March 30, 2023

This Is No Time to Celebrate. The System Is About to Be Tested Like Never Before.

Evan Vucci/AP

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This evening, when the historic news broke that a Manhattan grand jury had voted to indict the former president (and leading GOP 2024 contender) Donald Trump in a hush-money scandal, our Washington, DC, bureau chief, David Corn, quickly sat down to issue this video warning: This is no time to celebrate; we are at a dangerous and uncertain moment.

“There’s going to be a lot of information, misinformation, and maybe some disinformation out there in the tsunami of response and reaction,” Corn says. “And I don’t think people should be celebratory of this: It’s a sad day if a presidential candidate… is accused of a crime.”

Corn says now is the time to respect the rule of law, as the legal system is about to encounter an unprecedented test from a man capable of unleashing extreme chaos. “It will be very, very ugly, and I think in the midst of all that, what we need to remember is he is presumed innocent, and that is a good thing,” Corn remarks. “We have to say, ‘This is an indictment. We will let the system work.’”

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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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