I posted this on my FB page with this as a "teaser" you wrote at the end: "To put it in terms the Christian nationalists will understand: this is a Manichean struggle. There are only two sides. On the fascist side are Trump, Putin and MBS, Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, and the radical religious right. On the other side, the side of democracy and inclusion, is everyone else."
Because we're disconnected from many of the old rituals and ways of knowing, gullible people like Ginni are easily deceived. People are desperate to find meaning. If you don't know who you are or where you come from, you can be made to believe anything. The whole MAGA movement is a ritual for lost souls.
HOLY COW. She is bat shit crazy. Layers and layers upon more layers on top of childhood lunacy. How about a little genealogy to dig deeper into that “deep pile of Schitt.” She is proof that smart can do way more damage than ignorant or stupid. Boy, have they been waiting and along came chump with the magic wand.
I'll probably write about this in greater detail, but it's interesting that the only non-obvious crazies who stayed with Trump after the election were the Opus Dei crew.
I had no idea I shared a hometown with Ginni T. My father is turning over in his grave in the knowledge that she graduated from his beloved Creighton. Dear God. Definitely some very perverse vibery in that city.
I've read some wild tales about trafficking/drug scandals tied to a credit union and Offutt AFB so I wouldn't be surprised if there were random burnings at stakes somewhere in the plot. But something about your description her parents just resonated with a "yeah, this definitely feels like people that populated Omaha in the 50's". I felt it even when I was a toddler.
If Clarence Thomas was not a Supreme Court Justice, he and Ginni could believe whatever they want without it impacting the rest of us here on Planet 1.0. Since Ginni was not in Clarence’s marital bed during the confirmation hearings she likely fell under his wacky influence more than he her’s. The cult of Thomas? Many have said she should testify to the Jan 6th Committee. She did, apparently with no revelation. Given his position, HE should have been the one called to testify exactly how far down the “big lie” rabbit hole he had fallen. Refuse, lie, or tell the truth would be his only options. Taking the 5th would have meant good riddance.
You know that my comments are never meant to snip at all the intrepid research & hard & first-class writing work that these essays demonstrate. But here, I take issue with beliefs in goofy shit being an especially American experience. Rather I suggest that we're in a particularly goofy time that grants permission to all to be children again, believing fairy tales & similarly goofy shit. To its hardly American character, I can't think of more goofy shit in one place, and more mass acceptance of it, than Nazi Germany. Unless you prefer to go further back, to the Bible.
You can't rightly say that all the gullible people in Europe came here. The US never has fallen into fascism the way so many other countries did, partly because US never had enough gullible believers. Our problem is now. I've said for 6 years that Americans were never as gullible as they have been lately. I blame 70 years of the reach & thus influence of fatuous commercial TV; exactly 27 years this month of FoxNews attacks on truth (with no adverse consequences) algorithm-ed to raise the US emotional temperature into fever levels; & all the conditioning of 60 years of USSR active measures to tease the fault lines of US internal heterogeneity into gaping chasms of existential fear of black people.
What do we do with so many mentally ill people who have attained positions of power? Hers is not just a "difference of opinion". She is mentally ill. I have been aware of her for many decades but thought she was somewhat harmless because people would not take her seriously. In swoops her knight in shining armor (tfg) to make all her sick fantasies come true. I watched the "Frontline" episode about Michael Flynn. So scary that people are worshipping him. Again, I thought he's too batshit crazy for people to take him seriously but there appears to be a movement of people behind him. Would not be surprised if he runs for President. A sad state of affairs!
Yes, especially when people fall into Religious Fanaticism. It's truly scary. From what I have witnessed, that kind of obsession usually stems from trauma. It seems like they use religion as a way to avoid dealing with the trauma and as a way to feel like they have some control of the world around them. So dysfunctional and destructive.
My Catholic friend assures me that Christianity, that crusading, inquisitorial bane of non-Christians since it took power, has mellowed its believers' record and become a force for relieving human suffering in this world. So I can't argue.
I don't know, but the system seems to cultivate that kind of type. Maybe politics is such an awful business, so harmful to self regard, that you have to be a little nutty to do it to begin with?
Unfortunately, politics attracts a certain kind of personality. My friends and I always say we could never swim in that cesspool. If there were some way to take money out of it, more altruistic people would start to take a more active role. It's the ability to generate/steal so much money that attracts the whacko's and bottom feeders.
Hence the scarf...
Greg, I'm glad you, LB, Heidi, Jim, and Gal Suburban keep up with this. I can't do it anymore. I'm so tired.
I understand. This one wore me out.
Manichean heresy or fallacy -- a dangerous pitfall for the simpleminded. Ginni T should be in a hospital
Or looney bin
Specifically, psych ward
Thank you, Greg, for putting all together for us. My dot-connection abilities are limited, to say the least.
She is good at covering her tracks.
I posted this on my FB page with this as a "teaser" you wrote at the end: "To put it in terms the Christian nationalists will understand: this is a Manichean struggle. There are only two sides. On the fascist side are Trump, Putin and MBS, Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, and the radical religious right. On the other side, the side of democracy and inclusion, is everyone else."
Thanks, Ellen. It really is that simple.
