July 3, 2018

Chamber of Commerce Declares War

Now that they have their tax cut safely in hand, corporate America has apparently gotten fed up with Donald Trump. Even the US Chamber of Commerce, which has become a reliably hyper-Republican operation over the past couple of decades under its firebrand conservative leader, Tom Donohue, has declared war on Trump. “The administration’s new tariffs threaten to spark a global trade war,” blares a headline on the Chamber’s website today:

Tariffs imposed by the United States are nothing more than a tax increase on American consumers and businesses–including manufacturers, farmers, and technology companies–who will all pay more for commonly used products and materials.

A tax increase! Them’s fighting words! And the site has a helpful interactive map so you can see just how badly Trump’s tariffs will affect your state. Here’s California:

Trump hasn’t responded with a devastating tweet yet, but I’m sure he will eventually. At this point, though, China has retaliated against Trump. Canada has retaliated against Trump. Europe has retaliated against Trump. And now the Chamber of Commerce has retaliated against Trump. The battle is finally fully engaged.

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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.

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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.

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