October 22, 2018

A Quick Correction of Donald Trump’s Standard Stump Speech

So what is Donald Trump lying about lately? I don’t feel like repeating his lies, so here’s a quick and non-comprehensive correction of what he’s been telling his fans at his rallies:

  • There are no riots here in California.
  • Democrats do not want to give Cadillacs to undocumented immigrants.
  • Republicans do not have any kind of plan to lower middle-class taxes next year.
  • Illegal immigration is not increasing.
  • We do not have a $110 billion deal to supply arms to Saudi Arabia. We don’t really have any kind of deal at all, let alone one of that size.
  • Selling arms to Saudi Arabia, in whatever quantities, will not generate 500,000 jobs. Or 600,000 jobs. Or 1 million jobs. The entire defense industry only employs about 300,000 people in the first place, and Saudi Arabia is not that big a customer.
  • There’s no evidence that the caravan of migrants walking north from Guatemala includes any Middle Eastern terrorists.
  • Crime is not increasing.
  • Trump has not started building his wall. Nor is Mexico paying for his nonexistent wall.
  • Trump’s various health care plans did not protect people with pre-existing conditions.
  • The Veterans Choice Act was signed into law by President Obama in 2014, not by Trump. In 2017 Trump signed a bill approving a new version of the act that he likes better, but without bothering to fund it.
  • US Steel is not opening eight new plants. Or seven. Or six. Or even one.
  • Democrats will not destroy Medicare or Social Security.
  • Democrats do not advocate open borders. Democrats have placed a number of immigration proposals on the table over the past decade or so, and they’re all easy to find and read.

These are just the recent highlights. The list will undoubtedly expand substantially the next time Trump opens his mouth.

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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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