THE PARTY OF NORMAL PEOPLE

We are regularly reassured by our conservative brethren that the Democratic Party is the party of freaks, weirdos, fringe-dwellers, and elitists, while the Republican Party is the party of normal people. With that in mind, let's watch some prominent Republicans as they just act normal.

A Colorado Springs lawyer appointed by President Donald Trump to a federal education board is a prolific author of self-help Illuminati books....

The White House announced last week that Trump had nominated George Mentz to the Commission on Presidential Scholars. His nomination does not require Senate confirmation....

Mentz is a lawyer and a professor of online courses on wealth management at the Texas A&M University School of Law. He also writes for the conservative outlet Newsmax....

Mentz’s books include “The Illuminati Secret Laws of Money,” “The Illuminati Handbook,” “50 Laws of Power of the Illuminati,” and “100 Secrets and Habits of the Illuminati for Life Success.” Nearly all of his works are about money and often center on mindfulness secrets to achieving wealth.

“If you conceive of your desire, you can then imagine that your goal will take place with belief, and then you will be able (to) retrieve the opportunity from the world’s storehouse of riches,” he wrote in a 2013 book, “Abundance Bible & the Secret Powers of Manifesting Wealth Health and Peace of Mind.”

“When a person stops struggling and initiates ALCHEMY OR MAGIC, SOMETHING HAPPENS,” Mentz wrote in another 2013 book, “Success Magic — The Prosperity Secret to Win with Magical Spiritual Power: How to Grow Rich, Influence People, Protect Your Mindset and Love Yourself Like a Warrior Using Timeless Abundance Secrets.” An e-book version is available for $2.99 on Amazon.

For good measure, a school Mentz once ran, the American Academy of Financial Management, "has been accused of handing out certificates to undeserving applicants."

A Wall Street Journal article in 2004 found AAFM awarded certifications to applicants who had never taken a course and, in some cases, had not taken a test to prove they knew the topic at hand. In 2010, another Wall Street Journal article found several people listed on AAFM’s board of advisers had never advised the company and were unaware the company was claiming them as an adviser.

And here's a better-known Republican also acting perfectly normal.

[Rudy] Giuliani ... has become a fairly regular user of [Twitter].... But he only follows 224 people (as of Wednesday).

... many of those 224 dabble in far darker realms of the far-right conspiracy theory internet than the usual rantings of a Fox News primetime broadcast. For instance, Giuliani follows writer Ella Cruz—the author of an Amazon self-published book called Ring of the Cabal: The Secret Government of The Royal Papal Banking Cabal, which alleges that the New World Order will soon impose the “mark of the beast” on all humanity. In August, Cruz tweeted at Giuliani, warning him that Hillary Clinton murdered pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

... in August, [Giuliani] quote-tweeted conspiracy theorist Matt Couch, a prolific promoter of the baseless idea that former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was murdered by Hillary Clinton....

Nearly 5 percent of the accounts that Giuliani follows have explicit QAnon references permanently on their Twitter pages, either in the form of pinned tweets, Twitter names, bios, or header images....

Other accounts that Giuliani follows are prone to promoting a wild potpourri of various conspiracy theory claims. Among them are that Barack Obama is engineering the Trump impeachment process to install Michelle Obama in the White House, or that Hillary Clinton plans to kill off each Democratic presidential candidate so she can become president herself. Others allege that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg secretly died months ago, but that her death is being covered up.

Normal! Perfectly normal! Not like you weirdo libs with your quinoa and your Priuses!