September 15, 2018

Watch John Kerry Blast Donald Trump: “He’s Got the Maturity of an 8-Year-Old Boy”

The former secretary of state left few questions on how he feels about the president.

Julien Mattia/NurPhoto/Sipa USA/AP

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John Kerry wasted no time excoriating President Trump in an appearance on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday night.

“He’s the first president that I know of who spends more time reading his Twitter ‘likes’ than his briefing books or the constitution of the United States,” Kerry said. “He’s got the maturity of an 8-year-old boy with the insecurity of a teenage girl.”

Kerry’s remarks come after the president slammed the former secretary of state for having conversations with Iranian officials after leaving office, which Kerry dismissed: “There’s nothing unusual about it. The conversation he really ought to be worrying about is Paul Manafort with Mueller.”

“Unfortunately, we have a president, literally, for whom the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is three different things, and you don’t even know what they are,” Kerry added.

The 2004 Democratic presidential nominee is currently promoting his new memoir, Every Day is Extra. You can watch the full clip below:

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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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