As near as I can tell, there were four successful cons that allowed Donald Trump to become the 45th President of the United States.
The Basic Con
Run by Donald Trump, he conned Americans into believing he was fit to be president. The past three-plus years have proven he wasn’t and never will be. But he was able to convince just enough people he was for the con to succeed.
The Long Con
Run by the GOP, they spent more than 30 years trying to convince Americans that Hilary Clinton could not be trusted, that she was a shrill harridan with deep secrets she was hiding. Vince Foster’s tragic suicide wasn’t suicide at all. He had secrets about the Clintons and she had him murdered! Benghazi? Emails? She can’t be trusted! Of course none of that was true. She is highly trustworthy. But it was such a successful con that everyone believed it, even Democrats.
The Dumb Con
Run by progressives, this con was to convince other progressives and Democrats that Hilary Clinton was just a DINO, not left-leaning at all. Her record proves she is a progressive, not a centrist, but she wasn’t far enough to the left for some, so they tried to tear her down. She was so good at being Secretary of State people gave her the nickname Killary. She had the gall to make money on the speaking circuit so people gave her the nickname Shillary. This con was successful enough that a lot of progressives voted third party or simply didn’t vote, helping Trump.
The Deep Con
Run by Vladimir Putin and the Russian intelligence community, they had one goal. Get Americans to vote for the weakest, dumbest, most ineffectual president they could. They got their wish. They appealed to white grievance, racism and nationalism. Disinformation was spread about both candidates, promoting Trump and tearing down Clinton. Ads, actual fake news, bots on social media, and an American media more focused on “both sides” and the spectacle of an insane egomaniac running for president than actually reporting the truth all added up to the Russians getting what they wanted. Clinton would have been a hindrance to Putin’s ambitions in Europe. Instead, they got an easily manipulated puppet who would do nothing to stop Putin.
So why rehash the 2016 election? Because the cons haven’t stopped. If we want to stop America from falling further into fascism, we need to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. However you feel about them, you need to suck it up and vote for them. The Senate won’t stop Trump. The Supreme Court won’t stop Trump. Only we can do it, and that’s by voting him out of office.