January 7, 2018

Quote of the Day: Yes, the President Is a Genius

From Stephen Miller, on Jake Tapper’s State of the Union, describing President Trump:

I saw a man who was a political genius…a self-made billionaire who revolutionized reality TV…hasn’t gotten the due he deserves…

Miller was his usual obnoxious, hyperactive self, refusing to answer questions and instead filibustering about how great Trump is and how horrible CNN is. Eventually Tapper got tired of it and just shut him down: “Stephen, I get it, there’s one viewer that you care about right now, and you’re being obsequious, you’re being a factotum in order to please him, and I think I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time.”

The only part I don’t get about this is why Tapper invited Miller in the first place. I’ve seen him before, and I’m sure Tapper knew what he was in for. It’s a pointless exercise, like interviewing Kellyanne Conway. Why even bother?

UPDATE: It turns out that Miller’s performance had a perfect coda:

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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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.

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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.

payment methods

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