Hopium Chronicles Podcast

Simon Rosenberg

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

  1. 1d ago

    Mamdani Flexes, House Dems Get 2 Big Wins, Trump's Ebbing Powers - A New Conversation With Katie Phang

    Greetings all. I joined our friend Katie Phang at The Contrarian for a comprehensive overview of the elections last night and the midterms more broadly. Sharing our talk here on Spotify. Keep working hard everyone - Simon

    31 min

  2. 1d ago

    Our Inspiring Candidate In WI-03 Rebecca Cooke Checks In With The Hopium Community

    Friends, this evening I'm sending along one of my favorite candidate interviews of the cycle so far, one I held with Rebecca Cooke who is running in the Third District of Wisconsin. One of the things I’ve learned in my many years in the game is that good candidates, those who win, get stronger, better, and more confident as the cycle goes on. They grow, and get bigger and more powerful as politicians and orators. As you will see in our conversation Rebecca Cooke has become one of those candidates. As a reminder in 2024 Cooke ran in WI-03 and overperformed Harris, losing by a little less than 3 points in a district Trump won by more than 7. With the national tide shifting 7 to 10 points, districts like WI-03 become very hard for Republicans to defend. Civiqs has Trump’s approval rating in Wisconsin at 41%-55% right now, a huge drop in a state he carried in 2024. This is one of our very best pick up opportunities in the country... and Rebecca Cooke is one of our best candidates running this cycle. Keep working hard all - Simon

    15 min

  3. Jun 18

    Meet Johnny Garcia, Our Terrific Candidate Fighting To Turn TX-35 Blue

    Greetings everyone. Yesterday I released a discussion with Johnny Garcia, our nominee in Texas-35. As you will hear in the episode Johnny is a terrific candidate. He beat the virulent antisemite Maureen Galindo in the primary runoff election a few weeks ago despite millions of GOP spend against him (thanks to everyone who contributed to our effort to get Johnny over the finish line). He is now running hard in the general in one of those five Texas districts Republicans redrew in their Trump-inspired efforts to steal seats from us. Enjoy the interview, and friends, please consider supporting another one of these proud patriots running across the country this year. And keep working hard all - Simon

    15 min

  4. Jun 18

    Trump's Presidency Has Been A Catastrophe For America And The World (New Analysis)

    Friends, the proud, plucky patriots of our remarkable community at Hopium Chronicles gathered last night for our weekly check in on our battle against MAGA and for freedom and democracy, here and everywhere. As usual, it was a lively affair. Here on Apple Podcasts I'm sharing my opening remarks. Keep working hard all. We have a country to save, and elections to win, together - Simon

    25 min

  5. Jun 17

    Meet Cait Conley, Army Veteran, Special Ops Leader, And US House Candidate Running In NY-17

    Greetings all. We’ve been talking in our community about how desperate House Republicans have been spending millions in our primaries to try to knock out who they perceive to be our strongest candidate. We jumped into two of those races - Johnny Garcia in TX-35 and Rebecca Bennett in NJ-07. Both went on to win their primaries and are now formidable general election candidates. The latest GOP effort to pick their opponent in a battleground House district is in NY-17 where they are now spending millions against Cait Conley, an army vet with a storied career, as the former Director for Counterterrorism of the National Security Council, who leads in the latest primary poll. NY-17 is one of three House seats we are working to flip this cycle that Vice President Harris carried in 2024. So it is one of our most important pick up opportunities, something confirmed by Trump’s recent campaign event with Lawler, one of the very first campaign events Trump did for a House incumbent this year. Here’s an except from my discussion with Cait this morning: "As an Army Officer, your job is to go out and to tackle problems, remove obstacles so that your team, your unit can achieve the mission, can be successful. I think it’s a similar mission and responsibility as an elected official. You’re still a public servant. You’re there to serve. And with that, your job is to go out there, and government’s job is to solve problems. What I’ve felt over the last year plus on the campaign trail is hope. What people are craving is hope that America’s best days are still ahead of us and that America can work for working people. And to have leaders that they can believe in again, where the dysfunction can end and we can get back to doing the necessary work to solve people’s problems. And so in that way, it really is the same. It’s serving this country. It’s serving our community. It’s working hard to make sure America’s best days are still ahead of us." Friends, we only get into primaries in special circumstances, and this is one of those. I hope you will join me in rallying for Cait Conley today, and taking the first step in turning this critical battleground district blue - Simon

    11 min

  6. Jun 16

    Loss Of Coverage, Higher Prices, More Harm To Come - Charles Gaba On The Real Impacts Of GOP Health Care Cuts

