We’re Americans, Please Don’t Bother Us With Facts

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A British diplomatic report from Ronald Reagan’s second year in office was released publicly today:

“The White House are certainly concerned that the president could acquire a national image as a bumbler which, like [former President] Ford’s image as a stumbler, could not be eradicated once firmly established in the public mind,” the UK embassy told London in March 1982, referring to persistent “mistakes of fact” made by Reagan.

Silly Brits. Americans don’t care about mistakes of fact. I wonder whatever gave them the idea that we do?

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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