"Conservatives Have Groomed the Perfect Suckers for Trump?s Epic Scam"

[TCLGirls]

Conservatives Have Groomed the Perfect Suckers for Trump?s Epic Scam
Win or lose, he'll get what he wants out of this campaign.
By Jeet Heer
June 28, 2016

snip//

"Republican strategist and Never Trump stalwart Rick Wilson hit upon the perfect coinage when he described Trump as running a ?scampaign.? It?s not that Trump doesn?t want to be president. It?s that the real objective, win or lose, is relaunching his lucrative brand. In recent years, Trump was getting diminishing returns with his main reality-show career, with The Apprentice facing dwindling ratings despite Trump?s false claim that it was the number-one show on TV. So his move to politics was a way of revitalizing his celebrity and opening up a new revenue stream. And now with talk about creating Trump TV, which he plans to launch in the wake of the election (whatever the result) to monetize the ratings that are currently being enjoyed by CNN and FOX, Trump looks to have a financially rewarding future even after his likely defeat. The move toward Trump TV will be especially helpful since his other traditional brand?as a hawker of high-end goods?has been tarnished by his political escapades. In effect, Trump?s campaign amounts to a very public re-branding maneuver.

snip//

In a sense, conservative voters have been groomed for Trump since the 1960s. As the historian Rick Perlstein wrote in The Baffler and The Nation in 2012, the American conservative movement has become more and more amenable to get-rich-quick schemes, snake-oil salesmen, and confidence men. Direct-mail barons like Richard Viguerie began raking in the dough in the 1960s by stirring up ideological hysteria and convincing an audience of senior citizens that only their small-dollar donation could fend off union bosses, abortionists, and gays. Of course, most of the money ended up with the fundraisers.

snip//

Conservative ideology, as Perlstein persuasively argues, is particularly vulnerable to grifters because of its faith in the goodness of business and its concomitant hostility toward regulation?which makes it easy for true believers to buy into the notion that some modern Edison has a miraculous new invention that the Washington elite is conniving to suppress. In Perlstein?s words, ?The strategic alliance of snake-oil vendors and conservative true believers points up evidence of another successful long march, of tactics designed to corral fleeceable multitudes all in one place?and the formation of a cast of mind that makes it hard for either them or us to discern where the ideological con ended and the money con began.?

There?s another factor at work here: The anti-intellectualism that has been a mainstay of the conservative movement for decades also makes its members easy marks. After all, if you are taught to believe that the reining scientific consensuses on evolution and climate change are lies, then you will lack the elementary logical skills that will set your alarm bells ringing when you hear a flim-flam artist like Trump. The Republican ?war on science? is also a war on the intellectual habits needed to detect lies.


snip//

The affinity of conservatives for hucksterism not only explains Trump?s rise?but also why the Never Trump movement has never gained enough traction to stop him. By the time Trump launched his campaign, the conservative movement had already destroyed the intellectual immune system that is necessary to resist grifters. A telling example can be found in the famous ?Never Trump? issue of National Review from February. Amid all the editorials and articles warning of the dangers of Trump was a full-page ad for something called ?The Patriot Power Generator 1500.? The ad begins: FORMER CIA OFFICIAL WARNS; ?ISIS TERRORISTS WANT TO CRIPPLE AMERICA?S ELECTRIC GRID!? Further down is a series of alarming sub-headlines designed to sell the generator: ?IT May Have Already Begun,? ?You Know We?re Targeted,? ?Weather Is the Other Enemy.?

Here is the paradox of Never Trump in a nutshell: Could the people who have been conditioned to think they need to buy the Patriot Power Generator in order to fight off an ISIS attack on America?s power grid really be expected to see through Donald Trump? Conservative publications like National Review have spent a generation cultivating an audience of gulls. Now they?re shocked that a far more talented hustler has stolen them away."

https://newrepublic.com/article/1346...umps-epic-scam

[2MuchMark]

I thought of that, but doubt it will happen. For a guy who supposedly has billions, all he had to do was leave his money to his sons while he kicks back and chills for the rest of his life.

Trump has poisoned his own brand. When he loses the election I think he will be able to license his name to anyone anymore, and the only place we'll hear about him is on far right-wing talk shows.

[dyna mo]

Nothing about Trump suggests to me that he's capable of creating and executing such a plan. Let alone having it work.

[dyna mo]

Also, that article gets it wrong by describing supporters as anti intellectual grifters blah blah. Trump appeals to disenfranchised and disillusioned Americans.

[TCLGirls]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

Also, that article gets it wrong by describing supporters as anti intellectual grifters blah blah. Trump appeals to disenfranchised and disillusioned Americans.

Article doesn't describe Trump supporters as grifters.

[TCLGirls]

Originally Posted by **********

I thought of that, but doubt it will happen. For a guy who supposedly has billions, all he had to do was leave his money to his sons while he kicks back and chills for the rest of his life.

No one ever has "enough" wealth regardless of how much is in the bank. Everyone always wants more to some degree or another. That's the nature of humans.

Originally Posted by **********

Trump has poisoned his own brand. When he loses the election I think he will be able to license his name to anyone anymore, and the only place we'll hear about him is on far right-wing talk shows.

He has a sizable number of supporters that can be monetized.

[Rochard]

I watched Trump's speech today.... He talked about how is going to protect American jobs. And I'm sitting there thinking to myself "Holy shit, this man has all of his clothes made in Asia and over one hundred contractors currently have lawsuits with Trump.

Seriously, how can he stand there with a straight face and say he is for American jobs when he's been fucking everyone every chance he gets, including the IRS.

