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And what's ahead in 2023.   [Mother Jones]( MoJo Reader, I wouldn't be appearing in your inbox this afternoon if it weren’t important. No surprise: It's about our push for the [year-end donations]( we need to keep Mother Jones charging hard. Today is the beginning of the make-or-break week in [a make-or-break month]( for our online fundraising, and I'm hoping I can help kickstart things after an understandably slow holiday weekend. (I know—we were all busy poring over the January 6 committee’s final report and the Trump tax returns. At least, I was.) We need to raise $170,000 over these next five-plus days. Our team says it's going to be a nailbiter whether the typical rush of last-minute donations will get us there. It’s damn important for us to hit this mark so we continue providing the reporting we know you depend on. If you value the journalism we do, I hope you might [part with a few of your hard-earned bucks]( so we can head into 2023 as strong as we possibly can. We don't have matching gifts all that often, but we do right now. [Anything you can contribute will be doubled]( until we hit our number. I'm a journalist, not a fundraiser, and asking for your money doesn't come easy to me. But we can't do the indispensable and independent reporting you count on us for if folks like you don't help. So let me share some of the stories, scoops, and investigations that [support from readers]( made possible this last year. There aren't other outlets digging on these beats like we are. - Dan Friedman, here in the DC bureau, had a banner year for high-impact reporting. A [video that he first reported]( showing the Oath Keepers engaged in paramilitary training was played in court as evidence that these pro-Trump paramilitarists appeared to be preparing for violence. And the January 6 committee twice played [the explosive leaked audio of Steve Bannon]( that Dan uncovered showing that Trump's failed coup attempt was premediated. - It's impossible to choose just one story from Ari Berman and Pema Levy, who anchor our voting rights and democracy-protection beats. But no other beats are as important. You can [see their pathbreaking work here](. - On the midterm elections, we skipped much of the horserace coverage that consumed much of the media. Instead, we zeroed in on key races with investigative reporting. Noah Lanard produced an in-depth and [explosive profile of Blake Masters](—a little-known but well-connected alt-right Senate candidate who has questioned the value of democracy. As one reader wrote us this fall, "We make better decisions, vote for better candidates, when we have the knowledge ahead of time, and not just whatever is the popular news cycle of the day/week." - "[Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.](" That's from Russ Choma's headline about the Trump Organization conviction on tax fraud charges. Now that Trump's personal taxes are making news, Russ [is on it](. Just like he broke a 2019 story about [a mysterious $50 million loan]( to Trump that caught the eye of government investigators. I'll finish with my big scoop from earlier in the year: [I obtained a Kremlin memo]( instructing Russian media that it was "essential to use as much as possible...the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson" in its propaganda supporting Vladimir Putin's illegal and horrific war in Ukraine. It made a huge splash. So much so that disgraced former Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly tried to discredit it and dismissed Mother Jones as “an obscure publication." Perhaps that's reason enough to [support our work right now with a year-end donation if you can](. Here’s the pitch: We at Mother Jones punch above our weight. We get the crucial stories that other news organizations miss. We're not afraid to take on the targets other outlets ignore or overlook. That’s all because of the independence we have that comes from [being supported by readers like you](. And this means your donation to Mother Jones goes far. We’re a no-frills, kickass outfit that knows how to make [the most of the money you send us](. I could go on and on, but I need to start wrapping this up. The plain and basic truth: We can only do our crucial and tough work because folks like you help us out and have our back. Right now, we need to rally a sizeable $170,000 in donations in the next five-plus days. I truly hope that a lot of you might [pitch in today so we can avoid a budget crunch](. Thanks to the rare matching gift pledge, anything you can contribute will be doubled to go twice as far. As for what's ahead in 2023—and why hitting our $350,000 goal matters so much right now—I'll let these three headlines of mine from the last several weeks tell you what's top of mind for me: "[The Media Still Doesn't Know How to Cover Trump's Extremism](," "[Why the GOP Establishment Cannot Save the GOP From Trump](," and "[The Party of January 6 Appears to Have Taken the House. Prepare for the Crazy](." Thanks for reading. Please know that if you can't pitch in today (or ever), I'm grateful that you look to our reporting to make sense of the world. It's an honor to work for readers like you. Onward, David Corn Washington DC, Bureau Chief Mother Jones [Donate]( P.S. If you like my behind-the-scenes writing, you can also [sign up for a free trial of my newsletter, Our Land](. I've enjoyed putting it to together and interacting with its readers, and I am looking forward to another year of it come January.   [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755