July 21, 2016

We Asked Republican Voters About Their Divided Party. Their Answers Were Amazing.

“It’s as if Trump did go into Cruz’s house and shoot his wife.”

 

On the third night of the GOP convention in Cleveland, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was drowned out by boos after refusing to endorse Donald Trump, his party’s nominee for president.

On Thursday morning, a defiant Cruz continued to ratchet up his war against Trump, declaring that he would not grovel “like a servile puppy.”

Cruz’s speech seemed to once again expose deep fractures inside the Republican Party, after the Never Trump movement failed earlier this week to change the party’s rules to deny Trump the nomination. So I took to the streets to ask Republican voters on all sides of the divide—the pro-Trump types, the shrug-yeah-sure-Trump types, and the Never Trump types—about how the Republican Party can heal before November.

Cruz “was trying to reach those people who say ‘Never Trump,'” said Emily Redditt, an alternate delegate from Texas, as she defended her senator. “I can understand his reluctance to endorse.”

Joking that some Democrats would find a way to forgive President Barack Obama for anything, even if he shot their wife, kids, and dog, Redditt went on to say, “It’s as if Trump did go into Ted Cruz’s house and shoot his wife.” She added, however, that she would reluctantly vote for Trump in November.

Ariel White, a Trump supporter, was pessimistic about party unity and upset about Cruz’s speech. “It’s a hope and a prayer that we get the Republican Party back together,” she said. “For Trump, and for America.”

 

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“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.

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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.

payment methods

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