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Just what does it say about our politics when the front page of the Washington Post finds members of Congress bowing down to a conservative newspaper publisher dressed up like King George III, and no one seems to care?
Here for the first time is the revealing, hilarious and appalling epic story of Reverend Moon, publisher of the Washington Times, but better known as a 1970s cult leader, the L. Ron Hubbard of the East...yet today a strange Washington institution to whom D.C. insiders shamelessly pay homage, as Moon jet-sets around the world with members of the Bush family, gives maniacal speeches about being the Second Coming and hosts the Beltway's worst dinner parties.
Years ago, Moon was widely considered a dangerous madman, the next Jim Jones. He inspired TV specials with names like "Escape From The Moonies." His cult separated college students from their families, persuaded them to take to the streets by the hundreds to sell flowers and underwrite Moon's mansions and yacht. So completely did they surrender to Moon that he even assigned them spouses at fabulous stadium weddings.
Naturally, most people who remember Rev. Moon and the social turmoil that followed him think he disappeared, died, was deported. In fact, as you will read in The King of America, Moon is richer and better-connected than ever. And an all-star cast of Washingtonians show up in his story.
The joke is that Moon fits in just fine.
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In 2004, author John Gorenfeld scooped the Washington press corps when he exposed a creepy dinner party on Capitol Hill. With lawmakers participating, the Times publisher held a ritual coronation for himself as the "King of Peace." Wearing a majestic cape and coronet, he declared himself Messiah. The New York Times editors compared the event, sponsored by a U.S. senator, to an act of the Roman emperor Caligula.
That, as you might imagine, was just the tip of the iceberg.
The King of America takes you into the underbelly of the Religious Right. Whose history is surprisingly, scandalously entwined with Moon and his business empire—an untold chapter in American political history.
We could go on. The Chicago Tribune has reported that Moon controls the U.S. sushi industry. He does business with Kim Jong-Il. Moon now officially regards himself as Emperor of the Universe, claiming the imagined endorsements of dead U.S. presidents.
Weird sex and weirder violence, influence-peddling and blasphemy...The author invites you on an arresting journey into 40 years of political decline, seen through the strange story of Moon...starring members of the Bush family, Jerry Falwell, Left Behind author Tim LaHaye, Richard Nixon, an overseas gangster or two, a smattering of famous Democrats as well as the conservative strategists who built the Religious Right...with a little help from Moon.
Read about the state of American democracy in The King of America, and you won't know whether to laugh or cry.