February 1, 2020

Trump’s First Weekend Tweets Screw up Math and Compare Himself to a Circus

He probably should just head to the golf course.

Evan Vucci/AP

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The president of the United States is probably in a good mood. Last night in the Senate, a vote to call witnesses in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial failed, bringing him one step closer to acquittal. So on Saturday morning, in time-tested Trump fashion, he took to Twitter to share some thoughts with America.

Never one to shy away from bragging about himself, Trump tweeted that his poll numbers are the highest they’ve been since his election. (While they have spiked, this is false.)

He then referred to his rallies, which he claims are heavily attended but unnoticed by the media, as “The Greatest Show on Earth”…the tagline of the now-defunct Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey traveling circus. (Trump held two rallies in the past week in venues whose maximum capacity were roughly 7,000. Both garnered extensive coverage.)

Trump also praised Lou Dobbs, the right-wing television host of Lou Dobbs Tonight which airs on Fox Business News. Dobbs tweeted that his show has been #1 for 49 months in a row on “business TV.” According to Trump, it’s because he covers the president “fairly” and “objectively.”

Nevermind that Trump, the objectivity-lover, referred to himself in the third person as “America’s Greatest President”—he also failed to do some basic math. Dobbs’ rating’s coup predates the Trump presidency by a full 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.

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