A few days ago, we mentioned that thousands of people may have been stupid enough to fall for QAnon but are smart enough to seek therapy to escape from the toxic cult. Trumpanzee, Jr., however, is going in the opposite direction-- full QAnon, as Vice put it this morning. The grifter doesn't fall from from the tree. Newsweek reported today that yesterday Trump asked everyone on his mailing list to send him $45 to "solve the election fraud of 2020," i.e., his Big Lie, which he's been monetizing for nearly a full year.
A message sent on behalf of Trump told supporters "we need at least $45 from EACH Patriot reading this email" in order to "defend our elections from the lying Left and WIN BIG in 2022 and then again in 2024."
Meanwhile Fredo Trump "is now posting memes implying the media is downplaying child sex trafficking, the latest example of his embrace of the fringe far-right and the conspiracy theories that define it. The former president’s oldest child is one of the most prominent conservatives on social media, and over the weekend he posted an image to his 5.2 million Instagram followers which said: 'They should start reporting the number of kids that go missing every day the way they report COVID numbers.' ... Trump Jr. has gestured towards this crowd before. In early September, he posted a tweet claiming the Biden administration 'seems to be in the process of aiding and abetting child sex trafficking,' based on reports that during the collapse of Kabul and the Afghan military this summer, the U.S. evacuated older Afghan men along with young girls they said were their brides... And in May 2020, after Biden had become the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Trump Jr. posted a meme on Instagram describing Biden as a pedophile. He later said that he was 'joking around'-- while also doubling down on the implication made in the meme."
You may have noted this morning that Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is one of the few popular Republican governors in the country.Presumably due to handling the pandemic badly, almost all the GOP governors are disliked-- or worse-- by their constituents. Baker has a 64% approval rating. The only Republican governors in that neighborhood are Phil Scott of Vermont (69%) and Larry Hogan of Maryland (60%). All 3 detest Trump and all three have eschewed ideology as a way to deal with COVID. Their states are doing spectacularly well and their constituents approve of the jobs they're doing. Compare that to the crackpot Republican governors killing their states' residents instead. The voters are starting to notice:
Tate Reeves (R-MS)- 28% approval
Doug Ducey (R-AZ)- 28% approval
Kim Reynolds (R-IA)- 28% approval
Brad Little (R-ID)- 30% approval
Bill Lee (R-TN)- 31% approval
Greg Abbott (R-TX)- 32% approval
Kevin Stitt (R-OK)- 32% approval
Brian Kemp (R-GA)- 33% approval
Mike Parson (R-MO)- 34% approval
Mike Dunleavy (R-AK)- 34% approval
Ron DeSantis (R-FL)- 36% approval
Henry McMaster (R-SC)- 36% approval
But even in Massachusetts, there are deranged and bigoted Trumpists-- like the chairman of the state Republican Party, Jim Lyons. He and Baker are fighting-- really fighting. Baker suggested Lyons resign (over Lyons' bigotry) and Lyons suggested Baker check to see which party he's really in. Trump has certainly changed the Republican Party from top to bottom. They deserve what they're getting.
