Sometimes, seeing information compiled–even if you’ve come across most of it scattered over various places–makes an impact that the same information didn’t make when you encounter it piecemeal. At least, that was my reaction when I visited the blog of a reader named Dr. Chris Lamb.
I don’t know Dr. Lamb personally, but I was–and am– impressed with the sheer amount of work he did in researching Donald Trump’s “best people.” We all remember the boasts–Trump was going to hire only the “best people.” He was going to consult and use those “best people” to remake the federal government–i.e., destroy the imagined “deep state” and “drain the swamp.” We also remember how that turned out; the people who actually were competent quickly left, and a fair number of those who were venal or simply ignorant of the functions they were placed in charge of also left–and then turned on him by sharing anecdotes about his appalling behaviors.
Lamb’s list is introduced as follows:
Three years ago, after President Donald Trump left the White House, I began chronicling the names of the people who were complicit in the worst presidency in a century and what might be most corrupt presidential administration in history.
I’ve compiled 300 names (so far) for the blog,
Only the Best People: The criminals, sycophants, bigots, swindlers, liars, demagogues, pedophiles, pornographers, imbeciles, lunatics, bullies, misogynists, parasites, plagiarists, perjurers, extortionists, traitors, conspiracy junkies, and other deviants who contributed to the Trump presidency.
The following is a list of names on the blog accompanied by brief summaries of each post.
You can click a link to each person to read brief bios that run in length from 100 to 2,000 words. Each post is accompanied by links to the sources of my information.
I am going to cut today’s post short, in hopes that you will use the time saved to visit Lamb’s blog–and see, in one place, the cesspool that was Trump’s “best people.” If nothing else, it will remind you why it is so critical to keep this mentally-ill mob boss and his abysmal gang far away from the levers of power.
(When you do click through, be patient. The site takes a couple of minutes to load.)
I would like to see this man on MSNBC, PBS, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC etc so this data could be seen by a national audience.
What astounds me is that this country of ours not only produced so many truly despicable people but allowed/ rewarded them for being despicable. There is something fundamentally wrong with a society that produces so much garbage and allows it to rise to the top.
Theresa,
It’s more a fault in mankind’s basic structure. Power over others removes what we call moral compasses. Once lost, these wretches will do/say anything to covet that power in any way they can. EVERY society in known history has these creatures all clamoring for a place at the table. But if that society has become so disjointed, lazy and self-centered, a “strong” leader is bound to emerge.
This time it’s the grievance thing. The Trump con game/cult exploited that self-serving grievance to gain power and are most reluctant to let it go. OUR real problem with this began when the Republican party introduced trickle-down economics and currying favor with the rich. Oh, they’ve always done the latter, but after the Reagan fetid “revolution”, the game was in the bag. Add in corrupt justices like Thomas, Alito, Roberts, Scalia, et. al., and we got Citizens United. Now it’s Dobbs.
Sadly, the pattern for societal collapse repeats in EVERY society whether it’s communistic, democratic or involves a king/queen. It’s what humans still are. With the invention of agriculture came the invention of economics and slavery. The names have changed, but the ultimate conclusion remains. Democracy did a pretty good job until it became too self-important and lost sight of its tenets.
Creatures like Mike Flynn, Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller have always been with us in some form. It took Trump and his cult to kick the cover off of that sewer.
For someone who has a PhD in journalism, I’m surprised Dr. Lamb doesn’t have a better sense of copy editing. Even a cursory glance at his page reveals typos, font inconsistencies, and (for some reason) part of his example for why genuinely heinous human Lauren Boebert is bad is because (also garbage person) Marjorie Taylor Green doesn’t like her – which is weird. I only got into the middle of the “B” section and gave up. If I won’t take conservative blogs seriously when they can’t be bothered to spell check/edit their rants, I don’t think I can take liberal ones seriously either. (even if I agree with the basic thrust of it).
