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Over the past five years, every bad thing I have come across has turned out to be true. I really wish I could say this isn't true, but damn.... And again, as I said elsewhere, my friend Lucian Truscott is well-sourced (and this fits very closely to things HRC has said in tonight's post):

I got a call tonight from a friend with good connections in the intelligence community. He says McConnell learned something over the last 24 hours that really got his attention and caused him to realize that the Republican Party is in danger of going down if they don’t jettison Trump right now and do as much to distance themselves from him as they are able.

Apparently, the briefing given to members of Congress had some details about the attack on the Capitol that were “chilling and horrific” according to one member who received the briefing. The Wednesday attack on the Capitol, and the plans insurrectionists are making for Inauguration day were described as being made by “an organized group that has a plan.” Members of the Oversight Committee who were present for a second intelligence briefing today issued a statement concluding: “Based on today's briefing, we have grave concerns about ongoing and violent threats to our democracy. It is clear that more must be done to preempt, penetrate, and prevent deadly and seditious assaults by domestic violent extremists in the days ahead."

There are rumblings in the intelligence community that planning for the insurrection on Wednesday reached into the White House to aides of Trump who were reporting to the president. Trump’s Tweet on December 19 apparently tipped off the intelligence community that Trump was in on the planning for the insurrection: “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” Trump tweeted in just one of several of his tweets promoting the day. “Be there, will be wild!”

It will be wild. He knew. He fucking knew.

There are other rumblings in the intelligence community that the Department of Defense was told by the White House to “stand down” on January 6, and not to authorize federalizing the Washington D.C. National Guard. That is apparently why it took so long for Democratic leaders to get through to the Secretary of the Army. In the end, the Secretary of the Army and Vice President Pence got together and made the decision to call out the D.C. National Guard. Pence himself was inside the Capitol building while it was under assault and had an up-close and personal stake in things. It’s worth noting that the president is the only official with the authority to federalize the National Guard. This means that Pence and the Secretary of the Army went around Trump in order to call out the Guard and rid the Capitol of the insurrectionists. Technically, they broke the law.

McConnell has heard enough that he has concluded Trump was either fully informed about what was going to happen on Wednesday, or he was in on the planning himself. When it comes out, and it’s expected that it will come out, if the Republican Party is still standing with Trump, they won’t be able to survive it. So McConnell is signaling to his fellow lickspittles that it’s time to throw Trump under the bus and move out of the way. Trump is going down. He will be impeached, and if he doesn’t resign, he will be found guilty by the Senate.

https://luciantruscott.substack.com/

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McConnell is saving the Republican Party not democracy. Also factored into his equation is having so many big donors abandoning the Republicans. ... follow the money.

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Exactly! I just finished "The American Abyss" an essay in The New York Times. It describes Mitch McConnell as a "Gamer". He is part of the group of Republicans who quoting the essay "Rather than contradict Trump from the beginning, they allowed his electoral fiction to flourish. They had different reasons for doing so. One group of Republicans is concerned above all with gaming the system to maintain power, taking full advantage of constitutional obscurities, gerrymandering and dark money to win elections with a minority of motivated voters. They have no interest in the collapse of the peculiar form of representation that allows their minority party disproportionate control of government.". Yup, that's Mitch in a nutshell.

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I read that article. Sobering is an understatement.

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No kidding!

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Oh this is wickedly hideous. This is damning.

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Yes, it was

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This article explains much. A worthwhile read.

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I was intrigued also by what Snyder called the "breakers".

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Yes, that was intriguing

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Always follow the money.

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My boss when I was a lobbyist just called to say it is over for tRump because big corporations are pulling campaign funds en masse from any legislator siding with tRump. That is why McConnell changed his stripes so quickly and completely, which is proof, as HCR has been telling us, that the USA is more oligarchy than democracy. In this case, corporate manipulation is for the greater good, but they caused the greater bad we continue to live through. Right after the Fairness Doctrine is reinstated, next must come major campaign finance reform. Which means adding judges to the Supreme Court, and bringing Washington DC and Puerto Rico into statehood. We have much work to do during Reconstruction II.

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It's ALWAYS about the Money!!! Money is Power!!!The LUST of Money IS the Root of All Evil!!!!

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Now that I am old enough and experienced enough to see it, both the love of money and the love of *power* are the root of all evil (in society and in politics, the leadership of society)

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I do agree with you. I have first hand experience with people like this. Especially in the work place with leadership and ladder climbers. It has helped me to just really try to pull way back and live a quiet, simple life.

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I’ve been thinking about your message ever since it showed up in my mailbox. I think we share something related to what you said about the quiet and simple life. Just FYI I am a loner and a recluse. No one can tell because I’m not lacking in social skills, on the contrary. I spend lots of time by myself, despite my marriage. Inner peace helps clear the mind and allows one to listen to the heart. Really necy in a Type A crazy society like ours.

