September 2, 2018

David Hogg Raises Thousands to Put Donald Trump’s Old Ted Cruz Tweet on Texas Billboard

“…to remind Texans of the truth.”

Facing an unexpectedly strong challenge from Democrat Beto O’Rourke, Ted Cruz solicited the help this week of Donald Trump. The president will be coming to Texas next month to bolster his one-time rival’s reelection bid.

“Ha ha ha,” the world responded to the news that Cruz had sought help from a man he once called “a sniveling coward,” a man who repeatedly slandered his wife, a man who alleged his father conspiring to kill JFK. “Ha ha ha.”

Now it seems that chorus of laughter has grown so loud it will soon extend beyond its humble origns on the internet. 

A GoFundMe page by USA Latinx seeking to put one of Donald Trump’s anti-Cruz tweets from 2016 on a billboard raised nearly $10,000 in one day, nearly doubling its fundraising goal.

“President Donald Trump will be campaigning to help Sen. Ted Cruz win his re-election. A rally is being planned, according to Trump “at the biggest stadium in Texas,” the page organizers write. “We are planning to display the presidents own words about Cruz from 2016 on a mobile billboard, to remind Texans of the truth.”

The tweet in question dates back to February 2016 when Trump and Cruz were campaigning for the GOP presidential nomination ahead of the Texas primary.

It was one of many tweets activists could have chosen:

One of the campaigns organizers is March for Our Lives co-founder David Hogg, the Stoneman Douglas High School student who along with his classmates was thrust into the national spotlight after February’s tragic shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Last month, Mother Jones had a chance to talk with Hogg and some of his fellow classmates about their surprising and inspiring journey to remake American politics. You can listen to the podcast here.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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