April 25, 2017

Is Obama Already Buckraking on Wall Street?

Zbigniew Bzdak/TNS via ZUMA

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Matt Yglesias is pissed:

Former President Barack Obama’s decision to accept a $400,000 fee to speak at a health care conference organized by the bond firm Cantor Fitzgerald is easily understood….

Wait. Obama is raking in $400 grand for a Wall Street keynote address? Really?

There’s something funny here. The report comes from Fox Business Network, and I guess it’s true. But it hasn’t been confirmed or reported by any mainstream outlet. Just lots of conservative sites, who are naturally hooting and hollering about it.

Yglesias makes lots of good points about why Obama shouldn’t do this, and normally I’d sign on. But I want to wait a bit. I wonder if there’s more going on here that we don’t know yet?

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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