thenewrepublic:

The New Republic’s newest issue is out! 

TNR’s latest issue features a breathtaking exposé, “The Turnaround Men,” by special correspondent Mariah Blake on a charismatic entrepreneur, an ex-con turned devout Christian, and the politicians who championed them.

It’s a spiraling story about power, drugs, sex, lies, money, and faith. And it’s a story in which a number of Minnesota politicians, from Michele Bachmann to Tim Pawlenty to Walter Mondale, play intriguing roles.

An excerpt from the piece includes:

“As Bachmann was pressing Vennes’s cause, the Ponzi scheme was crumbling. By late 2007, hundreds of millions of dollars of PCI notes were extending beyond their maturity date without being paid. Nevertheless, Petters bought himself a new Bentley and paid his fellow plotters (Coleman, White, and a handful of other functionaries) more than $6 million in bonuses.”

Also, check out Timothy Noah on the super committee, Sean Wilentz on the illusion of bipartisanship, Richard Posner on the crisis in the American criminal justice system, Leon Wieseltier on Libya after Qaddafi, and more!

Subscribe to TNR Society and get 20 issues/year, access to our archives, and TNR events invitations for only $2.25/issue by clicking here.