Koresh -> McVeigh -> Trump -> Putin -> Netanyahu March 29, 2023March 29, 2023 Five bad guys: KORESH: I watched Waco: American Apocalypse. No question, the idiot who ordered the raid AFTER they’d lost the element of surprise was an idiot. And it may be that David Koresh genuinely believed he was the second coming of Christ and that it was thus okay to have 11 wives and boxes of hand grenades (illegal since 1968). A nice guy, just deluded. But however much better, with hindsight, the government might have handled Waco, it strikes me as hard to see Koresh as a hero. Or sane. Or benign. Yet that’s how the Oklahoma City bomber saw him. McVEIGH: Until watching the film, I had not realized that Timothy McVeigh had driven to Waco to show his support for Koresh. Two years later, he would go on to murder 168 people, 19 of them children, out of rage against the United States government. TRUMP‘s choice of Waco for last Saturday’s rally — during which he celebrated the January 6th rioters who tried violently to return him to power — was one more sign that, like Koresh and McVeigh, he is not a stable, law-abiding, patriotic American. His affinity for autocrats, his love of violence (bone spur notwithstanding), and his admiration for Putin suggest a contempt for democracy . . . that a horrifying number of Republican officials, who still support him, seem to share. PUTIN: Drunk with his own power — he alone can fix it — this massive murderer, rumored to be the richest man in the world, surely now ranks as one of the worst humans ever to have lived. Putin’s Former Publicity Masterminds Air His Dirty Laundry. NETANYAHU: And then there’s Bibi, who, like Putin, apparently put his thumb on 2016’s scale; and who, like Trump and Putin, does not want his power limited by an independent judiciary that might send him to jail. Netanyahu Cannot Be Trusted, writes Thomas Friedman. Whatever happened to people drawing comfort and inspiration from religion without a million rounds of ammunition? Whatever happened to patriots supporting their government and abiding by its laws . . . trying to change the ones they don’t like by raising their voices and casting their votes? Gore’s concession to Bush, and the Clinton hand-off of power, were exemplary (even though Gore got more votes and likely won Florida, had the votes been counted fairly). Hillary’s concession to Trump and the Obama hand-off of power were exemplary (even though Hillary got 7 million more votes and had had to face outrageous thumbs on the scale). Trump’s hand-off of power to Biden? Not so much.