April 24, 2018

Enjoy This Excruciating Clip of Trump Brushing Off “Dandruff” From Macron’s Suit

On live television. In front of dozens of reporters.

While welcoming French President Emmanuel Macron to the Oval Office Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump warmly discussed the “special relationship” the two world leaders share, even praising news outlets he typically bashes as “fake news” for correctly describing their friendship in recent reports.

He then demonstrated just how uniquely close their bond is by proceeding to flick a piece of dandruff from Macron’s shoulder. Leaving no room for speculation over the bold move—Trump explained his action in front of dozens of reporters on live television. “We do have a very special relationship,” the president said. “In fact, I’ll get that little piece of dandruff off.” He then added, “We have to make him perfect. He is perfect.”

The painful moment below, followed by a useful reminder from my colleague that sometimes art can’t compete with the absurdity that is the Trump administration:

Yep.

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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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