[Rochard]

Sorry, it wasn't one hundred contractors. It's only sixty. USA TODAY exclusive: Hundreds allege Donald Trump doesn?t pay his bills

[TCLGirls]

Originally Posted by Rochard

I watched Trump's speech today.... He talked about how is going to protect American jobs. And I'm sitting there thinking to myself "Holy shit, this man has all of his clothes made in Asia and over one hundred contractors currently have lawsuits with Trump.

Seriously, how can he stand there with a straight face and say he is for American jobs when he's been fucking everyone every chance he gets, including the IRS.

You mean that speech he gave standing in front of a huge pile of garbage?

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by TCLGirls

Article doesn't describe Trump supporters as grifters.

I knew you were stupid, you don't need to keep confirming it.

[SuckOnThis]

Originally Posted by TCLGirls

You mean that speech he gave standing in front of a huge pile of garbage?

[TCLGirls]

Originally Posted by TCLGirls

Article doesn't describe Trump supporters as grifters.

Originally Posted by dyna mo

I knew you were stupid, you don't need to keep confirming it.

Ad hominem.

Where in the article does it describe Trump supporters as grifters?

[Hannes]

i thought he earned his money through hard work, all i know now is that he scammed the hell out of people.

[dyna mo]

It's your article, i suggest you read it then (re)read my post where I stated the article "describes" them as a having characteristics of that group.

Nevermind the fact you fail at even grasping the point of the post (misdescribing trump supporters) choosing instead to act obtuse. That's really why your stupid.

[TCLGirls]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

It's your article, i suggest you read it then (re)read my post where I stated the article "describes" them as a having characteristics of that group.

Nevermind the fact you fail at even grasping the point of the post (misdescribing trump supporters) choosing instead to act obtuse. That's really why your stupid.

I asked you to identify where in the article does it describe Trump supporters as grifters. Maybe you can identify it then?

[TCLGirls]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

It's your article, i suggest you read it then (re)read my post where I stated the article "describes" them as a having characteristics of that group.

Nevermind the fact you fail at even grasping the point of the post (misdescribing trump supporters) choosing instead to act obtuse. That's really why your stupid.

By the way a grifter is one who practices confidence tricks.

From what I read, the article describes Trump supporters as victims of grifters...not grifters themselves. But maybe I am wrong. Since you claimed the article describes Trump supporters as grifters, perhaps you can identify the specific passage in the article that does so?

[dyna mo]

Not interested in sorting you out re: your missing the point and choosing instead to need me to explain to you the point of the article you c&p.

[TCLGirls]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

Not interested in sorting you out re: your missing the point and choosing instead to need me to explain to you the point of the article you c&p.

I didn't ask you to explain any article.

You said the article describes Trump supporters as grifters.

I didn't read anything like that in the article, so I asked you to point it out by citing a specific passage.

Then you resorted to insults.

[dyna mo]

You chose to "correct" what you thought was wrong instead of trying to grasp the point, ie, it's wrong to describe Trump supporters in the elitist ways the author did.

It's not an insult to point out the fact you're stupid for doing that.

[dyna mo]

Op is also stupid enough to actually think that article makes sense.

[TCLGirls]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

You chose to "correct" what you thought was wrong instead of trying to grasp the point, ie, it's wrong to describe Trump supporters in the elitist ways the author did.

You were wrong, because you claimed the article described Trump supporters as grifters. When if fact it did not describe them as grifters.

If you are trying to express a point, it might be beneficial to you to accurately communicate your point instead of writing false statements.

[dyna mo]

No. you're the one that prefers to misunderstand rather than understand. My post stated the article gets it wrong by describing Trump supporters as anti intellectual grifters, your need to skip over the gist of my post, as well as the word anti intellectual reveals just how incapable you are of reading, discussing, dialoguing, point-counterpointing. All add up to you= stupid.

[TCLGirls]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

No. you're the one that prefers to misunderstand rather than understand. My post stated the article gets it wrong by describing Trump supporters as anti intellectual grifters, your need to skip over the gist of my post, as well as the word anti intellectual reveals just how incapable you are of reading, discussing, dialoguing, point-counterpointing. All add up to you= stupid.

Since the article doesn't describe Trump supporters as grifters, then it necessarily does not describe them as "anti-intellecutal grifters" either...because "anti-intellectual grifters" are a subset of "grifters".

[dyna mo]

An adult could have chosen a better direction for his thread to take but Im happy to keep it thoroughly derailed, so sure, let's keep going on the fact you're stupid

[TCLGirls]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

An adult could have chosen a better direction for his thread to take but Im happy to keep it thoroughly derailed, so sure, let's keep going on the fact you're stupid

You made a false statement. I corrected you. You got your feelings hurt and started in on the insults. So feel free to continue "derailing" threads.

[dyna mo]

No. I stated your snipped up drivel of an article is worthless.

[NatalieK]

Originally Posted by SuckOnThis

[Barry-xlovecam]

[crockett]

Originally Posted by TCLGirls

No one ever has "enough" wealth regardless of how much is in the bank. Everyone always wants more to some degree or another. That's the nature of humans.




He has a sizable number of supporters that can be monetized.

So why aren't they donating then?

[TCLGirls]

Originally Posted by crockett

So why aren't they donating then?

Perhaps because some of them feel they can accomplish their goal (getting Trump elected) without having to donate. Flip the script, and offer them "top quality" health supplements that "Obama's/Hillary's FDA doesn't want you to know about", and the cash might start to flow in.