Less than two days ago, I noted that we had blown past our initial webathon goal of $40,000 and sheepishly asked if our generous readers might help us get to $50,000.
Shortly after I posted that appeal, our former president, evidently upset that we had the temerity to say “No” to his bid for the Republican nomination, unleashed one of his social-media tirades against National Review.
“Why does anyone read the National Review,” he asked, and graciously suggested that we “die peacefully.”
But the response from our readers has been a resounding: “not so fast!” Last night, we surpassed a revised target of $60,000 and had to raise our goal to $75,000.
“I just read the report of Donald Trump’s attack on National Review,” wrote Ralph, who donated $50. Thank you Ralph! Jake, with a donation of $20, wrote, “If Trump wonders who gives money – well, I guess I do! Voted for Trump twice – have no desire to vote for him ever again.” Thank you!
Mark puts it succinctly: “You had me at ‘No.’” And he donated an incredibly generous $5,000.
This is all tremendously humbling. It would have been the easier course to simply fall in line with Trump from day one and refuse to recognize his significant flaws — or, alternatively, to become so consumed by hatred for him, that we could not bring ourselves to recognize any policy successes of his administration or to be honest about the dangerous Leftist tilt of the modern Democratic Party.
But we do what we have always done at National Review, which is call it like we see it, anchored by our deeply held conservative values and commitment to the truth.
So if, like others, you value what we do, and have not participated in our webathon yet, I ask that you help us reach our goal in any way you can — $5, $20, $50, $100, $1,000. Anything that you’re comfortable with we’d deeply appreciate.
Thank you, as always, for reading.
