This is one of those, "If I don't laugh, I will cry" moments. Thank god, at least for the first five minutes of her program, Rachel Maddow presented true information to us in such a way as to make us (me, at least?) laugh before dropping the hammer of the goddamned consequences on us for the rest of her show.

This clip has to do with the Illuminati. No, REALLY. Trump needed a new appointee for his Commission On Presidential Scholars, and dude appoints some hack with an Illuminati obsession and a penchant for 29-word book titles. OH, and he sells fake degrees.

MADDOW: It is a national education board, prestigious one, it's the Commission on Presidential Scholars. And because this is an actual presidential commission, it needs presidential appointees. And the Trump administration, this month, needed a new one, needed a new presidential appointee to this presidential commission. And they found the perfect guy. He's a big Trump donor. He writes articles for the conservative blog, "Newsmax." like this one. "Trump's new tax code will save the economy." He also runs a couple of private sort of pseudo-educational companies that will allow you basically to buy certifications which appear to be academic qualifications if you squint and maybe if you've had a few drinks. Here's the Denver Post. "George Mentz owns the Global Academy of Finance and Management. He was previously the CEO of a similar company, the American Academy of Financial Management. Both companies award certifications, allowing applicants to add an alphabet soup of titles after their names. For a fee, for example, paid to this guy, he would send you something that describes you as an accredited life coach or a certified political scientist or a master islamic financial specialist. You can choose from more than 100 other titles. You just pay this guy and then he sends you a piece of paper giving you the title....

WAIT WAIT MY DAD HAS ONE OF THOSE DEGREES.

For realz, tho, back in the early 1970s my parents sold Amway (IT WAS THE 70S SHUT UP) and they'd reached "Direct Distributor" level. So, my dad wanted "DD" on his license plate. PLOT TWIST: You could only get "DD" on your plates if you had a Doctorate of Divinity degree. My dad taught music. So, he saw an ad in the paper, mailed off $10, and received a piece of paper in the mail making him a Minister In The Church Of Holy Light. For $25 he could have been a Bishop. Now, when I asked permission this morning to tell his story for this piece, he initially expressed concern that it might betray the trust of his flock, that he might be viewed as a fraud, but since his flock consists of basically me, my sister and my mom, I think we're all good here.

THIS GUY, on the other hand, is being appointed to a Presidential Commission on Scholars. So, not only does he have fraudster going for him, he's also an Illuminati bonkerino who cannot stop writing books with horrible titles.

MADDOW: So the Denver Post was reviewing this guy's literary output in the light of his new presidential appointment and were able to zoom right in on the bottom line thesis of that book with the 29-word title, not including the ampersand, and the bottom-line thesis of the book according to the Denver Post is this. "When a person stops struggling and initiates" -- all capital letters -- "alchemy or magic - comma - something happens." got it? The Denver Post profiled Mentz as a homegrown Colorado presidential appointee. They highlighted his awkward business history of handing out fake academic titles for money, but also the quite amazing list of books that he has to his name because it's not just that one. I mean, let me show you a little bit of a list. These are all by the same guy. Trump donor just appointed to a federal education board. Yes, he is the author of the big one. "Success Magic: The Prosperity Secret To Win With -- How To Grow Rich, Influence People, Protect Your Mindset and Love Yourself Like a Warrior Using Timeless Abundance Secrets." That's one. But he is also the author of "The Illuminati — Secret Laws of Money, The Wealth Mindset Manifesto."

[...]

When he started donating money to the Donald Trump for president campaign, the campaign responded by naming him to an economic board that advised the campaign. Now that Donald Trump, surprise, is actually the president of the United States, they've gone back to the well and so now the author of "The Illuminati — Secret Laws of Money" and all those other books, now he's a presidential appointee to the Federal Presidential Commission On Presidential Scholars. Because why not? And whether or not you were worried about the presidential commission, a commission on presidential scholars, and what Donald Trump might be capable of doing to such an education board, when it comes to him choosing his high-level appointees for various jobs in the administration, there would appear to be some continuity in the collection process between how he has found personnel for boards like that and how he has chosen, like, his top adviser on China, which is an even more important job.

Gee, that IS an important job, advising the president of the United States on China policy. And it's certainly more than my dad ever did with his Ministry in the Church of Holy Light. Though this one time he did officiate at the unveiling of the gravestone of his friend's dog.

CORRECTION: The original version contained a misspelling of George Mentz's name in the lede. It has been corrected. We apologize for the error.