprecedented-election]There are three things as citizens who love America should do:
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Help elect our great Democratic and independent candidates for any office, committing money and/or time. There is an excellent chance we can flip the House, and a really good chance we’ll flip the Senate - we need to make it so.
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Vote Early! Vote on Day 1 if you can - best is in person if your state allows, otherwise in a drop box. Last choice is mail. Voting early does two things: it clears the voter list, so campaigns can focus on people who haven’t voted. Also, it makes it harder for the other side to claim cheating from late ballots and counting. The Democratic National Committee has a website where you can check your voter information.
https://iwillvote.com/
- Sign up to do the training the DNC for election protection. At the end, you will be asked to volunteer to do something in your state to support the effort to defeat the disruption the administration is planning. However, do not be afraid. There are many volunteer opportunities you can do at home - not everyone wants to be monitoring polling places!
[https://www.mobilize.us/dfl/event/1023225/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email]Action is the antidote to anxiety, and I have found that doing what I can to end this nightmare is all that really helps me. I hope you find the same - and thanks for what you can do. Please share this information - we are all in this together.
So, yes, in addition to helping our inspiring candidates win all across the country we have two more big jobs now:
Become an
Early Vote Championin your networks, communities, organizations….Sign up to be a
Democracy Protectorin your state. Our next on-line training is Wed, Sept 9 at 8pm ET.
If you are needing a bit more today watch our terrific new conversations with Josh Turek (Iowa), Bobby Pulido (TX-15), Stuart Stevens, WI Dem Chair Devin Remiker, Tom Bonier on fake polls, Dr. Rob Shapiro on how Dems should be approaching repairing the US economy next year.
And now, yes, it is that time, my friends…….
Let’s start with the Hopium 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.
**Our Winning The House Campaign **- Donate | $1,200,100 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 - $848,100 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 | $362,100 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 | $34,500 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 “Winnin…
