January 5, 2020

Donald Trump Just Sent Congress the Worst Push Notification Ever

Seriously, though.

On Sunday afternoon, President Donald Trump achieved what might be the apex of a weekend full of reckless Twitter diplomacy. As best I can tell (bear with me, it’s a weird one, folks): The president went to Twitter…to tell Congress…that he can attack Iran…without its permission (?)

Setting aside the fact that these assertions are based on a backward reading of the Constitution (Congress gives the executive branch the “legal notice” to declare war, not the other way around), what are we even supposed to make of memos to Congress delivered via Twitter? What if some lawmakers are practicing mindfulness in the new year and turned off their notifications? What is a “Media Post?” What the hell is any of this?

Yesterday, Trump tweeted that he was contemplating some international war crimes. Today, his brain is just leaking onto his phone keyboard. It’s not too late to resolve to tweet less, Mr. President!

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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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