Dear John,

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy just unveiled the list of spending cuts he’s demanding in exchange for raising the debt limit, and it’s simply shameful.

He wants to kick people off of Medicaid and food stamps, overturn student debt relief, repeal clean energy tax credits, and more. And if he doesn’t get his way, he’s threatening to plunge the U.S. government into default, creating a global financial crisis.

It’s outrageous. But you know what’s even more infuriating? The mainstream media’s failure to accurately inform the public about what’s really going on.

News outlets from the New York Times to CNN to NPR are once again framing the fight over the debt ceiling as a legitimate policy disagreement and blaming “both sides” for failing to compromise.

Hogwash. But unless the American people get the facts, Democrats will face enormous pressure to concede to the Republicans’ hostage-taking demands. That’s why Inequality Media is using all of our social media platforms to reach millions of Americans with viral videos and easy-to-understand explainers to educate voters about what’s really going on.

Will you donate to Inequality Media to help get the truth out and set the record straight on the debt ceiling?

Every time Republicans pick a fight over the debt ceiling, the mainstream media botches its coverage. This time is no different.

CNN calls the crisis “a dangerous game of chicken” with extremes on both sides. The New York Times says that “members of both parties are intent on painting the opposition as culpable for the turmoil that would result.”

This false equivalency is baloney. When Donald Trump occupied the White House, Republicans voted to increase the debt limit three times. Over the last quarter century, it has been raised over a dozen times.

The truth is that Kevin McCarthy is holding the entire U.S. economy hostage in order to extract wildly unpopular cuts that he could never pass through Congress otherwise.

This fight is not about the debt or government spending. It’s about paying for bills already incurred. If Republicans were actually serious about reducing the debt, they’d reverse the disastrous Trump tax cuts for big corporations and the wealthy.

This disinformation about the debt ceiling isn’t being peddled just by Fox News or the right-wing media. It’s coming from mainstream outlets that most Americans rely on for their news. If the mainstream media gets the debt ceiling wrong, how do we expect the American people to get it right?

This is a fight that Inequality Media was made for, but we need your help to ramp up our campaign right now. Will you donate to help get the truth out and set the record straight about the debt ceiling?

Thank you for joining our fight against right-wing extremism,

Robert Reich
Inequality Media