February 6, 2020

Trump’s Revenge on Mitt Romney Begins. At a Prayer Breakfast.

“They have done everything they can to destroy us.”

Evan Vucci/AP

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The National Prayer Breakfast, an annual gathering hosted by members of Congress for faith leaders, would hardly seem like an appropriate setting for a vengeful outburst. But on Thursday morning, President Donald Trump appeared to do just that. Speaking at the annual event in Washington, Trump opened his remarks by lashing out at the impeachment trial, while taking thinly-veiled aim at Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“As everybody knows, my family, our great country and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people,” Trump told the crowd, his voice sounding more hoarse than usual. “They have done everything possible to destroy us and by so doing, very badly hurt our nation. They know what they are doing is wrong, but they put themselves far ahead of our great country.”

Both Romney, who is a Mormon, and Pelosi, a Catholic, have cited their faiths while opposing the president during the impeachment trial. “I am a profoundly religious person,” the Utah senator had said in an emotional speech announcing his vote to convict Trump. “I take an oath before God as enormously consequential.” Pelosi, who also attended Thursday’s prayer breakfast, has repeatedly said that she was praying for the president throughout the impeachment proceedings.

Trump, who counts evangelical Christians among his most loyal supporters, would have none of it. “I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” he continued. “Nor do I like people who say ‘I pray for you’ when they know that that’s not so. So many people have been hurt and we can’t let that go on.”

Before launching into his furious remarks on Thursday, Trump beamed as he held up two newspapers reading “ACQUITTED” and “Trump Acquitted,” a victory lap swiftly erased by his own revenge politics moments later. Many watching on social media weighed in on the president’s conduct at the normally staid event:

The White House, naturally, had its own version of what took place. 

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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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