March 22, 2020

Trump Wouldn’t Rule Out Sending Coronavirus Stimulus Cash to His Own Properties

Jim Loscalzo/CNP via Zuma

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At today’s daily coronavirus task force press conference-slash-MAGA rally, President Trump wouldn’t rule out bailing out his own hotel business with the stimulus funds currently stuck at a Congressional impasse.

“Will you commit publicly that none of that taxpayer money will go toward your own personal properties?” asked a reporter, posing the question on all of our minds, especially as it appears some senators took the opportunity weeks ago of cashing in their knowledge of the outbreak by dumping stock in highly-exposed industries before the crash. The most prominent senator among them, Richard Burr (R–N.C.), says his trades occurred within the context of public news reports, and are now the subject of an ethics probe.

“Everything’s changing, just so you understand. It’s all changing. But I have no idea,” Trump mused. “Let’s just see what happens. Because we have to save some of these great companies.”

To even arrive at that non-response, Trump careened through his typical toxic mix of self-praise and victimhood.

“I committed publicly that I wouldn’t take the $450,000 [presidential] salary. It’s a lot of money,” Trump remarked. “And I did it. Nobody cared—nobody, nobody said, ‘thank you.’”

Watch:

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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