August 21, 2017

Of Course Donald Trump Looked Directly Into the Eclipse

The president defies science, again.

Andrew Harnik/AP

President Donald Trump went to the Truman balcony of the White House with first lady Melania and their son Barron on Monday to join millions across the country to witness the solar eclipse.

Leading up to the event, scientists had warned against looking directly into the sun because of the irreparable damage it could cause to one’s vision, and encouraged eclipse watchers to wear only NASA-approved sunglasses. Trump defied these recommendations—twice.  

Here’s the first brief moment. As he turned his face to the sky, an onlooker yelled, “Don’t look!” Trump appeared to chuckle, perhaps having read this Slate piece beforehand.

https://twitter.com/SteveKopack/status/899709025469816832

Here’s the second, longer stare:

https://twitter.com/AndrewKirell/status/899709903929040897

https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/899706064161173504

After some uncomfortable squinting, Trump finally bowed to science and put on the glasses:

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

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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.

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