November 13, 2019

If It’s Not Viral, It Didn’t Happen

The public phase of the Trump impeachment hearings began this morning. Here’s one of the headlines in the Washington Post:

I don’t blame Alemany for writing this or the Post for running it. It’s almost certainly true, after all. But just think about how depressing this is. The president of the United States extorted a foreign country to dig up dirt for the president’s personal gain. His personal lawyer spent months on this task. The ambassador to this country was fired for refusing to help out. Diplomats were subverted to make clear what the president’s demands were. The evidence for all this is voluminous and clear.

And yet, nothing will happen unless Democrats get themselves a “viral moment.” Maybe this will do it?


Ha ha. Of course not. This is merely more evidence of Trump’s guilt, and we already have plenty of that. Apparently the key defense of Trump at this point is not that he’s innocent, but that extorting foreign countries for personal gain is really not that big a deal for a president of the United States.

Not. That. Big. A. Deal.

Jesus.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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