33K would've been made by one of the darlings of the Medium publications. That isn't to say that it can't be made by an individual working hard to secure followers and putting the graft in all day every day.... it's just more likely to have been earned by someone with a willing and ready made audience who creates clickbait demagoguery.

Despite how it may sound, this big payout doesn't get me down - but neither does it inspire me. That's why I don't write here very often. When they moved away from the elevator model, Medium became essentially a left wing online newspaper - onr that will always favour professional journalists over the lay writer, regardless of the quality of what is being written. You can be a truly excellent writer, but unless you're part of the Medium go-to team, you're not earning mega bucks. Conversley, you can be an average writer churning out the same turgid stuff for a large publication and you'll still win at Medium.

That's the beautiful irony of Medium at the moment, it espouses left wing notions of equality and fairness whilst it concentrates the editorial power (and money) in a small group of elites. That's how the right wing works. Still... onwards and upwards. :o)