An Antidote to Helplessness
Global authoritarianism is on the march, and the president of the United States has cast our lot with the autocrats.
As Donald Trump tries to end-run the checks and balances that have kept our freedoms strong, business as usual is not an option.
Our current system of journalism is incomplete because it omits critical context: what we can do about the terrible things we’ve been reading about.
All Rise News fills this gap with accountability journalism that shows you how to push back against authoritarian bullying.
“Not left, not right – just radical.”
We are facing an emergency, and we have a generational duty to try a radically different approach to journalism.
People are angry.
People are motivated.
People are demanding truthful information that’s useful to their lives.
These times call upon us to inform our audiences, independently, honestly, and objectively, about how the news affects them and what they can do about it.
Freedom of speech. Freedom of the press. Peaceful assembly. The right to petition the government in our courts to redress our grievances, or to exercise any faith or faithlessness we choose. Those five protections of the First Amendment are just the start of our collective birthright.
We know the levers of power the people hold in our system, and we will not treat our readers as passive spectators to the ongoing vandalism and degradation of our democratic institutions. Through our journalism, you will get world-class reporting that you can put into action.
• You will learn about the court cases affecting your rights to speak, protest, associate, unionize, receive due process, and demand a government that follows the rule of law;
• We will unpack the illegal power grabs of our first felon president—and what can be done if that lawlessness cannot be constrained by the courts;
• We will reveal what issues have fired people up enough to call their elected representatives, and how lawmakers responded to pressure;
• We will list town halls and protests related to the stories in our dispatches.
We represent no party, movement, or faction.
What we do represent is a departure from the journalism of moral detachment during a global assault on democracy. We have rights – indeed, civic obligations – to uphold our democratic order.
Our mission may have sprung from the crisis in the United States that Trumpism has brought about, but it extends beyond one individual. That mode of thinking must die: Autocracy thrives where the People voluntarily cede their power.
“All rise.”
About us
Adam Klasfeld, Editor in Chief and co-founder
As a longtime legal journalist, I have witnessed the most historic court cases of a generation, including the moment when, after a courtroom rose for the jury, Donald Trump became a convicted felon. I’ve covered Trump’s criminal prosecutions, scores of his civil cases, and his impeachments, appearing every day for seven weeks to discuss his trial on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.
I’ve had a 360-degree view of the judiciary, covering state, federal and military courts internationally. Journalism allowed me to work with my heroes and appear on major print, digital, radio and TV outlets in the U.S. and globally, across the political spectrum. I strongly believe in the power of dispassionate reporting to defeat polarization by laying out facts, without commentary, from a detached distance.
But these days, I feel the need to do more. In an age of profound cynicism about our institutions, readers increasingly ask me a fundamental question about the legal beat: What is the point of these stories? All Rise News is our attempt at an answer, with a relentless focus on the relevance of every dispatch to your life, rights, and power to effect change.
Tim Mak, Publisher and co-founder
I’m a longtime war correspondent who covered authoritarian Russia invading a democracy in Ukraine. I watched with growing concern as the White House pushed the limits of our American system in the early months of 2025.
I realized that the traditional methods of both-sides journalism weren't up to our political moment. Meanwhile, I noticed that many around me felt powerless to push back against the Trump administration’s illegal measures. Our new effort is an attempt to concoct an antidote to that feeling.
My career has spanned more than 16 years in journalism, having worked at Politico, The Daily Beast and NPR. I’m now the owner of a company called The Counteroffensive, which publishes a number of different news organizations. I’m also a former U.S. Army medic.
Please join us as we outline your power to push back!
