January 31, 2020

Brexit and Impeachment, Now and Forever?

Yes, Rupert, you're worth $20 billion. But you're still just worthless riffraff.Prensa Internacional/ZUMA

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It seems likely—or at least possible—that Brexit and acquittal will happen on the same day. Tomorrow Britain will no longer be part of the EU and Donald Trump will be officially innocent of crimes that he clearly committed. This seems altogether appropriate.

Tiny things can change history. Brexit won in June 2016 by only two percentage points. Trump won in November 2016 by about one percentage point in three states. If things had been just slightly different, David Cameron would be sleeping his way through a few more years of being prime minister and Hillary Clinton would be fighting off yet another stupid investigation from Jason Chaffetz.

The fact that they aren’t is a testament that the power of lies and culthood has become overwhelming on both sides of the Atlantic. Brexit was the result of a steady stream of lies about curved bananas and barmaid cleavage, followed by a very specific hail of lies about the NHS and immigrants from Nigel Farage. Trump is the result of a steady stream of lies from the Gingrichified conservative movement, followed by a very specific hail of lies about health care and immigrants from Trump himself.

One common denominator in both of these things is Rupert Murdoch. Without the Murdoch media, it’s unlikely that either Brexit or Trump would have succeeded. What’s most galling about this is that I don’t think Murdoch really cares about either one. He just wants to monetize eyeballs and doesn’t much care how it’s done.

But what’s done is done. Our job now is to spend the next decade trying to return common decency and at least a passing respect for the truth to political life. I’m not sure what odds I’d give on that succeeding now that everyone’s seen the immense success of Murdochization. But we have to try.

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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.

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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.

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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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