82 Comments

Wheeeee! What perfect piece for a sunny Sunday morning. Perspective and précis. Perfect timing with ☕️☕️ 🟰 🤗. Thank you Greg 🎵. (I like alliteration and looked up a word).

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Thanks! I'm always down with alliteration!

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Haha!

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Got one for you .. pertaining to Meatball..... Fudge Fingers🖐️🖐️

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Whoever could you be talking about? ; )

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What an amazing and moving piece today! The MAGA crowd just doesn't care about human beings, indeed they seem to relish causing pain and suffering!

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Thanks. And yes, they do, because that's the essence of fascism.

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“Trump is the most obvious embodiment of GQP’s ‘celebrate losers’ phenomenon — a man who lost both the electoral and popular vote to President Biden in 2020 and refused to accept the results of the election, yet has maintained a powerful, if waning, hold over his party.” MAGA’fied 🤠

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Yes!

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Just a scribbler with too much drink in him.

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Greene is the best. Have you read "Travels with my Aunt?"

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Thank you, Greg, as always for a thoughtful essay. And "The Third Man" is truly a masterpiece, especially the music. And Harry Lime was charming, educated, and congenial - the complete opposite of #Trump. Of course, his base has none of those admirable qualities, so....

But we must realise, NOTHING will change with the GOP politicians until they, en masse, start telling their base the truth, over and over, for months and months. As long as the base worships #MangoWanker as a demi-god, their VOTES will control the behaviour of the now-wrecked GOP.

Just as Putin intended.

#GOPtraitors

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Yes, we MUST tell the truth. We must. I mean, WE have been, but their leaders must too.

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I don't think Donald Trump figures out how many dots he can spare, he counts all of them as potential income.

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Very true.

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Donald Trump, "Every time I fly over a blue state, I get a subpoena: we want him before the grand jury." Yet he was just indicted by a FLORIDA grand jury. I used to think his stupidity was calculated but now it's blatantly obvious he's a narcissistic criminal akin to any other 'Florida man' offender. Great piece Greg!

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Weird flex, Donald, but okay.

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Great example Greg. So much alike - cold, calculating, transactional psychopath. The difference between Lime and tfg is the tfg’s boastfulness. Let’s hope there’s no technicalities that set him free from his impending jail time.

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All of that, yes. And trying to corrupt his friend, after first using him.

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Bone chilling.

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Totally.

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"Why are their moral compasses so defective?"

Indeed. I do hope morality finds it's way back into society. For the first time in a long time I finally feel it might.

I really enjoyed the movie dialogue, watching the clip, and reading some of your previous, excellent substacks. Really great.

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Thanks so much!

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Maybe a bit OT, but I watched the documentary about the Duggars and the movement they are part of (Shiny Happy People on Amazon Prime) and I was struck by 2 things. First, this powerful right wing Christo Fascist movement that fuels them holds core operating principal that a man is entitled to any female he wants any time regardless of age. Second, they have a plan to infiltrate every institution in America, including Presidency, Congress and Supreme Court. Third, a major cable network idealized and promoted the Duggars and by extension the principles of the cult they belong to. I think this is terrifying. Trump did not create these people. He harnessed and unleashed them. They're still out here. And I know the media will not provide context or dot connecting.

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Spot on, Kathleen! Control of females is the first objective. They will do anything to achieve their goals, including murdering thousands of children with AR-15s.

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Yes they will. No boundaries at all.

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Thanks for pointing that out. A central tenet of their worldview is just that, that women are property that men control. The "pro life" propaganda is just a psy-op to bring about control of women. And the Leonard Leo crew, I think, are very good at harnessing the power of these sub-groups.

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And to better understand what has been going on for better than 80 years, read Jeff Sharlet's book The Family (also a video ) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_(miniseries)

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I have been wanting to read that for several years! I will check out the video. Thank you!

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That's a good doc, but I think that's it's only a small part of the larger story of Christofascist infiltration, alas.

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Thanks for the recommendation of "Shiny Happy People." I regularly hate-watch this kind of stuff. It keeps my rose-colored glasses from becoming too opaque.

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This was one of those "I kinda sorta knew what the deal was" but the way they put the information together helped me see the dynamic much more clearly.

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I'm mad that they used the REM song title, not gonna lie.

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After watching two episodes, it would have been far better for all concerned if they'd used "Losing My Religion." The whole of religious fundamentalism seems to be a sick cult of twisted biblical interpretations and grifting the faithful.

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Excellent.

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And one of the all-time great film endings!

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Absolutely!

Trevor Howard as the British policeman is also excellent.

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Greg, you hit the bullseye and I'd say you split the arrow with this one -- only that, as some here have noted, Harry Lime was a nihilist with capacity for reflection. I've long since given up the search for any redeeming features in Trump, but capacity for reflection, the slightest understanding of his own behavior, would not be among them. A pure, unadulterated monster.

Unfortunately, his slime trail will long survive him. Success will not be achieved with his surcease. Sad.

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Thanks, Jonathan. I think the problem reflective, empathic writers like Greene have in presenting these horrible people is that they can't really fully understand them. So they give them a soul that they don't actually possess.

The way Welles smiles and is winsome...that makes him SO MUCH more evil.

And you're right about the slime trail.

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I have not!

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Treat yourself.

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Trump as you well know, keep those Nuclear info for a reason. No accident. To sell them. That makes him a traitor and put our lives at risk. That alone should imprison him. As to how do Republicans have very little or no conscious? Look at where they all come from. Who raised them. They all have creepy fathers. It runs in the family. What you learn and experience from the age of 0-5 conditions the rest of your life!

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Might find the receipts for the sale of that nuke info in the waste basket next to the toilet, awaiting the next flusher.

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Totally agree. I'm writing about that for tomorrow.

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