Some people live immersed by their practical life choices (or not) in a piece of spacetime that introduces MAGA into their systems. Their location in the country, their churches, their family, friends and neighbors, their entertainment choices, etc., all keep them surrounded by ideas that make MAGA seem like protection from a hostile world.
The truth is that all those pressures are a form of culture that exists for reasons: to promote relentlessly upward wealth redistribution, which is “intuitively obvious” to be unsustainable and to maintain white, male, heterosexual, Christian supremacy in everyday life. The keyword there is “culture”.
Culture is insidious. It exists as just the way people like us live here and now. No one knows a culture until they know two of them. I did not realize my own culture until I broke out of it by traveling and seeing what others see as just the way people like them live.
Unfortunately, the MAGA culture is incompatible with our Constitutional (natural) rights. It threatens the liberal democratic republic our founders were the first in the world to set down as a practical means of governance. MAGA and our Constitution are antithetical. They cannot coexist.
The ignoramus Donald just got a gift for his Truth Social media. He’ll be getting approximately $13-15 billion for his stock. It’s not bad for a company that loses millions. Someone is helping Donald out big time during his money problems. Oh, he’s also selling a Bible for a mere $60.
As for the swamp monsters he added, it’s amazing how he could attract such a dismal cast of characters. Even worse is that 30% of Americans thought they were outstanding and missed them. His so-called leadership has plunged even further down the scales because he is about “revenge” this go around. Who will be attracted to that kind of leadership?
This country is going to get a rude awakening in the coming years. A Trump presidency will speed us along, but the inevitable collapse is coming. The “rules-based order” just conflicted with international law over the Israeli cease-fire ruling by the UNSC. The US admitted that the decision was “non-binding.” If that’s the case, why do we have a United Nations if countries don’t have to abide by their rulings? They just said the quiet part out loud…
When tRump said ‘only the best’ people he actually meant ‘only the most loyal to me’ people.
Vernon – many kudos for your explanation – Write On
I would add that these folks being able to “rise up” and not be despised is yet another sad signal of our moral/decency-declined culture of “anything goes”. The bonus, of course, is that for coming generations “money see, monkey do”. IGIO
Yes, Vernon, well put!
And what you wrote just reinforces my comment, yesterday, about the zero-sum culture.
Serial grifter, one of the most un-Xtian people you’ll ever know of, is selling bibles…is that not blasphemous, all by itself?
“Someone is helping Donald out….” with his financial problems? Koch, Heritage Foundation, Putin, Orban, John Birch Society, etc?
I am not going to go to Dr. Lambs’s site, having only recently had breakfast. But, I am glad that someone compiled a list of Trump acolytes. Yes, the same can happen in any society, just this time the names are not Goebbels, Eichman, et al.!
Only a bit off topic , because I haven’t read the blog yet, but I am intrigued by the most recent absurdity from tfg,
“Make America pray again.” I think he’s already accomplished that. I know many people who are not religious, who are praying that he never again gets into power.
Dirk, I’m not going to let some grammar and font choices get in the way of my outrage over how Trump’s bad decisions have taken their toll on democracy. That’s like seeing someone going the wrong way in heavy traffic and being outraged that they threw a Burger King wrapper out the window. I have more outrage for those who kept their mouths shut (Bill Barr) while all this was going on.
Thank you, Sheila, for mentioning my blog in your terrific blog.
It made my day, my week, my month.
So many posts written about truly awful people,
so many yet to write.
If Trump is elected, who will write United States’ obituary?
Chris Lamb
@16campaignbites
Recent visitors to the shadow WH in FL, Elon Musk and Victor Orban. One with very deep pockets, lots of narcissism to match and no accountability. The other promising lots of money to the Heritage Foundation/SuoerPAC/ALEC manipulators, all while publicly declaring the goal of a White Christian dictatorship.
