RE: It's pretty obvious what's wrong with Marjorie Taylor Greene, don't you think? I actually agree with you that M.T.G. is mentally ill, and...
Dear Ms. Bonnie McGrath
...if that is true, so is her leader, POTUS45. Because you are a lawyer, you also know either spouse could have their partner held for psychiatric evaluation. I would argue that assessment, diagnosis and treatment of Donald John Trump is a simpler process because of a robust digital record of Trump's behavior choices over time. Between the digital diary and his cousin's book, preparing a clinical profile is labor intensive but still doable. My purpose in writing to you is twofold: 1.) I think a follow-up article would be helpful while Congress is still engaged in the impeachment of POTUS45. and 2.) Invite you to have a conversation with me on the topic of How does a Democratic Republic handle a massive open ongoing brainwashing when it results in people willingly voting to harm themselves and others. I have a new Internet radio show called 1 Opinionated Son of a Blacksmith! and my audience would be interested in that conversation. As far as my limited political experience tells me, the best thing America can do unless the insurrectionists are consequenced and placed in rehabilitative mental health treatment for their insurrection and complicity with the insurrectionists, we need more conversation and contemplation to figure out how we are all going to live and thrive on the same planet when roughly half the planet would rather see the end of the other halfs' lives and said planet before they would even think about sharing the human and natural resources we currently have in abundance.
Have you noticed that all POTUS45 acolytes share exactly the same talking points from POTUS45? As a special education teacher since 1995, the flawlessness of their verbatim repetition strongly suggests rote memorization. It does not suggest any thoughtful engagement with the words coming out of their angry and frustrated mouths. When interviewers ask Trump acolytes follow-up questions, I notice how the true believers never actually answer any questions - they select from a menu of stock responses. If pressed, they will say this is because of some flaw of the interviewer and whatever corporation the inquisitor happens to work for/with. As indigenous North American elder Oren Lyons has stated: we depend on Mother Earth for our survival; the Earth does not depend on the continued existence of humanity.
Furthermore, let's be fully transparent: Republicans love the fact that Trump and Greene can shoot themselves in the foot better than anyone outside of themselves. I think they also love that Ms. Greene apparently has a totally invisible and never mentioned mother. That concerns me because in my observation over the years, single male parents can only equip their children for success in the ways American culture has deemed compatible with male success. If news reports thus far are to be believed, her family lives 2 hours south of the district she relocated to in order to achieve her political victories and her primary experience of parenting after divorce(s?) suggests at least 2 separate and distinct extremely socially-distanced Greene families - a social triumph due to money and technology, or something less than that. Total silence from the Taylor and Greene families suggest 100% compliance, command and control- anathema to what the matriarch is apparently enamored of- free and unedited speech. If what you have posited is as accurate as I believe it to be, I hope the family has some healthy supports -especially if she aspires to be POTUS45's old job. Unfortunately, that also suggests that Ms. Greene may have significant deficits in necessary traits for serving men and women and those of us from non-white male communities.
Consequently, the drama of useful idiots (i.e., Trump, Greene and their acolytes) distracts most media consumers so much that the GOP has offered no meaningful solutions to improve the daily lives of their constituents since Trump started his first campaign by doubling-down in his demonization of all people south of the Texas border down to the Panama Canal. Those of us not decimated by COVID-19 have endured 5 years ( I count the campaign as the 'extra' year at the front end of Trumps reign) of GOP attacks, scapegoating, bullying, and conspiracy theories. Gaslighting has been elevated to a high art form by the Republican party and applauded by rough 50% of the country. Finally, scapegoating a woman is exactly what you would expect from a thuggish gang of white men clinging for dear life to a neo-Jim Crow way of life which COVID-19 will ultimately destroy.
As I close this email, I also acknowledge that some crazy mainstream religious beliefs have defined and driven global insanities since the earliest Bibles, Qur'ans, and other wisdom literature were printed. Once I found a safe psycho-socio-emotional space to share about growing up the scapegoat in an incestous and 'religious' family and community was the main reason I instantly understood the truth said out loud in your article. That's the real reason I was moved to write to you this afternoon. Please know you are not a lone voice in the wilderness of Internet angst and Cancellation Culture.
Best,
Vernon Nickerson, MA
