Hopium Chronicles Podcast

Simon Rosenberg

In-depth discussions with leaders working to preserve American democracy. Original recordings from the Hopium Chronicles Substack.

  1. 2D AGO

    Meet Sarah Trone Garriott, Minister, Iowa State Senator, And Proven Winner Ready To Flip IA-03

    Greetings all. Excited to introduce you today to another one of our compelling House candidates on the front lines of the 2026 elections - Sarah Trone Garriott, Iowa State Senator, Lutheran Minister, community leader, and a proven winner who is well-positioned, with our help, to flip IA-03 blue this November by defeating the Republican incumbent Zach Nunn. Senator Trone Garriott is one of the twelve candidates in our Winning The House campaign, a collection of candidates most likely to flip red House seats blue this year and retake the House for Democrats next January. Here are two excerpts from our conversation: Iowa is experiencing some pretty deep harm from the policies of this administration. And my opponent, our congressman, has supported all of it. He voted for the Medicaid cuts that are already closing rural clinics in my district. The small town of Ottumwa lost their clinic, and now people have to drive 45 minutes to find primary care. He voted repeatedly to allow the president to impose these chaotic tariffs, and those are harming our farm economy. Just destroying the markets for soybean farmers especially, but they're raising costs on everything that people buy in our state. And this war in Iran has been very costly for Iowans. It's at the gas pump. Fertilizer prices are skyrocketing right before spring planting, but [it’s] also very deeply, personally costly. We lost two Iowa service members in the first week, and they were folks from my district. Literally just down the street from each other. It's been a really difficult time for us. And this administration is making things worse. I'm going to Washington so that I can make things better for my neighbors. I want to lower the cost of living. I want to increase healthcare access. I want to bring an end to this costly war. Keep working hard everyone - Simon

    13 min
  2. 3D AGO

    Meet Mayor Chaz Molder, Our Experienced, Hard-Working Candidate Running In TN-05

    Friends, excited to bring you another conversation with one of our compelling candidates on the front lines - Chaz Molder, Mayor of Columbia, TN who is running to flip TN-05 in Middle Tennessee. Mayor Molder is one of the twelve candidates in our Winning The House campaign, a collection of candidates most likely to flip red House seats blue this year and retake the House for Democrats next January. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation: Well, and more importantly, Simon, from my perspective, Andy Ogles has betrayed the fifth congressional district. Andy Ogles campaigned on lowering costs and bringing down prices. You mentioned fertilizer… it’s up over 40 percent. I live and am raising my family and am mayor of a community called Columbia, Tennessee, just south of Nashville. It’s where the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation state headquarters is located. I drive past the state headquarters of Farm Bureau on a daily basis, with not only leaders in that organization, but also farmers. They’re struggling, they’re worried, they don’t want a handout, they want to do their job and do the work and they don’t want to have to worry about external factors such as diesel being over $5 a gallon. So I have some firsthand knowledge relative to the agricultural sector. As you also know, Nashville being a part of this district is a hub for the healthcare industry. And so there are a lot of issues on healthcare that are very important to this region and that we are continuing our focus on in this campaign. And it’s why we’re resonating across this district. Keep working hard all - Simon

    13 min
  3. APR 13

    Meet Rebecca Cooke, Our Terrific Candidate Running In WI-03

    Greetings everyone. Excited to bring you another conversation with one of our compelling candidates on the front lines - candidate for US House Rebecca Cooke who is running to flip WI-03 in Western Wisconsin. Cooke is one of the twelve candidates in our ⁠Winning The House⁠ campaign, a collection of candidates most likely to flip red House seats blue this year and retake the House for Democrats next January. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation: Part of my why… why I decided to run originally… was because we lost our farm, and knowing the dairy economy and how that’s been impacted over decades. [What is] kind of adding insult to injury is what this administration has continued to do to our agricultural industry. Tariffs, reciprocal tariffs have really had a huge impact on our soybean farmers, which is a more than billion dollar industry in the state of Wisconsin. And so I’ve been talking with a lot of folks, farm bureau people that I don’t know necessarily would have met with me before. But it’s not just the crop prices that are a real big issue for a lot of folks. Growing up, our family, a lot of times was on and off of health insurance, depending on if my mom got a job in town that had it. And so, the Affordable Care Act is something that I know a lot of farmers have relied on. And I’ve been talking to people that have seen their premiums increased from $400 to $1,300 a month or $40 to $400 a month, which is it’s, I mean, they’re getting squeezed sort of everywhere between crop prices, the insurance premiums, and then I think with the war in Iran and the increased pricing with fertilizer, diesel prices… it’s kind of like they’re just getting knocked around every which way. And there’s really no relief. Keep working hard all - Simon

    15 min
  4. APR 9

    The Crisis The World Faces Today Is Trump (New Analysis)

    Friends, sharing my weekly presentation last night while attending some meetings in New Orleans. As I do each week I tried to take a step back from the crush of news to evaluate where we are in the fight for freedom and democracy, and against MAGA and Trumpism/Putinism. Here’s this week’s assessment: Trump is an irredeemable failure, a historic betrayer of this great country, an addled and arrogant old man who should be removed from office, or at the very least our leaders must now mount a major effort to wrest power away from him and force a national course correction along the lines of our agenda. Our current path is unsustainable and we cannot wait until January of next year to find a new and better path. This war in the Middle East is the greatest mistake by an American president in our history. We’ve come out of it far weaker, and Iran far stronger. Our discourse is only just beginning to acknowledge the magnitude of the geopolitical and economic disaster this one man has caused, lawlessly and recklessly, acting without Congress and our allies. For we now in a global crisis - Trump, and his quisling enablers in Congress and the Supreme Court. Republican 2026 campaign strategists have come to recognize that the fall out from the war has put their majorities in both chambers in jeopardy, and have announced two big campaigns - a Trump effort starting in May, and a fall campaign led by the Senate Republican SuperPAC. My assumption is the House Republican SuperPAC will soon announce their fall campaign, and combined these three efforts could amount to $1 billion in total, an extraordinary sum of money in a mid-term election. That they are committing this much money, and starting the first campaign so early (in May), shows how much trouble they understand themselves to be in. It also tells us that the real election, when the ads starting flying, begins in a few weeks not in a few months. The 2026 general election is here now, and we need to help our candidates and party committees prepare for what is going to be a savage battle with a failing and desperate Republican Party. Winning these midterms by the biggest margin possible is job one for all of us now. Keep working hard all - Simon

    33 min
5
out of 5
40 Ratings

About

In-depth discussions with leaders working to preserve American democracy. Original recordings from the Hopium Chronicles Substack.

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