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Every Budget Under Assault

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks at the Economic Club of New York, May 9, 2011. In the speech, delivered ahead of a second round of debt limit negotiations on Tuesday, Boehner said that Republicans would insist on trillions of dollars in federal spending cuts in exchange for support of an increase of the federal debt limit. (Photo: Yana Paskova / The New York Times) Dear Readers, Right-wingers are holding the budgets for national programs hostage. Everything from public broadcasting to health care for the poor and sick is on the chopping block. This crackdown comes as we pour money into wars of choice, give subsidies to our socialized oil companies and spend billions to keep more of our population in prison than any other country. We at Truthout strive to keep you informed of the day-to-day and big-picture events that are shaping this reality. But as we work together to change the media landscape – as well as the consciousness of our country and our world – we also struggle to keep our bottom line intact.

Dear Readers,

Right-wingers are holding the budgets for national programs hostage. Everything from public broadcasting to health care for the poor and sick is on the chopping block. This crackdown comes as we pour money into wars of choice, give subsidies to our socialized oil companies and spend billions to keep more of our population in prison than any other country.

We at Truthout strive to keep you informed of the day-to-day and big-picture events that are shaping this reality. But as we work together to change the media landscape – as well as the consciousness of our country and our world – we also struggle to keep our bottom line intact.

Not all of our readers who would like to help are able to do so. If you can, please give generously as we try to catch up on our goal. Truthout needs to raise $50,000 this week to meet our budget and keep our organization on track financially, but so far we’ve raised just over $9,000. We do our best every day to bring you the news and information you can trust. Now we ask that you join this effort by making a donation.

If you find our work important, please help us to keep it going.

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Sincerely,
Maya Schenwar, Executive Director and Matt Renner, Director of Development

Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn

Dear Truthout Community,

If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.

We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.

Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.

There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.

Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?

It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.

We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.

We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.

Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 500 new monthly donors in the next 10 days.

We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.

With love, rage, and solidarity,

Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy