How I Got Barred From Donald Trump’s Chaotic Anti-Fox Rally

Richard Ellis/ZUMA

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Tonight I joined a small but growing club of reporters who have been banned from Donald Trump events. Officially, this is not true. Officially, as Trump’s spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, told me in an email, Thursday night’s event at Drake University in Des Moines was “well over capacity.” However, every journalist I encountered got in—including a reporter from Canada who was promptly credentialed.

Every reporter, that is, except those who, like me, seem to be banned. Braving the cold to chat with the long line of people waiting to get into Trump’s event, I came across other reporters blacklisted by Trump. There was BuzzFeed‘s McKay Coppins, whom Trump apparently still hasn’t forgiven for this story from two years ago. Coppins had joined up with a German reporter who was also not allowed in. (I’m not sure why.) A student kindly suggested we warm up in the university’s library, where we were joined by the Daily Beast‘s Olivia Nuzzi, also barred from entering.

More Trump events will take place this campaign season, and perhaps Mother Jones reporters’ luck will change. But I’m not holding my breath. One of my colleagues was escorted from a Trump event last month by security. It seems that once Trump and his team have decided someone is not on the list, their word is just about final.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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