May 1, 2018

A Trump “Family” Roundup

I hate to spend all my time on the various and sundry foibles of the idiots who Donald Trump has chosen to lead our country, but today feels like it deserves at least a roundup. Let’s start with one of Trump’s former cabinet secretaries:

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Tuesday the GOP’s decision to repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate without a broader overhaul of the heath care system will likely increase costs on consumers who remain in the program.

….“There are many, and I’m one of them, who believes that that actually will harm the pool in the exchange market, because you’ll likely have individuals who are younger and healthier not participating in that market, and consequently, that drives up the cost for other folks within that market.” Mr. Price’s comments were a turnabout from his time in the administration, when he said the mandate wasn’t working and that people were shirking coverage because they didn’t like what President Obama’s signature program had to offer.

So Price was just a loyal capo who was lying to protect his boss? I guess so. Now let’s turn to a current cabinet member:

Seriously? Do they all have mob nicknames? Is Pruitt known as Scott “Black Gold” Pruitt? Why not? Next up is Trump himself:

In fairness, if Bornstein were my doctor I’d probably want all my medical records back too. But did they have to do it in such a…um…moblike way? Maybe they did. Finally, here’s Pruitt again:

“A lobbyist.” “Ethics.” “Raises questions.” That’s DC-speak for “he’s a made man.”

I guess that’s it. I feel like maybe I’ve forgotten something that should be on this list today, but then again, I feel like that every day. I’m sure someone will let me know if I left off anything important.

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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.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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