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Have you ever read Susan Cain's work on introverted personality types? She has a great website 'Quiet Revolution' and TedTalks worth watching. Her best seller 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking' is really good.

It's been fascinating for me to study people's reactions to the Covid restrictions. I haven't been bothered at all by them. My stress and anxiety has diminished 10-fold not having to go to a workplace full of people -- even though I have a quiet, private office there.

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I guess that’s proof of my purity! I don’t have 2 nickels to run together!

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Cynthia it’s not the access to money. It’s not being wealthy. It’s the *love* of money and power, the addiction to them, that’s what produces humans like DT and Moscow Mitch. We know DT gets his orders from Moscow. My wife is convinced Mitch does too.

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Totally. Lets not forget what republicans have been willing to do and put up with over the last 4-5 years and even longer. The list of disgust is very long even before Trump came along. Now all of a sudden McConnell is ready to impeach? Whatever is going on out of sight from us must be pretty extreme.

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Always... his insatiable appetite for power is disturbing.

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Absolutely

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Little typo there: It's HCR (Heather Cox Richardson) not HRC (Hillary Rodham Clinton): an easy typo but one to beware of in this thread! I am not surprised that Trump was briefed. I'm not surprised that Boebert was complicit (and should be investigated). I am not surprised that Murderous Mitch, who has happily enabled the utter breakdown of Democracy until this.very.minute. has decided that Trumpism and Trumpistas are bad for the Gormless Obstructionist Party because Walmart et al (and more to come apparently) are threatening to pull their money from the chute that goes from the Walton family and other corporate execs straight up the arses of the likes of McConnell, Graham, and Cruz. But if the Republicans actually go through with this, I will be surprised. I am not holding my breath. I also don't trust the Waltons: they are the ultimate capitalist shills who have used their billions to manipulate the US economy, oppress working people, and finance the corruption that keeps them from being accountable for their actions. They won't persevere in "punishing" the coup-plotting "Republicans."

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Yes on the Waltons for sure. NYC officially negated all their contracts with trump, $17,000,000 gone (annually). My favorite is Deutsch Bank! His piggy bank is gone.

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And Signature Bank, even his PERSOANAL Accounts! haha bye bye DT!

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Home Depot just dropped him like a hot potato 🥔!

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"His piggy bank is gone." Lovely Cynthia!!

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Deutsche Bank, DT's piggy bank as Cynthia says, is formerly the bank of choice for the Hitler Administration and government. See the early chapters of the book Dark Towers for executive summary. Most people don't realize that the numbers tattooed on Jewish incarcerated persons were IBM numbers, the govt. was using computer software to keep track of all those people, and in those days, paper records and paper filing system would have been overloaded by the sheer numbers. Corporations are immoral. At the core, they don't care about anything except profits, no matter what the PR says. Even the PR is meant to protect bsns success, to protect the corporation's ass(ets), because if you send money to anarchist Republican seditionists, it will depress your business overall within the society.

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I figured this was planned by Trump— he’s done everything in his power to weaken intelligence and consolidate his own power. He is our home grown version of Hitler.

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TC, this makes total sense, all of it, but especially McConnell's "surprising" support for impeachment. Thanks ever so.

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Thanks TC - as ever, you hit the nail squarely on its head.

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Not me - my friend Mr. Truscott. I'm just the messenger here.

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By the way, I just enjoyed the Wikipedia article on Mr. Truscott and you say you are also an author. If you can do so without breaking a desired anonymity, could you recommend a set of works that may or may not include yours?

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TCinLA, please tell me you are not attempting anonymity. I got curious last month, went looking for your books and have a couple in my Amazon cart now. I'm no master mind. If I can find you, anyone can.

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I would love to read any of your books! Please?

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TC Boyle?

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Thank you for passing the message.

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TC you are not “just the messenger here,” you are my kind of messenger, someone with an unerring ability to ferret out the truth and bring it to the light of day, usually with incisive and wickedly brilliant commentary and languaging as well. With all due respect to Mr. Truscott, you are the person who introduced him to us. Thank you for bringing him into our discussion.

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I'm wondering if Senator McConnell's shift in stance has anything to do with news that's starting to trickle out that members of Congress were giving tours of the Capitol the day before the insurrection. If law enforcement can draw a line between sitting representatives and attackers whose actions on the 6th were premeditated, we won't be talking about whether the police let them in anymore but whether Republicans in Congress invited the attack.

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/12/mikie-sherrill-pro-trump-rioters-got-tour-congress-members/6648386002/

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Yes, I believe so... and I think there’s a lot more that happened that we don’t know about yet.

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With all due respect to the effort of putting together this report some loose threads bother me.

For one placing President Trump at the center of any sophisticated planning as insidious as the coup attempt is a giant amplification of his ability to plan anything in advance. Trump is a reactor person who like most entertainers has learned to replace planned execution with adroit adjustment.

