After just three weeks with Donald Trump in office it's hard to keep track of his tweets, appointments, executive orders and latest conflicts of interest.
But a daily email newsletter has emerged to help keep everyone's heads from spinning off trying to keep up. Most importantly it answers the perpetual question of "WTF just happened today?"
And it's called just that: What the Fuck Just Happened Today.
What started as a blog post for Seattle-based product manager Matt Kiser to keep track of the latest antics of the Trump administration has turned into a daily newsletter with more than 43,000 subscribers.
Each issue is headlined with some word or phrase that summarizes the biggest political story of the day. On Wednesday the newsletter led with "Nevertheless, she persisted," referring to Sen. Elizabeth Warren's reprimanding-turned-rallying cry. Kiser says the simple layout and easy-to-find information "helps squelch some of the outrage."
"I had been struggling to keep up with the pace of news coming out," Kiser said of his decision to create his small collection of daily political news stories.
Kiser says he's a bit overwhelmed that thousands of people are using his simple list of about 10 major news stories to stay informed about politics and the White House. He's already at 2.5 million page views on the newsletter's website for February.
The newsletter, which Kiser admits is not an original concept and is based on other successful newsletters like theSkimm, follows a pretty simple formula: What happened, what are the facts, who reported it and where can you get more information.
"It's super difficult for anyone who is not a news junkie to feel informed or feel like the have any sense of what’s going on in the world," he said.
Selecting which stories and sources he includes on his list has become more of a challenge. Kiser said the newsletter "could be read as an antagonistic attack on Trump," but he insisted he's trying to take a "neutral-ish" position.
To keep things balanced he's trying to cite a "diversity of sources," though he tends to lean on stories from the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Guardian and other so-called mainstream liberal media. But no matter the source, "I’m not trying to offer commentary or opinion or analysis."
Kiser knows the newsletter resonates with some people who are frustrated by an administration with a tenuous relationship to truth and accuracy. He said the newsletter is straight and to the point, which is helpful for people "starting to pay attention for the first time to politics," new to activism and joining up with the #Resist movement.
An organized list of news is like a balm to people who might be feeling "perpetually outraged," Kiser said. Instead of being angry, reading and understanding the day-to-day developments "starts to put things in perspective."
He said that the newsletter "fits more naturally from the resistance group," but "I think it would be super cool if the alt-right got excited about this."
All it takes is a click of the subscribe button to join the revolution.
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