11-02-2025, 05:55 PM
Trump Is In A Far More Vulnerable Place Than It Appears Right Now. He Is Weak, Not Strong And Making Mistakes
Our Mad King has the highest disapproval of any President at this point in their Presidency, and concerns about his reckless economic policies are rising
Simon Rosenberg
Feb 11
Morning all. I have vowed to you to not turn Hopium into a daily catalog of the Mad King’s outrages (there a lot of them this morning) and to keep the focus on countering him. The good news today is that courageous judges are blocking elements of the extraordinary Trump/Musk crime spree and attack on the government of the United States. Trump continues to lose in courtrooms of all kinds all across the US. Yes, Trump keeps losing, and having him be seen as a loser, a failure, a weak, desperate and old man, not a strong man is critical to these next phase of our work together. As we say here, we need to keep pulling the curtain back on the Wizard, every day.
Our Mad King and his Vance have now even really pissed off The Pope:
Pope Francis issued a major rebuke Tuesday to the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportation of migrants, warning that the forceful removal of people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.”
Francis took the remarkable step of addressing the U.S. migrant crackdown in a letter to U.S. bishops in which he appeared to take direct aim at Vice President JD Vance’s defense of the deportation program on theological grounds.
History’s first Latin American pope has long made caring for migrants a priority of his pontificate, demanding that countries welcome, protect, promote and integrate those fleeing conflicts, poverty and climate disasters. Francis has also said governments are expected to do so to the limits of their capacity.
The Argentine Jesuit and President Donald Trump have long sparred over migration, including before Trump’s first administration when Francis famously said anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants was “not a Christian.”
Our Daily Reminder:
Trump 2.0 is a profound, ongoing betrayal of America, and everything that has made this remarkable nation the most powerful and prosperous in the world. It is why we must fight. As dark as all this is, we cannot for one moment forget that what Trump is doing is wrong; he and his project remain deeply unstable and his coalition fractious; he is doing deeply unpopular things, going far beyond his narrow “mandate;” he is old, impulsive, reckless and clearly in decline; and extremists and ideologues are often far better at bread and circuses than governing.
Another place where Trump is struggling out of the gate right now is on the economy. Here’s the summary of the new University of Michigan consumer confidence survey that I shared on Friday. Folks are not buying what Trump is selling:
Consumer sentiment fell for the second straight month, dropping about 5% to reach its lowest reading since July 2024. The decrease was pervasive, with Republicans, Independents, and Democrats all posting sentiment declines from January, along with consumers across age and wealth groups. Furthermore, all five index components deteriorated this month, led by a 12% slide in buying conditions for durables, in part due to a perception that it may be too late to avoid the negative impact of tariff policy. Expectations for personal finances sank about 6% from last month, again seen across all political affiliations, reaching its lowest value since October 2023. Many consumers appear worried that high inflation will return within the next year.
This important survey was their first of the Trump Presidency. It was taken after he became President. And consumer confidence dropped. It is one third lower at the beginning of this Trump Presidency that it was throughout his last one. Look at this graph. Compare Trump’s first term to now. It is much, much lower today and importantly consumer confidence DROPPED when Trump took office.
The U of Michigan team clearly believes that voters already understand that Trump’s tariffs and agenda are likely to re-ignite inflation, and that it worries them. Look at what happened to their tracking of consumer inflation expectations in recent weeks. For many consumers Trump = tariffs = higher prices = bad.
And yesterday our Mad King levied tariffs. The trade wars have begun, and prices will rise now.
Our Mad King has the highest disapproval of any President at this point in their Presidency, and concerns about his reckless economic policies are rising
Simon Rosenberg
Feb 11
Morning all. I have vowed to you to not turn Hopium into a daily catalog of the Mad King’s outrages (there a lot of them this morning) and to keep the focus on countering him. The good news today is that courageous judges are blocking elements of the extraordinary Trump/Musk crime spree and attack on the government of the United States. Trump continues to lose in courtrooms of all kinds all across the US. Yes, Trump keeps losing, and having him be seen as a loser, a failure, a weak, desperate and old man, not a strong man is critical to these next phase of our work together. As we say here, we need to keep pulling the curtain back on the Wizard, every day.
Our Mad King and his Vance have now even really pissed off The Pope:
Pope Francis issued a major rebuke Tuesday to the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportation of migrants, warning that the forceful removal of people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.”
Francis took the remarkable step of addressing the U.S. migrant crackdown in a letter to U.S. bishops in which he appeared to take direct aim at Vice President JD Vance’s defense of the deportation program on theological grounds.
History’s first Latin American pope has long made caring for migrants a priority of his pontificate, demanding that countries welcome, protect, promote and integrate those fleeing conflicts, poverty and climate disasters. Francis has also said governments are expected to do so to the limits of their capacity.
The Argentine Jesuit and President Donald Trump have long sparred over migration, including before Trump’s first administration when Francis famously said anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants was “not a Christian.”
Our Daily Reminder:
Trump 2.0 is a profound, ongoing betrayal of America, and everything that has made this remarkable nation the most powerful and prosperous in the world. It is why we must fight. As dark as all this is, we cannot for one moment forget that what Trump is doing is wrong; he and his project remain deeply unstable and his coalition fractious; he is doing deeply unpopular things, going far beyond his narrow “mandate;” he is old, impulsive, reckless and clearly in decline; and extremists and ideologues are often far better at bread and circuses than governing.
Another place where Trump is struggling out of the gate right now is on the economy. Here’s the summary of the new University of Michigan consumer confidence survey that I shared on Friday. Folks are not buying what Trump is selling:
Consumer sentiment fell for the second straight month, dropping about 5% to reach its lowest reading since July 2024. The decrease was pervasive, with Republicans, Independents, and Democrats all posting sentiment declines from January, along with consumers across age and wealth groups. Furthermore, all five index components deteriorated this month, led by a 12% slide in buying conditions for durables, in part due to a perception that it may be too late to avoid the negative impact of tariff policy. Expectations for personal finances sank about 6% from last month, again seen across all political affiliations, reaching its lowest value since October 2023. Many consumers appear worried that high inflation will return within the next year.
This important survey was their first of the Trump Presidency. It was taken after he became President. And consumer confidence dropped. It is one third lower at the beginning of this Trump Presidency that it was throughout his last one. Look at this graph. Compare Trump’s first term to now. It is much, much lower today and importantly consumer confidence DROPPED when Trump took office.
The U of Michigan team clearly believes that voters already understand that Trump’s tariffs and agenda are likely to re-ignite inflation, and that it worries them. Look at what happened to their tracking of consumer inflation expectations in recent weeks. For many consumers Trump = tariffs = higher prices = bad.
And yesterday our Mad King levied tariffs. The trade wars have begun, and prices will rise now.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass