December 18, 2018

Trump 4.0: “Other Sources” Will Pay For the Wall

Michael Reynolds/CNP via ZUMA

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First Mexico was going to pay for it. Then NAFTA 2.0 was going to be so awesome that Mexico would pay for it in increased trade—or tariffs—or something. Then Congress had to pay for it, but Mexico would reimburse us someday so no worries. Then it would be paid for “other ways.”

That was this morning. Donald Trump caved to his fellow Republicans who didn’t want to shut down the government over his damn wall, and Sarah Sanders announced to the press that “there are certainly a number of different funding sources that we’ve identified that we can use.” And what are those “sources”? Nobody knows. Probably the same ones that are going to fund the greatest health care system the world has ever seen.

Honest to God, Trump is the worst negotiator I’ve ever seen. Even if he wasn’t paying attention you’d think he would have learned something in his 40 years of real estate wheeling and dealing. But apparently not.

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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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