Besides the mob appears to have had a bunch of evil goals like lynching Pence but no clear plans for any action other than invading the Capitol. Once inside the Lynch Group ran all over the place screaming but with no clear plan.

The speculation of the rules of procedure for the National Guard does not follow the description of what occurred with he National Guard. The DC Guard had already been activated but were assigned to traffic duty until the fumblers ordered them to the Capitol in late Afternoon.

But the role of the DOD and HLS is apparently what occurs when inexperienced and not especially qualified Presidential Loyalists are handling the reins. It took nearly three hours for the DC Mayor to even get a response for her noon request for more troops.

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A small contingent of National Guard was authorized to replace DC cops directing traffic on Jan.6, to free up the police for other needs. That is all. When Capitol Police and terrified law-makers tried to get serious back-up from the Guard during the attack, there were delays. Trump refused to take their calls, he was too busy watching the riot on TV and enjoying it. He never did authorize the call-up. Governor Larry Hogan has said publicly that he wanted to send the Maryland Guard, and it took 2 hours before he got any kind of approval from the Dept of Defense. I heard on NPR that Capitol Police Chief Sund said - and 5 other people on the call backed him up to reporters - that when he spoke to the relevant defense dept official in charge of deploying the Guard, the man started talking about how the optics would not be good. The DC police official on the call then said, "Are you denying an emergency request for help?" The reply was "no, but there needs to be planning, and we have to consider the optics" - in other words, delay, even after the attackers were inside the Capitol.

Put all this delay together with the installation of more Trump loyalists into multiple defense dept positions during these recent months after election, and the refusal of the defense dept to allow Biden transition staff full access to the defense dept. It raises some questions.

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Not only is the insurrection timeline revealing shocking details, but the spin doctors are busy at work trying to reframe the attack on the Capitol - an insurrection - as a First Amendment protest!

https://billmoyers.com/story/insurrection-timeline-first-the-coup-and-then-the-cover-up/

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Hi Lena, thank you so much for this news. I for one refuse to read articles that are about disinformation. Even refused to read DT’s words or listen to him speak. DT is very much like Hitler in the sense that he wants all the attention and wants to use up all the oxygen in the room. He is a cult leader, and his sycophants and spin doctors are serving his interests, not our interests not the country’s interests. I never listened to McEnany, not once. I prefer to focus on what’s really happening and what really matters, not the people who are trying to divert my attention to their lies and bullshit.

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Leaders know that framing and reframing are tools to be deployed. This is a common and effective tactic to regroup and gain traction to motivate action.

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Thanks for this link.

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I agree that DT does not have the competency to be a direct part of the planning. However, it does not seem a coincidence that DT, DTjr, Guilliani and other speakers at the rally talked about fighting and combat. They were following the social media about the plans for the insurgency and may also have been briefed by the FBI. They knew what they were egging on.

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Right. When DT tweeted to come to DC on Jan.6, "will be WILD", he knew what was afoot. In addition, it was all based on his repeated lies about the election having been stolen from him.

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It fits a normal estimation of the organizational competencies and capacities of Trump and his Orcs......chaos yes! Determined, structured and incisive action most definitly not. Trump would be "in the loup" but he is a "man of words and thin air" and always needs others to assume the mantle of action.....badly as is normal for essentially leaderless mobs.

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But he’d love for us to think that he helped orchestrate this.

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Facilitated is probably most accurate, but that is leading it. Action and inaction. the placement of sympathizers within the organizational structure at the key points.

Interesting that we haven't heard or very little from Wray, nor the Intel heads. I think the NSA and FBI went to Barr to inform of the plot, and instead of taking action, he resigned, cowardly.

Think about succession that day. All 3 of succession at the same place. Pompeo would have become VP if Pence, Pelosi, and President pro temp of Senate are killed BUT also, if they are hostages, then Barr would sign off making Pompeo the VP. Pompeo orders election fraud/ recount/refuse Electoral votes and declares DT winner.

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So here is Completely Stable Genius responding:

"Yes, of course Cynthia, the whole thing was my idea! Everyone knows that."

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Yeah, I'm with you Cynthia. Too bad I'm not savvy enough to have a 2nd profile here on HCR's Substack pages. I would name this person something like "Completely Stable Genius."

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"Ours is not to reason why, but to do and die" - This was a Nazi slogan.

Language of the 3rd Reich-Viktor Klemperor

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"Charge of the Light Brigade", Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1854) creatively rewriting another imperial folly. The following lines were " Into the valley of death rode the 600" .

They didn't come back!

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"Do not obey in advance" (Tim Snyder)

This teaches power how much they actually have. Jan 6th has taught DT what he has to leverage.

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Wednesday, Jan. 6: Some Republicans got a wake up call about trump’s lethality.

