June 12, 2018

Quote of the Day: Trump Says North Korea De-Nuking Will “Start Now”

Terence Tan/MCI via ZUMA

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From Donald Trump, on Kim Jong Un’s plans for his nuclear arsenal:

I mean he’s de-nuking the who-o-o-le place, and he’s going to start very quickly, I think he’s going to start now.

I feel like I’m in some kind of parallel dimension or something. Sure, there’s plenty of skepticism about what Kim is really going to do, but there’s also a lot of folks who are suggesting this is a “good first step,” or we’re “no longer on the brink of war,” or “maybe Trump really does have a new relationship with Kim.”

Have I lost it completely? Where is this stuff coming from? I’ll grant you that this entire process was driven by Kim, and there’s no telling for sure what he’s up to. It’s possible that he really does want to turn over a new leaf. Everything is possible, I suppose. But after reading the joint communique, which was as devoid of substance as a bit of cotton candy, does anyone seriously believe this?

I don’t. But once again we’re stuck in the weird netherworld of “maybe Trump has a bit of a point” after we discover some tiny kernel of semi-truth inside his interminable barrage of nonsense and babble. Why? The man lies about everything. His statements have no special relationship to reality at all. We know this. Everyone knows this. Why do we keep hoping that maybe this time is different?

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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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