December 19, 2019

“Billionaires In Wine Caves” Is Our New Meme About Rich Donors

Elizabeth Warren really didn't like Pete Buttigieg's recent fundraiser held in a wine cave.PBS

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The biggest fight of the night—by far—has been about whether Democratic candidates should accept donations from rich people. Billionaires in particular, and “billionaires in wine caves,” to be super specific about it. (This was Elizabeth Warren’s jab at Pete Buttigieg for his recent big-dollar fundraiser held in an underground wine cellar.)

This is . . . dispiriting. I get that Democratic candidates are mostly going to agree with each other about most things, so you’re not going to see a ton of sniping. But can it really be true that the single most contentious fight among Dems is a debate about fundraising tactics?

 

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We've never been very good at being conservative.

And usually, that serves us well in doing the ambitious, hard-hitting journalism that you turn to Mother Jones for. But it also means we can't afford to come up short when it comes to scratching together the funds it takes to keep our team firing on all cylinders, and the truth is, we finished our budgeting cycle on June 30 about $100,000 short of our online goal.

This is no time to come up short. It's time to fight like hell, as our namesake would tell us to do, for a democracy where minority rule cannot impose an extreme agenda, where facts matter, and where accountability has a chance at the polls and in the press. If you value our reporting and you can right now, please help us dig out of the $100,000 hole we're starting our new budgeting cycle in with an always-needed and always-appreciated donation today.

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