October 8, 2016

Pussygate Might Be the Final Straw For Donald Trump

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OK, let’s get back to the latest evidence that Donald Trump is a loutish jackass. In the Pussygate tape, Trump basically admits that he routinely gropes and harasses women because he’s a big star and can do whatever he wants. Ever since the tape went public, Republicans have been fleeing en masse. Without exception, they’ve either issued statements unequivocally condemning him or else shut off their phones and gone into hiding. Hell, a couple of insider reports indicate that even Mike Pence is so disgusted and angry that he’d probably quit the ticket given half a chance.

In a way, this is weird. Surely no one ever doubted for a second that Trump talks like this in private? I mean, he comes damn close to talking like this in public. And yet everyone is acting shocked now that there’s actual tape. Funny how life works, isn’t it?

Anyway, here are two random points about this whole affair:

  • This sure goes to show the importance of vetting, doesn’t it? Everyone keeps wondering if some big scandal will finally bring down Hillary Clinton, but the odds are way against it. She’s probably been vetted more than any human being on earth over the past 25 years. There’s just no chance that there are any big secrets left to discover. Trump, on the other hand, is an oppo researcher’s dream.
     
  • The entire Republican Party has been balancing on a cusp lately, trying to decide if they should stick with Trump or dump him like a piece of rotting fish. If he has a chance of winning, they’ll stick. Lately, though, that’s looked pretty unlikely, and all the downticket Republicans are starting to wonder if they should jump ship and save their own jobs. This episode might start a stampede. It’s almost sure to start one if Trump implodes again in the debate on Sunday. If that happens, Trump is toast.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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