"Trump’s demand for recess appointments is a way of breaking the Senate early on.

[runyan50@newsie.social]

@wdlindsy He has told Putin he will destroy the USA. Don’t you see it? Every choice screams it.

[mjmusicinears@mastodon.world]

@wdlindsy right out of Hitler's playbook just what we need

[npars01@mstdn.social]

@wdlindsy

Timothy Mellon and the Political Peril of Dynastic Wealth - WhoWhatWhy

Like his forebears (and like Donald Trump), Mellon rages only against those handouts that go to those born without silver spoons.

WhoWhatWhy (whowhatwhy.org)

The reclusive plutocrat who became the biggest political donor of 2024

The largest donor of the 2024 presidential campaign, by far, is Timothy Mellon, the reclusive billionaire and heir to the Mellon banking fortune.

(popular.info)

Tim Mellon paid for the Texas border wall.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/10/06/timothy-mellon-texas-border-wall/

Scion Of Billionaire Mellon Family Has Paid For Most Of Texas Governor's Border Wall Fund

Timothy Mellon, the grandson of banking tycoon and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, has paid for 98% of donations to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border wall fund, the Texas Tribune reported.

Forbes (www.forbes.com)

Billionaire first to reach $100m in election donations – to Trump and RFK Jr

Tim Mellon, who said US safety net was ‘slavery redux’, has now given $75m to Trump and $25m to support RFK Jr

the Guardian (www.theguardian.com)

Mellon funded both Trump & RFK Jr.to the tune of $165 million.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2024/06/21/who-is-timothy-mellon-trumps-biggest-donor-is-a-secretive-billionaire-banking-scion-who-paid-53-million-for-border-wall/

Mellon also has been infected with xenophobic paranoia too.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-09/top-gop-donor-timothy-mellon-is-former-liberal-now-trump-backer

The poster child for the perils of dynastic wealth

Four generations of Mellons are now bankrolling Trump

(robertreich.substack.com)

Meet Timothy Mellon, The Latest Weirdo Billionaire Trying To Get Trump Elected

He also has some theories about Amelia Earhart.

(www.wonkette.com)

[blackburied@newsie.social]

@wdlindsy I like to define fascism in terms of how they polarize society:

Classic #fascism: define a nebulous group or institution, dehumanize and stoke with #fearmongering. No falsehood is perceived as ridiculous by a #truebeliever. Fears become hate. They have a “them” to hate, and bind “us” tightly together.

[alterelefant@mastodontech.de]

@wdlindsy I've asked my German friends and they say that last time they had a politician who 'disliked' Jewish people it didn't end well. It's not something they would like to go back to.

[wvlith@mastodon.world]

@wdlindsy This is like the Christian belief that the world needs to be destroyed before Jesus will come for the second time: "One of the most frightening goals of Trumpism is that the world somehow needs to be destroyed and the people suffer great pain before the “good” part comes to them in the name of a new order, in this case under Trump."

[angelascholder@mastodon.energy]

@wdlindsy Wow, Sherlock!

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@AngelaScholder Yes, good commentary by Noah Berlatsky.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@wvlith Yes, some influential branches of Christianity — especially influential in the American context — have that strange apocalyptic idea and seem to welcome the thought of everything being destroyed to usher in the return of Christ.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@alterelefant Your German friends are right. An elderly German friend of ours wrote us a few months ago and asked, "Are many Americans simply crazy?"

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@blackburied Yes, good points.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Npars01 Thank you — valuable links and good commentary, for sure.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@MJmusicinears Indeed.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Runyan50 Yes, sadly.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@dblobaum See Holly Berkley Fletcher on that very point this morning:

Why white evangelicals support Trump

A (more) distilled version of what I've written about obsessively

(hollyberkleyfletcher.substack.com)

[angelascholder@mastodon.energy]

@wdlindsy The only problem is that it was so utterly clear what would be coming.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@pdiff1 Perhaps the belief system of a certain subset of Christians who have enormous political power in the US but hardly represent the belief system of Christianity as a whole.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Arqtec I agree. Good statement.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Christo_459 He does, doesn't he.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Cliftographer I do think I saw that film years ago, but somehow, it's all gone from my head. Time to watch it again!