I don’t know how anyone could begin to get into a mind like that. As I read all this I really pondered how someone could be so corrupt and so blatant about it and not know there would eventually be hell to pay.
All I can think is he is just naturally grifty and profit-obsessed, and being a political novice he thought once he got into government he could do whatever he wanted – if there was any trouble he would just get voted out with no other repercussions (so, like Trump, he would just pull all kinds of nasty tactics to win another election and save his ass.) In the meantime he could enrich himself and friends. He had no notions of “public service”, it was just a job position that was open where he could bill back anything he wanted.
That seems to be current Republican’s idea of what government is for, to line your own pockets. No better example of that than the trump administration. The idea of “public” service doesn’t enter into their minds or actions.
I don’t know if it comes into play here, but extreme narcissism, sociopathy, and even blatant psychopathy are real things, and sometimes people with these underlying conditions gain power and influence. In the case of psychopathy, people are somewhat “wired to get ahead – by any means,” and they often do. People with these conditions can be extremely charismatic, likable people. They certainly often figure out how to influence at least some people/percentage of the population.
Again, no idea if this whack dude is that or not, but I think it’s time we acknowledge that some people freaking get off on being awful, and go out of their way to do it, and hurt others. The sooner we realize a very small number of people who are wired like this can make things very very bad for the rest of us, the better IMHO.
When I heard Greenberg’s list of corrupt practices, the first thing that popped into my mind was, “So what’s new? He sounds like just another Trumpist officeholder.” It goes to show you how four years of Trumpism has normalized this sort of behavior. Blatant corruption is now just another part of the political scene. Probably many of his constituents even admire Greenberg for his accomplishments.
ETA: if two sixteen-year-olds texting to each other can lead to charges of distribution of child porn, and Gaetz has a habit of targeting underage women, odds are those lawmakers were (possibly unwillingly) viewing the same. It will be interesting shall we say, to see what kind of denouncements this brings.
Ah, and now the NYT reports sources saying Gaetz paid women cash for sex using Apple pay and asked the women to find others for him and his friends to have sex with.
So we can add micro pimp to the allegations, along with sex trafficker.
Meanwhile, QAnnon is still doing an OJ, and is frantically searching for The Real Child Sex Traffickers, somewhere else, maybe that non-existent basement under a pizza place, again…
Thanks for this context. Greenberg is still a morally deficient grifter, but at least the part about the body armor and drone (maybe for snooping?) make some kind of sense.
When you were a tax collector, what did you do with all the Bitcoin you mined from the office?
Uses fake ID to travel, but brings cell phone to use Apple Pay, and uses regular credit/debt card at ATM in hotel lobbies to withdraw cash for sex payments - yeah, that would check out with MG’s level of competence.
Ding ding ding!!! 
