A few BIG annnouncements

New subscriptions! New perks! Same me!

I am taking today (mostly) off to hang with my family and celebrate the best-looking American president: Franklin Pierce.

HUBBA HUBBA.

But, I did want to take advantage of the (relative) slowness of the day to make a few announcements about this newsletter — and how you can support me.

I’ve put a bunch of thought into all of this and had LOTS of conversations with you all about it over the past year or so. And I’ve come to a few decisions!

Before we get there, I just wanted to remind people of what I am doing here. Because I think it’s a) important and b) important to make it as clear as possible.

Let’s start with what I’m NOT doing. I am not:

• a predictable partisan

• a cheerleader for either side

• someone who will tell you what you want to hear because I know you want to hear it

• a bully

• someone who will call people names just to, well, call people names

There is a WHOLE lot of that on Substack — and in the political world more broadly. If that’s what you are looking for, you can definitely find it! Just not here.

What I am is this:

• Honest

• Authentic

• Transparent

• Independent

You might get sick of hearing me say it but I am calling balls and strikes in the political world no matter what uniform the batter at the plate is wearing. (And, yes, I am going to be selling merch soon with that slogan!)

I think that role is more important now than ever — as we see the legacy media both shrink and shirk its responsibility to do just that.

I don’t have a billionaire owner dictating what I say and what I don’t. Or some giant corporation focused on delivering more and more profits for its share-holders.

It’s just me. (And my wife who is starting to help out!)

That’s really important. Because when you invest in me, you aren’t giving to some faceless corporation who is trying to cut staff so they can make a little more than the hundreds of millions they are already making. (In 2023, David Zaslav, the guy who runs Warner Brothers Discovery, which owns CNN, made $49.7 million. I mean…come on.)

Which brings me to subscriptions. I’ve made three big decisions about them:

1. I am going to keep a FREE tier — and about 60% of my content will remain FREE.

2. I am going to keep the price of my PAID tier at $6 a month and $60 for the year. Plenty of people — seriously! — told me to raise the price. But I want to make sure it stays affordable for as many people as possible who are willing to invest in me.

3. I am going to build out and build up the “Founding Membership” tier for people who are willing to become major investors in what I do.

Ok, now to the specifics with each tier.

• FREE: It’s pretty self explanatory 😂😂😂. You get access to all of my free posts. That will always be AT LEAST one post a day — as I am committed to keeping my “Morning” video post, where I talk about a story likely to drive the day, totally and completely free. You also get access to any and all Substack Live interviews I do — and I am going to be doing LOTS more of those. (Stay tuned for news on that front.) If you want to see what Substack Live is all about, check out this convo from last week with

  Steve Vladeck
  .

• PAID ($6 a month/$60 for the year): This gives you access to EVERYTHING I write. That includes: My line-by-line breakdowns of President Trump’s speeches, my weekly podcast chat with Chuck Todd, my Friday Mailbag and my weekly Sunday post where I share the BEST stuff I saw on the Internet over the past week.

  And , if you act between now and the end of February, you can still qualify for a 15-minute, one-on-one Zoom call with me. I will NOT be booking any more Zoom calls after the final day of February so if you’ve been thinking about becoming a paid subscriber to chat with me, you need to sign up in the next 11 days or so! (NOTE: If you are already a paid subscriber with a Zoom chat scheduled with me, I, of course, will still do it!)

• FOUNDING ($500 a year): Over the first two years of this newsletter’s existence, I have offered the “founding” tier without any real rewards. People who are members of it just gave out of the kindness of their hearts. For which I am incredibly grateful.

  But I wanted to do more than just say I am grateful.

  So, if you become a founding member (and anyone who is already a founding member is grandfathered into this), you get: 1) A quarterly 30 minute Zoom call with me (so, four a year) 2) One in-person coffee with me a year — if you live in the DC area or are coming to visit for business or pleasure 3) My personal cell phone number. Yes, every founding member gets my cell # (to be used for texting not calling!). Got a question that’s nagging you? Or an observation? I will be your personal political concierge!

My goal in all of these subscription tiers is to make sure that anyone can consume at least SOME of my content. And that for people willing to make an investment in me, you get your money’s worth — whether that’s $60 a year or $500 a year. (You can always buy me a coffee if you are feeling generous and just want to give!)

Thank you ALL for your support to this point. It has been a tremendous gift to be able to build this community with you. I have some BIG plans for the coming months. I can’t wait to tell you about them!

— Chris