As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.
Robert Reich writes about what will be Mango Mussolini's vilest legacy:
Most of the 74,222,957 Americans who voted to re-elect Donald Trump – 46.8%of the votes cast in the 2020 presidential election – don’t hold Trump accountable for what he’s done to America.
Their acceptance of Trump’s behavior will be his vilest legacy. [snip]
Trump has brought impunity to the highest office in the land, wielding a wrecking ball to the most precious windowpane of all – American democracy.
The message? A president can obstruct special counsels’ investigations of his wrongdoing, push foreign officials to dig up dirt on political rivals, fire inspectors general who find corruption, order the entire executive branch to refuse congressional subpoenas, flood the Internet with fake information about his opponents, refuse to release his tax returns, accuse the press of being “fake media” and “enemies of the people”, and make money off his presidency.
And he can get away with it. Almost half of the electorate will even vote for his reelection.
A president can also lie about the results of an election without a shred of evidence – and yet, according to polls, be believed by the vast majority of those who voted for him.
74 million. It's still hard to imagine we occupy the same space with so many damaged, dimwitted, despicable people who believed such a damaged, dimwitted, despicable person should be elected and then re- elected after the damage he wrought.
Greg Sargent has reason for optimism that the course of events from now until November 20 will be less turbulent than many of us fear:
Relatively, anyway.
Two big things right now seem to threaten maximum disruption ahead. The first is Trump’s effort to throw the $900 billion economic rescue package into chaos, which could cause a government shutdown and delay badly needed assistance from getting to the American people, at a moment of worsening economic calamity.
The second is Trump’s apparent belief that he can still somehow steal the election or, as he has mused to advisers, possibly declare martial law.
Well, we just saw Mango Mussolini capitulate on the first thing, so score one for "restful." On the second, Sargent describes the fruitlessness of all the fantasy scenarios of an overturned election. Good read for keeping calm and carrying on.
S.V. Date exposes the income transfer grift Mango Mussolini has been pulling on his gullible cult:
President Donald Trump’s donors — the vast majority of whom are working-class supporters and retirees contributing just a few dollars a month — put $10.5 million into the erstwhile billionaire’s own personal businesses over the course of his presidency, a HuffPost analysis found.
Some $8.5 million came from the Trump campaign and related entities that Trump controls directly. Another $2 million came from other Republican candidates and committees.
Through a trust that he controls, Trump owns the hotels, golf courses and buildings that received the money, with every penny of profit flowing to him personally.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the... holy shit!
Religious orders are supposed to provide spiritual guidance to those who join. But some of the women who entered Sisters Minor of Mary Immaculate (SMMI) say they faced physical and emotional abuse. [snip]
“I witnessed other girls just being yelled at on a constant basis by Theresa Kovacs,” said Rose, who joined SMMI in 1995. (Three interviewees asked to only be identified by their first names.) According to Rose, a sister named Georgiana often got the brunt of Kovacs’ anger.
“It would be a torrent of the nastiest stuff you could ever say to a human being, she would say to me,” said Georgiana. “It was meant to keep people in line.” [snip]
According to [former SMMI nun Patricia] Budd, they even had their food restricted.
“Basically your food is pretty much less and less,” she said. “And so, that’s pretty much like what a cult is — and break you down. That’s the whole thing. Always to break you down.”
If there's any part of the Church that's not ultimately cult- like, we'd like to know (not really).
Once again we close by recommending a visit to Infidel 753's link round- up for a comprehensive list of links to thought- provoking, humorous and otherwise "interesting stuff" he's carefully curated over the past week. And speaking of worthy posts, check out the Jon Swift 2020 Roundup of the best blogger posts of the year. You'll find Infidel and some of our other favorite bloggers recognized there.