Peggy, you are so right! And I would add that those new to prayer in the last 4 years goes both ways. I have a relative who has been an atheist since college. Fast forward to now, and he’s mentioned the word prayer to me several times, even how special it was when a doctor asked if he’d be ok praying with him before a surgery. He’s gone completely down the rabbit hole since 2016 and I barely recognize him these days. Gone are the rational political conversations we used to have. And anytime I bring up one of the crazies from that list of “the best people,” he says they are just misunderstood, purposely misquoted by the left, or “it’s a witch hunt.” When he doesn’t have a rational explanation for something, that’s his favorite fallback line.
I went to the site and took a very brief look at the list — what a compilation of losers!
I love Dr. Lamb’s bio — it’s hilarious!! (I have often wondered who invented the vowel “u”) I wish I lived closer to a college or university. I would take a class like his.
Dirk- not so gently
I can tell that you are the kind of guy who dismisses the convincing, well supported testimony of a witness for the defense because he has a gravy stain on his suit collar.
Peggy — LOL!!!!
JD: The following is speculation, but possible, and goes like this: I think that the superrich are using Trump and his cult of bible thumpers and Christian Nationalists to their own ends. Does anyone in his/her right mind think that the Heritage Foundation or Musk or Russian oligarchs give a hoot about the views of the gentle Jewish philosopher some two thousand years ago? They don’t, but a pretense to believe (see also support of criminals selling bibles, stock and shoes) is the ticket to get inside a movement dedicated to the abolition of the imaginary “deep state” and those terrible liberals who inhabit such a wicked world of atheists, environmental nuts, and other such vermin bent on our destruction.
An argument can thus be made that the superrich and their think tanks are using the Trumps and cult members to do the work of disestablishing the current order, and after a suitable period, disestablishing that new order in favor of a yet newer order featuring terminal greed and capitalism (with a dose of respect to the ancient philosopher} that resembles a modern version of the papal and royal control of old that gave us the Holy Roman Empire, Charlemagne, church/state political control, and all of the fixtures the Enlightenment and our Constitution were designed to end. Democracy? Whut’s thet?
How such a new master/serf order of ultimate greed under the shadow of the cross will fare down the road in an AI-dominated high tech society I haven’t the foggiest, but would expect more if different forms of strife.
This touches on my greatest fear for a second Trump presidency. The powerful rightwing people (i.e. rich) behind the scenes will certainly view his first presidency as a missed opportunity. They got reduced taxes, some revoked regulations, and a bunch of judges. But they could have had so much more if he only hadn’t been a huge moron surrounded by a large number of sycophantic idiots. (And a few people actually trying to do right.)
For me, Trump’s incompetence was the only saving grace of his presidency.
The powerful could have used their leverage–money–with Trump to make things work as they’d like, but they didn’t organize or force it.
I think that group intends to rectify that error. (See the many plans already being worked on by those people.)
After reading all the comments today, I was struck by another thought. The recent attack in Moscow, the horror show in Israel/Gaza, the weapons funnel from Iran to anyone with a radical axe to grind … And all these “governing bodies” – to say nothing of Pakistan v. India – in possession of nuclear weapons …
Is humanity really banging on the door of another holocaust – one that will end these discussions altogether? Will we fulfill the prophecy of Armageddon and be the first known species on earth to make itself extinct – on purpose? And what a delicious irony of having the all powerful god figure being the competition trigger that sets it off.
Maybe this is what Milton really meant when he coined the term “Divine Comedy”.
I scanned through the list to the C’s. I don’t think HRC deserves to be on the list. She was a good candidate for Potus. She was competent ,self disciplined and well connected. During the candidate debates she didn’t shy away from who trump was and the dark money connections supporting him.
The prevailing sexism, the shadow of her husband’s indiscretions, interference and dark money from dictators who feared her, and Comey’s last-minute tainting of her reputation culminated in enough voters reneging and allowing Herr Drumpf to win.
This country would be in a better place if she had won.