March 16, 2018

2018 Is the Year of Trump Unchained

The Washington Post, once again, regales us with an inside story about the Trump White House “based on interviews with 19 presidential advisers and administration officials.” This time the piece focuses on all the people who have been fired—or are about to be fired—and how it’s affecting the mood of Trump staffers. Here’s a quick rundown:

Staffers are gripped by fear and un­certainty … administration in turmoil … the mood inside the White House in recent days has verged on mania … anxious and nervous … characters in an absurdist farce … betting about which staffer will be ousted next … “Everybody fears the perp walk” … death watch for McMaster.

So who’s in danger? Just about everyone:

[National Security Advisor] H.R. McMaster … with whom he never personally gelled … Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin has attracted Trump’s ire for his spending decisions as well as for general disorder … Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who has generated bad headlines for ordering a $31,000 dining room set for his office … Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, who has been under fire for his first-class travel at taxpayer expense … Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, whose agency spent $139,000 to renovate his office doors … Education Secretary Betsy DeVos drew attention this week when she stumbled through a pair of high-profile television interviews … [Chief of Staff John] Kelly’s departure could be imminent.

Whew! The Post also reports that Trump is thrilled about finally ignoring all the Chicken Littles and just putting the damn steel tariffs in place. And everything turned out fine! See? So now he wants to do all the other stuff that he knows in his heart is right, but that his tedious advisors keep resisting with “facts” and “studies.”

So 2018 will be the year of Trump Unchained. We’ll finally get to see Trump being Trump. And just you wait. Everyone who says you “just can’t do” stuff like tearing up NAFTA and nuking North Korea will be proven wrong. It should be a fun year.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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