Hi, everybody, Evan here! Let me chat at you for a second.
When I started The Moral High Ground 11 months ago, I had no idea what this venture would look like almost a year later, how fast it would grow, what unexpected directions it might take … who would be president when I wrote this email.
I wrote a brief mission statement kind of on the fly: “We are living through a world-historical temper tantrum from white conservative Christians over their loss of control, relevance, and supremacy. This weekly newsletter looks at current events through that lens and usually mocks it mercilessly.” (There’s a much longer mission statement and explanation of some of the original ideas for this joint here.)
There would have been a vital path for this newsletter to follow if Kamala Harris had won, but it would have looked different. Instead we’re staring down an attempted authoritarian/technofascist/Christian nationalist takeover that seeks to do away with everything that actually makes this a country worth fighting for.
And right at the center of that is … well shit, it’s that exact white conservative Christian temper tantrum, isn’t it? Them, and the weird tech creeps and power-hungry fascists who make up the Venn diagram of the greatest threats to America.
So maybe newsletters like this one — and this one specifically — are important than ever. Independent media certainly is, and we all know the fascists would like nothing more than to bend all the media to their will and intimidate others into staying silent in the face of their evil.
I will not do that. Hell. Fucking. No.
On a more personal note, when I started The Moral High Ground as a side project from my work at Wonkette, it was a leap, and I didn’t know how long it would take to become a viable, growing venture of its own. I had a goal in my head that maybe it would be amazing if it could have 1,000 paying subscribers within a year. I had no idea if that was reasonable.
Well, here’s where that’s at: You are one of 13,131 total subscribers, and growing. And with exactly one month left to go before the one-year anniversary of the site, there are 866 amazing paid subscribers and founding members.
IN OTHER WORDS? 1,000 is an attainable goal!
So let’s have a subscription drive!
Can you be one of the 134 to help me get to 1,000 by May 31?
Take 30% off while you’re at it. That makes it less than 5 bucks a month!
I know things are uncertain and scary right now with Donald Trump’s power-hungry ignorance (and his damned tariffs) threatening to destroy the entire world. We’re all feeling it. Especially people in any kind of group that tends to get targeted by authoritarian takeovers. (Which definitely includes journalists!)
But hey, right now, we’re here, and we can fight back.
And I am not too shy to say I need your help to do that.
Here’s what I’m planning to do over the next year: I’m going to keep writing weekly columns on all kinds of different things I think are important, things that fall under the umbrella of that mission statement above. I’m going to keep building projects like this one, where I’m tracking all the Christian pastors and youth group leaders and gymnastics coaches (really) who actually are a threat to kids, as opposed to the drag performers and LGBTQ+ people the Christian nationalists and Republicans are always accusing.
And as things grow even more, I’ll add more features as time, resources and inspiration allow.
AND if we hit that 1,000 goal by May 31, my vow is that I’m going to start figuring out how to use the “video” function so I can “go live,” like the kids are always saying these days. Maybe I’ll start doing the audio versions of the posts AS VIDEOS? Dunno! Let’s find out together.
I also have an idea for a way to expand the live-chat, which is at this point only for paying subscribers. And I’d really like to start collaborating with more Substackers and others whose work intersects with this.
So, lots of things! And more!
But first, I need to pay these damn bills. (He said with a twinkle in his eye, but a very sincere one.)
So again, I’m asking you to become one of the 134. Orrrrrrr, so many of you could become one of the 134 that we blow that goal out of the water entirely and have to amend it upward. That is an acceptable outcome.
Ready, set, go! You all got this.
When you’re done with that, share the newsletter with all your friends, so they can help too, or just start reading if they haven’t before.
With that, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!
We’re going to fight through this and keep the damned Moral High Ground while we do it.
Evan