February 11, 2019

Donald Trump and the Trail of Tears

Max D. Standley/R. Michelson Galleries

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Somebody help me out. In case you missed it over the weekend, President Trump tweeted this on Saturday:

Trump’s eldest son certainly understood his father’s point:

Am I missing something? This is about 100x worse than anything Ilhan Omar tweeted, but it seems to have barely merited any reaction at all. Trump’s reference here is crystal clear, isn’t it? It’s gonna be a Trail of Tears, Liz! How is it that this casual reference to native genocide has slipped under the radar? Do we just shrug no matter what Trump says now?

Jamelle Bouie has the full story here. But how about the House Democratic leadership? Do we think they can rouse themselves to issue a statement?

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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.

payment methods

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