March 10, 2018

Trump Just Delivered a Rambling 80-Minute Speech And It Was a Doozy

Kill drug dealers! Fake news! And Oprah’s “weakness.”

Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press

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President Donald Trump flew to southwest Pennsylvania tonight for a rally intended to bolster Rick Saccone, the Republican candidate with a razor-thin lead in the special election to fill an open seat in the state’s 18th congressional district. (Trump won the district by 20 points in 2016.) The president began his remarks with a quick endorsement of Saccone—and then proceeded to spend the next 75 minutes riffing, ranting, griping, and gloating about pretty much everything. Everything but Saccone.

Here is an exhaustive, if somewhat incomplete, list of all the things Trump talked about that had nothing to do with his ostensible reason for coming to Pennsylvania.

Meet The Press host Chuck Todd:

The Olympics:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un:

CNN:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.):

Oprah:

His 2020 reelection slogan:

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.):

Capital punishment for drug dealers:

The Electoral College:

The physical appearance of Saccone’s opponent, Democrat Conor Lamb:

Fire marshals:

The rough life of First Lady Melania Trump:

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan:

https://twitter.com/aidnmclaughlin/status/972641544024051712

And finally, at the finish of his one hour and 20 minute ramble, Trump remembered—oh right!—Rick Saccone:

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.

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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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