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The Trying Times

News you can act on

Mission Statement

The Trying Times is an independent publication seeking to improve media literacy, increase government transparency, and fund people-powered initiatives.

Improving media literacy

Too often, major media outlets present one side of the story — a disservice to American democracy that has resulted in a convicted felon and twice-impeached former president’s return to office.

Our objective is simple: by focusing on legislation (executive orders, draft bills, and court decisions — not tweets), we offer a unique framing of how the government actually works by addressing the forecasted impact of a particular bill on the lives of regular Americans.

Increasing government transparency

By going straight to the legislation, we aim to side-step the narrative spun by politicos gunning for power and news outlets seeking clicks by peddling outrage.

Focusing on outcomes of legislation — without a partisan bias — allows our readers to better understand how their government works for (and against) their interests.

Similarly, TTT acts as a bellwether for government officials seeking real-time support of their sponsored legislation. A win-win scenario, with a powerful remedy through our use of platform profits.

Funding people-powered initiatives

Each story we cover, and its forecasted impact, can be voted on by our readers. We take special care to ensure our voting ledger is accurate (that is, only readers in the US with a valid account can vote) so as to build a true sense of the people’s opinion.

Several times throughout the year, we disburse our publication’s profits to existing nonprofits, NGOs, PACs, and any organization or charitable cause that aligns with the will of our readers. Our north star is to support democracy by harnessing the power of individuals’ attention for good, impacting the trajectory of American democracy by contributing in a way that drives results: financially.