Friday, Jan. 8: “Loyalists to President Donald Trump were re-elected Friday to lead the Republican Party for the next two years, ensuring the outgoing president’s grip on the GOP even as his presidency comes to a chaotic end.”

A split in the party? How does that work?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-08/trump-retains-grip-on-party-as-mcdaniel-re-elected-to-run-rnc

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Hey, Ellie. I saw this the other day and thought, pardon the expression, WTF? Thanks for re-posting!

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Something just came to me upon reading your comment that describes the trumpian republicans perfectly for me. "Lusty Lickspittles." Sounds like something found in an old English slang dictionary.

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Sorry to veer off topic, but "Lusty Lickspittles" sounds like a great drag name!

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What was the word that someone used this week referring to trumps kids?! Something like spaleen?

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Spalpeen?

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Thanks! When I try to find certain comments or back track... even when I try to follow the sub-threads I feel like Lucy in the chocolate factory!

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Substack needs to have a means of clicking on one person so you can find all their comments. It would help us find our own comments in this avalanche, this snow storm, sometimes continuing a particular thread is impossible because you can’t find your own post

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What did I miss? I dont get it? Spalpeen?

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Yesterday in a comment, or perhaps it was earlier than yesterday, TC in LA posted and used the word “spalpeen” for DT’s children. It came across as an insult, but of course if you’re talking about these people you have to find a dirty word to describe them, they are so unclean

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And I think it was TC that came up with Drumpfster Fire, if memory serves, I could be wrong

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Nice wordsmithing TC! Now combine shit show, inside dumpfster Fires on an insurrection T**P Train!

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Yes. spalpeen: a poor Irish migratory farm worker, often viewed as a rascal or mischievous and cunning person, a good-for-nothing person, late 18th Century -

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Yes spalpeen. That was TC in LA too.

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ur funny!

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I think a Linguist will write a book, The Language of the Tr**ps

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That linguist will have to consult with TC or use TC as his Managing Editor.

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Love it!

Hey, I believe yesterday someone described his kids as ‘spaleen’ or close to that.. does anyone remember that word?

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What's the phrase? From your lips to God's ears...

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It's likely he won't resign. It's not in his mental makeup to do so. Even if given the reasoning that resigning can get him pardoned by Pence, as he has previously shown, he might not do it to his own detriment. Again, it's because his mental illness doesn't allow him to.

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Its broke time. Trial time. Jail Time.

No dictator wants to die broke and alone and in prison. That is why DT is fighting so hard.

Why Republicans do not drop his ass?

Because they are scared now for their LIVES by the extremists DT created!

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Thank you for sharing this, TC. Just subscribed.

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So did I...

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TCinLA, You say Lucian Truscott is a friend of yours. I looked at some of his recent substack posts and see information that I have glimpsed other places but he provides more thoroughly. I'd like to see his credentials as I'm inclined to believe him but know that we have to be very careful about verifying information that we read. I'm not discrediting him in the least - just wanting to know where he gets his information.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian_K._Truscott_IV

I just subscribed to his Substack page. You can ask him yourself where he gets his info, he just emailed me privately when I posted Comments under his latest article. I like him. He invited the Hemings family into the Jefferson clan. That takes moral fiber. He despises Trump, I can tell.

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Lucian Truscott IV check him out - screenwriter, fiction writer, journalist - at it for 50+ years

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Aaahh. Now I see why the name sounds familiar. His grandfather ran the U.S. 5th Army in Italy, so that's one place I've seen the name, and he is responsible for bringing the Hemings family into the Jefferson family fold, since the Truscotts are associated with the Jeffersons. I have tremendous respect for this man.

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Lucian Truscott would be related to the Hemings family as well. Jefferson's first wife (maiden name Randolph) had a father or grandfather (sea captain) who had fathered Sally Heming's mother. So Sally and Jefferson's first wife were related by this man. One historian suspects that Sally may have reminded Jefferson of his first wife....hence the attraction. Sally was summoned to Paris to be servant to Jefferson's daughter when He was ambassador to France. There are records Jefferson kept, for example, of the fabric that was purchased to be made into stylish dresses for Sally and it's believe she too was educated along with Jefferson's daughter. I think Jefferson and Sally were exclusive to each other but dna may prove that to be incorrect :)

[this information gleaned from memory after reading The Hemingses of Monticello

by Annette Gordon-Reed]

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TC, just a personal note from me to you, I want to thank you so much for being a part of this discussion. Your input is so valuable to me. For both personal reasons and reasons of principle, I refuse to join FB and Twitter, so all my news comes from generally available sources and my 2 Substack subscriptions, Heather and Greg Olear. Since Greg has a small following, although imo based on the quality it should be comparable to HCR, I spend all my social commentary time here.

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. . . and of course I will check out Lucian.

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Agree. He totally, 100% f'ing knew.

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