Dear Revealer:
Well, I think we can all agree with the X user who posted, "Thanks for the free 7-day trial of 2026, I'd like to unsubscribe from whatever the hell this is."
Should that fail, it's worth staying tuned into everything The Center for Investigative Reporting is doing, because our newsroom is hitting on all cylinders right now—not just covering the awful news in real time, but showing the broader pattern of how violence, corruption, and normalization all move in lockstep.
The horrific shooting in Minneapolis happened in a neighborhood not far from where I used to live, and my feeds have been full of shock and rage from friends in the Twin Cities—shock and rage that spread around the country as it became clear that the administration was not only not apologizing but celebrating the horrific incident. In a powerful essay, David Corn gave voice to the realization that "the military assault on Venezuela, the shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE agent, the launch of the White House’s new revisionist website about January 6—these three events convey a powerful and unsettling message from Donald Trump and his crew: Violence is ours to use, at home and abroad, to get what we want."
As David notes, "neither Noem nor Trump expressed any concern or any sympathy for Renee Nicole Good," who by all accounts was trying to get away from the ICE officers. "They were saying that ICE had the authority and justification to use lethal force in this situation. It was more than a hint: Mess with ICE, and this could happen to you."
This is the message authoritarians the world over want people to hear: Resistance is not only futile, it is dangerous. Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three, was alive yesterday morning. Today, her name stands for a moment when the danger became very clear and present—and when we are called on to face it down with calm, resolve, and a commitment to witnessing, truthfully, what is going on.
David Corn grappled with the need to hold on to reality in “The Erasure of January 6.” He shows how power is consolidated through control of memory—what is amplified, and what is wiped clean. In a similar vein, Katie Herchenroeder noted how “Tony Dokoupil Lavishes Praise on Marco Rubio in Lauding CBS Segment,” a remarkable tone-setter for the new CBS News. (Bari Weiss keeps on making the case for us that independent, non-corporate news is urgently needed right now).
CIR also showed up for our audiences in covering the first major crisis of the week: Al and the More To The Story crew turned around a breakneck-speed episode, “What Trump’s Venezuela Attack Means for the World.”
As it became clear that what happened in Caracas was part of a broader pattern of aggression and threats, Alex Nguyen reported “Europe Tells Trump: Greenland Is Not for Sale” and then tracked how “Trump’s Plans for Venezuelan Oil Are Rapidly Unfolding.”
With gripping new reporting, Isabela Dias showed how Venezuelans in the US are experiencing this moment, in “They Fled Maduro and Cheered His Downfall. But They Fear Deportations, Too.” And in “A New Theory Explains Why Trump Keeps Threatening Global Takeovers,” Inae Oh introduced “neo-royalism” as a way to understand Trump.
The team also followed the money: Judd Legum’s “Trump’s Venezuela Move Could Deliver a Big Win for This MAGA Billionaire” asked the big question (“who benefits?”), while through our Climate Desk collaboration, Oliver Milman and Dharna Noor noted the cost to the planet in “Experts: Trump Plan to Exploit Venezuela’s Oil Would Be ‘Terrible for the Climate’.”
In video, Anna Yeo and the team showed that “Even Republicans Are Challenging Trump’s Claim That His Venezuela Campaign Is About Drugs” (exposing the contradiction between aggressive foreign posturing and cuts to drug treatment at home).
What a week. I hope you're all hanging in there. If you have thoughts and suggestions about all that is going on, and how we can best show up in this moment, please reach out!
In solidarity,
Monika Bauerlein, CEO
The Center for Investigative Reporting
Reveal | Mother Jones | CIR Studios
P.S. Let me say, too, how grateful everyone here is for the generosity that so many listeners/readers/supporters showered on us during our year-end fundraising push last month. Thanks to your help, we exceeded our ambitious goal, finished the year on solid financial footing, and are ready for whatever the rest of whatever else 2026 may bring. The work we do here is essential, and you can be proud that you make it possible.
