Donald Trump Just Pulled Off the Greatest Long Con in History

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Bernie Madoff must be sitting in prison thinking to himself, “Schmuck, that’s how it is done!”

That’s because the con just pulled off by Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and very nearly every Republican on Capitol Hill would have every great fraudster in American history from Ponzi to that tubby guy behind the Backstreet Boys marveling at its scope, boldness, and brazen criminality.

But before we give these scoundrels too much credit, we need to recognize just how much of their con was, as they say in show biz, “sampled” from other scammers. These have included everything from the bait-and-switch (promise a “middle-class tax cut” on the campaign trail and deliver one for the rich and powerful) to the long con (play on the weaknesses of the sucker, take him through the twists and turns of meaningless distractions that go nowhere, then grab his cash). Another Madoff favorite that was regularly used was “cooking the books.” Estimates of benefits to the middle class were overstated, while the impact on the deficit was understated dramatically.

In fact, someone really ought to investigate what kind of financial skullduggery was used to keep the potential deficit impact just low enough to allow Senate rules to let the bill be passed into law with a simple majority. The limit is $1.5 trillion. The bill was scored at more than $1.4 trillion. And virtually all independent analysis suggests that is far too rosy. Convenient, no?

Trump and Co. have also turned to the dark arts of the political past to work their scheme. These included stirring up a “base” with racism and fear of the other to get them to support you enough for you to have their way with them. Here they use a technique well encapsulated by former President Lyndon Johnson, who described it saying, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him someone to look down on, he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-just-pulled-off-the-greatest-long-con-in-history

[unblock]

1. "con" isn't quite the right word for it when approval is around 30%

it's more a simple exercise of the power they've grabbed, in the face of public opposition.


it's not like they convinced a majority of the people that it was a good idea. that would be a key component of a con, especially if a majority in congress initially opposed it and were convinced by massive public support.

but that's not what happened at all.

[murielm99]

2. +100000