May 3, 2020

Bush Calls for Political Unity to Fight Coronavirus. Naturally, Trump Complained About Impeachment.

At least he’s consistent.

Gerald Herbert/AP

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Former President George W. Bush, in a rare message for the Call for Unity campaign, is urging Americans across the political spectrum to come together in order to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

“In the final analysis, we are not partisan combatants,” Bush said in a video that premiered Saturday, as somber images of healthcare workers, immigrant families, and loved ones practicing social distancing measures were played. “We are human beings, equally vulnerable, and equally wonderful in the sight of God. We rise or fall together—and we are determined to rise.”

Don’t count on the current commander-in-chief to share the sentiment, much less respond with respect. Instead, the appeal for unity appears to have only fueled Donald Trump’s trademark divisiveness, not to mention his penchant for typos. Here he is this morning:

Trump seizing on a message to put aside political differences only to complain about his impeachment trial—by nature, a deeply partisan scenario—during a public health crisis that has already killed more Americans than the death toll from the Vietnam War is no longer surprising. But such grotesque behavior is still worth tracking as a reminder, yet again, that none of this is acceptable.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

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