Is McCarrick De Facto Pope?

An important post from Anthony Stine - he asks the question surely everyone is wondering since the last batch of Cardinals was announced:

"Francis has elevated a number of highly questionable prelates to senior positions in the roman curia recently and elevated more questionable junior members of the episcopate to their first positions as the local ordinary of their own dioceses and many of them have something in common that a lot of people aren’t really talking about.

Statistically too many of these men have direct ties to Ted McCarrick for it to be coincidental. Today I’m going to give you the highlights of that because the sheer number of McCarrick’s men who are getting promoted right now leaves me asking a rhetorical question: Is Ted McCarrick the de facto pope?"