The Chicago Cubs won big Wednesday night, with their first World Series victory since 1908. Now, the team’s owners — the billionaire Ricketts family — are looking for another win next week. The Nebraska ballot referendum to reinstate the death penalty that they’ve helped bankroll goes before the voters on Tuesday.
The Nebraska legislature succeeded in repealing the death penalty in 2015 — overriding the veto by Republican Governor Pete Ricketts. Almost immediately following the repeal, supporters of capital punishment, backed by the governor, launched a ballot drive to put the issue directly before voters in November 2016.
Governor Ricketts is a part-owner of the Cubs team; his family, which made its fortune founding the brokerage giant TD Ameritrade, purchased a 95 percent stake in the team in 2009.
It is unusual for a sitting governor to spend money backing a ballot initiative, but Pete Ricketts has spent $300,000 backing Nebraskans for the Death Penalty, which is campaigning to bring back capital punishment. Meanwhile, his father Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade, pitched in $100,000.
The elder Ricketts is a prolific right-wing political spender. He also gave $1 million to a pro-Donald Trump Super PAC in September.
Cubs fans celebrating their World Series win outside Wrigley Field in Chicago on November 2
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
Contact the author:
Latest Stories
Voices
The Surprising Reaction Inside Iran to Its War Victory
Despite extracting extraordinary concessions, the reaction in Iran isn’t entirely jubilant. Past betrayals are too recent to forget.
Chilling Dissent
FBI Tried to Flip Anti-ICE Protesters Into Informants
“They were asking me to inform,” said a protester, one of dozens contacted by the feds, who was arrested while playing the cello.
Voices
Chud the Builder Fantasized About “Race War.” Now He’s Charged With Attempted Murder.
Dalton Eatherly streams his racist provocations online. It was only a matter of time before the violence rhetoric entered the real world.