Talking Points Memo

Last week we took a chance and tried something we had never done before. As a result, this week there are hundreds of fewer people reading this email.

They aren't reading this because they are now members and are probably reading member exclusives like Josh Marshall's evolving thoughts on the Epstein wildfire currently engulfing MAGA world or about how Trump's immigration policy is super unpopular.

In fact, so many people became members last week that our publisher broke his self-mandated no-work-contact-during-parental-leave rule to find out what was going on.

So what was going on? 

It might have been that we offered our biggest discount ever on a TPM Prime Membership. It also might have something to do with the launch of our annual TPM Journalism Fund Drive, which regular readers know is a critical way for us to raise money to support our journalism and to support free memberships for those experiencing financial hardship (if this applies to you, click here). 

Whatever the reason so many previous readers of this email decided to join, it really lit a fire in our newsroom. Seeing that readers value and want to support your work is like being injected with a steroid in the journalism business — especially when your organization is more than 90% reader-funded. It gave our small team an even greater sense of focus and purpose by letting us know what we do is truly needed.

In other words, it meant a lot to us.

So as we continue on with the TPM Journalism Fund Drive and the celebration of our 25th anniversary, we're going to continue with the discount and see if we can catch lightning twice. This deal is strictly for a limited time during this critical part of the year. We encourage anyone who has thought about joining TPM in the past to take advantage of this offer and become a member today.