January 28, 2021

AOC to Cruz: You Almost Had Me Murdered

Caroline Brehman/ZUMA

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If you, like me, have been struggling to muster interest in the GameStop news cycle, I’m here to tell you that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has given us a reason to care.

After Ted Cruz attempted to get cute and show some rare agreement with the New York congresswoman by joining her criticism of the trading app Robinhood for blocking certain GameStop trades, Ocasio-Cortez promptly told Cruz to fuck off. While lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said the move is unfair to rank and file investors, the Texas senator had a prominent role in backing pro-Trump demands to overturn the election, a role that gave succor to the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol. Since the January 6 riot, Ocasio-Cortez has been candid about the trauma she faced, telling followers in an Instagram Live that she thought she “was going to die” in the attack.

In doing so, Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet went beyond one of her trademark social media dunks, deploying a clear directness that offers a stark contrast to the Republican party’s current efforts to obfuscate what they did this month: immediately following a murderous attack on the Capitol, an insurrection their party’s leader had directly incited, a majority of House Republicans, joined by prominent senators like Cruz, went back inside to deliver exactly what the mob wanted.

Keep Ocasio-Cortez’s straightforward account in mind, as Republicans are all but certain to keep misrepresenting the facts of the insurrection throughout Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.

And with that, feel free to go back and join me in avoiding news about GameStop.

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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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