September 20, 2016

There Is So Much Wrong With Donald Trump Jr.’s Skittles Tweet

Here’s the full list.

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On Monday evening, Donald Trump Jr. decided that it would be a good idea to compare Syrian refugees to Skittles.

Reactions to the tweet—including a fair amount of ridicule—were almost immediate. ThinkProgress editor Judd Legum’s tweetstorm captures everything that’s wrong with the analogy:

Here’s the kicker: The Skittles photo that Trump used for his tweet? It was taken by a refugee, and he is not happy about how Trump used it. “This was not done with my permission, I don’t support his politics and I would never take his money to use it,” David Kittos, a UK-based photographer, told the BBC.

And just in case you needed another reminder of what is actually happening in Syria:

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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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