Can we get to 3000 new Prime members in our 2015 sign up drive? As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, that was the aspirational goal we set for ourselves when we kicked off this year’s drive back on September 21st. But it seemed so far-fetched that I didn’t announce it publicly. But we have three weeks left in 2015. And we’re not that far off the mark. We’re currently at 2380 new Prime sign ups. Just 620 sign ups more and we’re there. That’s a lot to get in three weeks. But not impossible. Quite frankly, building membership for Prime is critical to the future of the site. Here’s why. If you’re a regular reader of TPM, I invite you and ask you to sign up. It’s important. Just click right here. Thank you.
It’s hard to explain exactly why we submit ourselves to this. But in our New York City office we spend most of the day listening to Fox News. In moments of tension and incitement such as these it is difficult to capture the sheer scale and measure of the storm of hate, lies, nonsense and febrile fear that constantly flows out of it, minute by minute and hour after hour. I’ve become particularly focused in the last couple days on the almost constant stream of often small but highly significant falsehoods which go together to create a frightening and highly distorted image of the world.
We’re now accepting nominations for Golden Dukes! Now is your chance to submit ideas for, in Josh Marshall’s words, “the year’s best purveyors of public corruption, outlandish behavior and The Crazy.” More info here.
As long as we’re on to the subject of fascist dictators and Donald Trump being compared to Adolf Hitler in major urban newspapers, I thought I should speak up on behalf of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini as the true proto-Trump.
I just saw this chyron and thought, “Good lord, Trump is REALLY dragging these guys to the right!”
Here’s why there’s really no way the GOP ‘establishment’ can stop Donald Trump.
And why won’t any of the presidential candidates who are at all competitive really distance themselves from Trump? Because two-thirds of likely Republican primary voters agree with Trump’s Muslim ban proposal.
Open carry activists to stage mock mass shooting to protest denial of gun rights.
When asked by TPM this afternoon whether he supported Donald Trump’s ban on Muslim immigrants, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) says he believes Muslim immigrants should have to renounce Sharia law. But he has little hope that they will, since even the two current Muslim members of Congress won’t renounce Sharia Law.
Then as our reporter was interviewing King, Keith Ellison walked by.
Re-upping this post from this morning. People are comparing Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. But let’s give Benito Mussolini his due as the true proto-Trump.
Meanwhile we have three weeks to go in our 2015 Prime sign up drive. We have just 14 sign ups to go to get to 2500 new members and just 514 new members to get to our admittedly wildly aspirational goal of 3000 new members. Today was a day I was really proud of our whole crew. We had Tierney Sneed up at the Supreme Court to hear today’s oral arguments and Justice Scalia’s comments about affirmative action condemning black students to schools that are too advanced for them. I think she was one of the first and perhaps the first to file a story on it. Then later in the day, Lauren Fox was up on the Hill pressing far-right Rep. Steve King (R-IA) about Donald Trump’s Muslim immigration ban and captured this priceless, bizarre and quite sad exchange between King and one of the two Muslims currently serving in Congress, Rep. Keith Ellison (R-MN).
That mixed with a lot of amazing work from our team of Sneed, Fox, Caitlin Cruz, Sara Jerde, Allegra Kirkland, Katherine Krueger, Caitlin MacNeal and our new New York City editor Catherine Thompson to put together a day we felt very good about even as the news itself left little to feel good about. As I’ve mentioned a few time in recent posts, our whole team is focused on reconnecting with what we do best, the specific way we cover the news and ways to do it faster, smarter and better in the new news and technology environment we’re in on the cusp of 2016. Prime is the way we invite you to join us, become part of what we do, get more from TPM and help us build the resources to do even more. If you’re a regular reader and you haven’t had the chance yet or haven’t found the right moment, click here and join Prime.
Thank you.