April 2, 2018

Let’s Review the Tape on DACA

Michael Nigro/Pacific Press via ZUMA

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Just in case you’ve lost count, here’s a rough timeline of negotiations over DACA, the “mini-DREAM” act that protects immigrant children who have lived in the US for many years:

  • September: Trump kills DACA.
  • Later in September: Trump tells Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer that he supports a legislative fix for DACA if he gets more border security funding in return. They agree.
  • The next day: Trump denies offering this deal.
  • October: Trump suddenly releases a long list of demands that he wants in return for DACA.
  • January: Trump says he’s fine with a clean DACA bill.
  • The next day: Aides remind Trump that, actually, he’s not fine with a clean DACA bill.
  • Later in January: Chuck Schumer offers Trump border security funding plus funding for the wall in return for DACA. Trump turns him down.
  • Still later in January: Trump now demands “four pillars” of immigration reform in return for DACA.
  • March: The Senate takes up DACA. Republicans reject every deal offered.
  • Later in March: Enraged at the lack of a deal, Trump begins a Twitter campaign insisting that Democrats are responsible for killing DACA.
  • Yesterday: Trump unleashes a barrage of staggeringly ignorant tweets about DACA and immigration in general. He blames Mexico and Democrats for all of it.
  • Today: A reporter asks Trump, “But aren’t you the one who killed DACA?” Trump doesn’t reply.

This is the guy who claims to be the greatest dealmaker ever in history. He killed DACA; he refused every possible deal to reinstate it; he changed his demands almost daily; and he demonstrated approximately zero influence over Congress. So now he’s red-faced with anger and desperately trying to deflect blame for something that everyone knows he’s responsible for. What a putz.

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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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