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Who The F*ck Supports This?

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You do. It's not enough to be a consumer of media. You must be a stakeholder in it.

WTFJHT is an independent, reader-funded project. It's more than a newsletter. It’s a relationship between one writer and a community that values the clear, consistent, and honest telling of what happened today. If this once-a-day briefing helps you make sense of the news, consider becoming a supporting member so it can stay free for everyone who needs it. About 2% of readers underwrite access for the other 98%.

Choose from two monthly and two annual membership options:

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Prefer a one-time contribution over a recurring commitment? That works too! You can still invest in WTF Just Happened Today? with a one-time tip of $25, $50, $100, or $200 — or any amount that feels right via PayPal, Venmo (@WTFJHT), or Cash App ($WTFJHT).

What The Fuck Just Happened Today? is a free, reader-funded newsletter that's been chronicling the daily shock and awe in national politics since 2017. It's produced by Matt – a real life human! – and published every afternoon, Monday through Thursday. More than 200,000 people rely on WTFJHT for a concise, focused recap of the day’s political news.

Here's the deal: This is my full-time job, made possible entirely by readers who choose to underwrite it so everyone else can read for free – and I plan to keep doing it for as long as you keep supporting me. This model keeps WTFJHT free while funding a fair living wage and the tools and systems that make publishing possible. That’s what makes membership an investment, not a charity. It unlocks free access for thousands of readers who can’t afford to pay. That’s the whole point.

So if you rely on WTFJHT, invest in its continued production by becoming a supporting member so I can keep telling you what the fuck just happened today.

How the math maths: About 2% of readers underwrite WTFJHT, which unlocks free access for everyone else. While delivering the newsletter is cheap, it's not free. It costs about $1.81 per year to send WTFJHT to one subscriber. With an current average contribution of $5.89/month, each member effectively “pays for” ~39 free readers every month. But wait, there's more! About 13% of members cancel each year (for all the normal it's-not-you-it's-me life reasons), which works out to ~50 people a month. So to keep membership flat, I need to welcome ~50 new members every month (about 600 per year!) before I can grow, let alone run fewer membership drives.

Said another way: your $5/month moves the needle.

What your membership funds:

The Daily Newsletter. The clear, concise, and fully sourced once‑a‑day recap of U.S. political news. Sent daily since 2017.
A living wage for Matt. The one-person newsroom who reports, edits, curates, publishes, provides customer support, runs operations, and handles web development.
Publishing infrastructure and accessibility so anyone can read it: the blog, newsletter, RSS, Atom, JSON, and Apple News feeds.
Current Status, the companion news tool that surfaces the day’s essential political stories.
Independent, member-powered journalism. No ads. No sponsors.

Questions or comments? Let me know.

Thank you for your support. I'm glad you're here.
-MATT

PS – Can't afford to support my work financially? That's okay! Share WTF Just Happened Today? with friends, family, and colleagues. It's a free gesture that has a big impact and contributes to a well-informed community.

Trust & privacy: Payments are handled by Memberful with Stripe as the payment processor. I will never share your email or personal information for any purpose. You’ll receive occasional emails about invoices, renewals, or account issues. Memberships auto‑renew monthly/annually, can be canceled anytime, and there are no refunds.

Editorial policy: This is the news through the lens of a person making decisions about coverage – much the same way a front page editor does for newspapers. With every blurb I write, I'm make a news-value judgement. There's a natural tension here: First, humans making decisions about the relative importance of information is inherently biased. And second, journalism is a set of ethics based on trust, truthfulness, fairness, integrity, independence, and accountability. My goal with WTF Just Happened Today? is to acknowledge my personal bias, reflect journalistic standards, and apply the following standards and practices:

WTFJHT takes a neutral-ish position. It's not intentionally partisan. It's purposefully fact-based. It focuses on clearly and concisely saying what happened, citing the primary sources, and moving on. Bias is the byproduct of being a human making decisions.
WTFJHT doesn't offer commentary, opinion, or analysis. Adjectives and adverbs are generally stripped out of the writing so facts are framed as fact. It's unncessary to add a "just" in front of 8% of Americans approve of the job the president is doing. Any reasonable person can understand that that's probably not a good job approval rating, right?
WTFJHT's value is derived from its reputation and promise to the readers. The voice, tone, consistency, and being a reasonable person are all in service of building trust. If I break this promise, I break the trust of the reader.

Above all else, with WTFJHT you can expect an independent voice that is personally accountable and considerate for how the editorial choices impact others. I go to great lengths to cite the original source of news and draw from a diversity of sources.

Still not convinced? Here's what some smart people on the Internet are saying about What The Fuck Just Happened Today?:

"This is the site I’ve been waiting for."
"Single subject, distinct tone, clear formatting, total understanding of what its audience wants. WTFJHT is the best email newsletter."
"WTFJHT is a brilliant journalistic response to an urgent civic need."
"Terrific daily digest. Exemplary news curation. Highly recommended."

Can I send you a check? Yes! Please make it payable to Matt Kiser (I can't cash checks made out to WTF Just Happened Today?). My physical address is: WTF Just Happened Today? 505 Broadway E #211, Seattle, WA 98102 USA

How do I login to my membership account? If you're on the Memberful platform (most members are), you can sign-in here. If you're on DonorBox, this is your sign-in page. And, if you're a Patreon member, here you go.

How do I update my credit card? Log in to your account, add your new card and click Update my credit card.

Can I update my email address or other personal information? Yes. Log in to your account here to make these changes.

Does unsubscribing from the newsletter automatically cancel my recurring membership? No. If you'd like to cancel or edit your recurring membership, please use the links provided in your receipt emails (or the appropriate link above) to manage your membership. Because WTFJHT is free but supported by optional contributions, it's not possible to make the assumption that someone unsubscribing from the newsletter also wants to cancel their patronage. In many cases, supporting members do not and have never been newsletter subscribers (e.g. a blog reader or Twitter followers). For these reasons, I provide members with the tools to manage their account at any time for any reason.

How do I cancel my membership? For Memberful members, log in to your account and toggle auto-renew off from the "Subscriptions" menu item.

Are you a 501(c)(3)? Is my contribution tax-deductible? No, I'm a for-profit, single-member LLC based in Washington State. There are two reasons for this: 1) this setup makes it easy to manage and keeps my operational overhead low, and 2) I strongly believe media businesses need to be in the business of being in business. Meaning, my ability to fund WTFJHT is a reflection of the value created for the readers. If enough readers don't find WTFJHT valuable enough to pay for, then maybe WTFJHT shouldn't exist anymore.

How much does this thing cost to run anyway? Glad you asked! I did some back of the envelope math and I came up with a baseline estimate of $16,778/month. If you're interested in how I arrived at that number, I've outlined the cost of running WTFJHT in the FAQ.