    Greetings everyone. I asked our good friend Charles Gaba, a well-known health care data analyst, to return to our community at Hopium Chronicles for an update on what he’s seeing in the data five months into our first year of the huge health care cuts of the Big Ugly Bill. For years, Charles tracked good news about the impact of the ACA and Medicaid expansion - rising enrollment numbers, falling premiums, and expanding coverage. Now he is essentially running the same analysis in reverse, tracking how many people are losing coverage, how much premiums and deductibles are going up, and how many insurance carriers and clinics are pulling out of markets. Gaba warns that the ACA may be heading toward what he calls a “half death spiral,” where the individual market does not collapse entirely, but effectively becomes a high risk pool serving only the sickest and most desperate, much like the broken state-based high risk pools that existed before the ACA. He also flags that starting around September and October, tens of millions of Medicaid enrollees will begin receiving notices about coming changes that start in January, which he expects to create significant political and human shock in the days heading into the November elections... while the CBO projects 15 million people currently on Medicaid will lose their coverage in the coming years due to these barbaric cuts. The initial steps in that process will begin this September. As we discuss in the episode, this was a deliberate policy choice made to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. These cuts are falling hardest on farmers, rural communities, older working people, and anyone who is self employed or runs a small business. The weakening of the individual market will also make it harder for people to start new businesses, sapping some of the dynamism out of our economy, which of course benefits large, established corporations. Republicans cut almost $1 trillion of out American health last summer, and we now have enough data to understand the impact it is having on families across the country this year. As expected it’s ugly, and it is going to get worse in months and years to come. Keep working hard all. We have a country to save, and elections to win, together - Simon

    39 min

  7. Jun 12

    Meet Josh Turek, Our Inspiring, Battle-Tested Candidate Running For US Senate In Iowa

    Friends, I am excited to introduce you all to one of the most inspiring candidates of the 2026 election cycle, State Rep. Josh Turek, our new nominee for US Senate in Iowa. Josh has a remarkable story - from his bio: Josh Turek is a two-time Paralympic gold medalist for Team USA and a State Legislator who represents the reddest seat held by a Democrat in the state of Iowa. Born with spina bifida after his dad was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam, Josh overcame 21 surgeries by the age of 12 to eventually represent the U.S. at four Paralympics. Here is Josh’s take on the general election in Iowa (from our interview): "I would say that all of the stars have perfectly aligned here in Iowa. Unfortunately, we’re a state that has really bottomed out. We are basically dead last for economic growth, one of two states in an economic decline… basically dead last for nearly every health care metric, a state that’s closed 250 more health care clinics than we’ve opened in the last 15 years. And because of the tariffs, we now lead the nation in farm foreclosures and we’re seeing farm suicide rates skyrocketing, which has really led to to a “Farmageddon,” a second farm crisis here in Iowa. You’ve got this opportunity where it’s the first time since 1968 - an open governor’s race, along with an open Senate race, and two open congressional races. You’ve got great candidates like myself and Rob Sand with proven results to be able to win over, you know, the 37% of Iowa voters that are Independents and moderate Republicans… it’s really an amazing opportunity." Keep working hard all. We have a country to save, a democracy to protect, and great candidates like Josh to help elect, together - Simon

    16 min

  8. Jun 11

    Desperate Men Do Desperate Things (New Analysis)

    Friends, the proud, plucky patriots of our remarkable community at Hopium Chronicles gathered last night for our weekly look at our progress in the great battle against MAGA and for freedom and democracy, here and everywhere. Sharing my remarks and the opening to our Q&A here on Apple Podcasts. The main theme of the talk last night was desperation. With soaring unpopularity, surging inflation, interest rates now more likely to rise than fall, a failed war and global leaders failing to bend the knee, political and legal loss after loss piling up, Congressional Rs far more willing to challenge him on things that matter, his health and mind failing, it has become clear and undeniable that Trump's powers are ebbing and he has become a diminished figure, far more a weak man than a strong one. He hit 29% approval on the economy this week in Economist/YouGov, and 24% on inflation - he just keeps crashing through polling floors each week. All measures of our intensity - primary vote totals, polling, electoral overperformance - suggest a wave election is coming. We are now much more likely to return to power, winning the House and even the Senate this November. And all of this is making Trump more and more desperate, reckless, unhinged, maniacal, wild, and of course dangerous. Unwilling to accept surrender in his failed war, but driven by a need to lower energy prices here at home, this week he's returned to bloodthirsty rhetoric, bombing Iran, and potentially committing war crimes - a strategy that has already failed spectacularly. It reeks of desperation. Keep working hard all - Simon

    40 min
See All (199)

5
out of 5
45 Ratings

About

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

Information

You Might Also Like