Because we're disconnected from many of the old rituals and ways of knowing, gullible people like Ginni are easily deceived. People are desperate to find meaning. If you don't know who you are or where you come from, you can be made to believe anything. The whole MAGA movement is a ritual for lost souls.
She knew who she was, in my humble opinion, now we do
"A Ritual For Lost Souls" is really good, Rick. That's a title, or a poem right there.
HOLY COW. She is bat shit crazy. Layers and layers upon more layers on top of childhood lunacy. How about a little genealogy to dig deeper into that “deep pile of Schitt.” She is proof that smart can do way more damage than ignorant or stupid. Boy, have they been waiting and along came chump with the magic wand.
I'll probably write about this in greater detail, but it's interesting that the only non-obvious crazies who stayed with Trump after the election were the Opus Dei crew.
Swallow and Spit
You did it again, Greg. Thanks for the work, and your particular ability to keep us reading! Always fascinating, satisfying pieces.
Thanks so much, Silvia.
It’s TUESDAY🎉 and this one’s a doozy!
Quite the doozy, alas.
I had no idea I shared a hometown with Ginni T. My father is turning over in his grave in the knowledge that she graduated from his beloved Creighton. Dear God. Definitely some very perverse vibery in that city.
[tries to come up with an "Omaha stakes" pun, fails...]
I've read some wild tales about trafficking/drug scandals tied to a credit union and Offutt AFB so I wouldn't be surprised if there were random burnings at stakes somewhere in the plot. But something about your description her parents just resonated with a "yeah, this definitely feels like people that populated Omaha in the 50's". I felt it even when I was a toddler.
Yikes!
Does her husband believe this goofy shit, or does he just humor her and reap the benefits of her Trumpy behavior?
I think he does. I think they all believe it.
If Clarence Thomas was not a Supreme Court Justice, he and Ginni could believe whatever they want without it impacting the rest of us here on Planet 1.0. Since Ginni was not in Clarence’s marital bed during the confirmation hearings she likely fell under his wacky influence more than he her’s. The cult of Thomas? Many have said she should testify to the Jan 6th Committee. She did, apparently with no revelation. Given his position, HE should have been the one called to testify exactly how far down the “big lie” rabbit hole he had fallen. Refuse, lie, or tell the truth would be his only options. Taking the 5th would have meant good riddance.
She was married to him during the hearings, but not during the Hill incidents at EEOC.
"GOOFY SHIT"
Easily traceable.
The invention of gods
You know that my comments are never meant to snip at all the intrepid research & hard & first-class writing work that these essays demonstrate. But here, I take issue with beliefs in goofy shit being an especially American experience. Rather I suggest that we're in a particularly goofy time that grants permission to all to be children again, believing fairy tales & similarly goofy shit. To its hardly American character, I can't think of more goofy shit in one place, and more mass acceptance of it, than Nazi Germany. Unless you prefer to go further back, to the Bible.
True, all people believe it. But all the gullible people in Europe came here, basically. Highly recommend Fantasyland.
And the flip side is that Americans have great imaginations, and therefore invent things, create art, all of the good stuff.
You can't rightly say that all the gullible people in Europe came here. The US never has fallen into fascism the way so many other countries did, partly because US never had enough gullible believers. Our problem is now. I've said for 6 years that Americans were never as gullible as they have been lately. I blame 70 years of the reach & thus influence of fatuous commercial TV; exactly 27 years this month of FoxNews attacks on truth (with no adverse consequences) algorithm-ed to raise the US emotional temperature into fever levels; & all the conditioning of 60 years of USSR active measures to tease the fault lines of US internal heterogeneity into gaping chasms of existential fear of black people.
What do we do with so many mentally ill people who have attained positions of power? Hers is not just a "difference of opinion". She is mentally ill. I have been aware of her for many decades but thought she was somewhat harmless because people would not take her seriously. In swoops her knight in shining armor (tfg) to make all her sick fantasies come true. I watched the "Frontline" episode about Michael Flynn. So scary that people are worshipping him. Again, I thought he's too batshit crazy for people to take him seriously but there appears to be a movement of people behind him. Would not be surprised if he runs for President. A sad state of affairs!
At least 80 percent of humans suffer from mental illness.
Its called religion.
A terrible thing invented by humans.
Yes, especially when people fall into Religious Fanaticism. It's truly scary. From what I have witnessed, that kind of obsession usually stems from trauma. It seems like they use religion as a way to avoid dealing with the trauma and as a way to feel like they have some control of the world around them. So dysfunctional and destructive.
"Trauma"
Was the first god a lightning bolt on the open Savanna ?
My Catholic friend assures me that Christianity, that crusading, inquisitorial bane of non-Christians since it took power, has mellowed its believers' record and become a force for relieving human suffering in this world. So I can't argue.
I didt think Catholics were Christians?
Good to hear you have a friend.
I don't know, but the system seems to cultivate that kind of type. Maybe politics is such an awful business, so harmful to self regard, that you have to be a little nutty to do it to begin with?
Unfortunately, politics attracts a certain kind of personality. My friends and I always say we could never swim in that cesspool. If there were some way to take money out of it, more altruistic people would start to take a more active role. It's the ability to generate/steal so much money that attracts the whacko's and bottom feeders.