November 12, 2020

The White House Just Can’t Stop Holding Superspreader Events

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It seems like top Republicans are living on a completely different plane of reality than the rest of us.

They didn’t learn from the Amy Coney Barrett nomination party that potentially infected the president himself. Instead, on election night, they packed into the White House’s East Room, sans masks, to watch the results roll in. Now, Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows; housing secretary and brain surgeon Ben Carson; political director Brian Jack; and senior adviser Corey Lewandowski all have COVID.

This is the same virus that killed Herman Cain and sent former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to the ICU for a week. As Dave Chappelle mused in his very funny SNL monologue this weekend, “What kind of man makes sure he’s okay while his friends fight for their lives and die?” Answer: “A white man.”

Where’s the lie?

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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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