January 14, 2020

While the Democrats Debate, Trump Is Complaining About Dishwashers

There are two very different programming options on the air tonight.

Paul Boucher/Zuma

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While the Democratic presidential nominees were in Des Moines debating United States policy toward Iran on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump was at a rally in Milwaukee, riling up the crowd with talk of newfangled household appliances.

“I’m also approving new dishwashers that give you more water so you can actually wash and rinse your dishes without having to do it 10 times—five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10,” Trump said, presumably referring to Department of Energy regulations about the amount of water dishwashers can use.

But dishwashers weren’t the only appliances Trump promised to save.

“Sinks, toilets, and showers‚ you don’t get any water,” he said. “You go into a shower—and I have this beautiful head of hair, I need a lot of water.” Trump paused as the crowd went wild, then continued, “And you go into the shower, right? You turn on the water. Drip. Drip. Drip. I call the guy, ‘Is there something wrong with this?’ ‘No sir, it’s just the restrictor.'”

Meanwhile, in Iowa:

 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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