The Art of the Con

By Ruth A. Sheets

I support several threads on the Substack platform and regularly respond to people’s comments.  I responded to a recent comment by Mary Trump on her Substack thread “The Good In Us,” about people being conned into supporting Donald Trump, who has no clue.  I wrote the following (with a few updates).

It is truly sad so many Americans would prefer to blindly follow an old man with dementia than stop to think  then ask, why.  Trump has been a con artist all his life, nothing new. 

I suppose the conning art has been with us from the beginnings of humanity.  We learn about it over time through actions we would consider ridiculous.  But, the cons got more sophisticated over the centuries, or rather  the artists procured more assistants who can modify the message to suit the tastes of whoever is being targeted.  Right now, Trump’s targets are vulnerable people being used by corporations, men of wealth, and a political system that promotes grift that catches people in its nets set out here to snare those who have grievances. 

The “catch” happens often when power resides in the hands of totally unqualified folks who have been supported and popularized by men who have an agenda that includes power for themselves.  Those folks want an ignorant con artist, Donald Trump, to procure what they want.  Today's actors include the members of Trump's "cabinet," none of whom is qualified for the job they hold and none have the interests of the American people in mind.  Joined with them are the Steves, Miller and Bannon, JD Vance, and the rich fools:  Theil, Vought, Musk, and a bunch of other billionaires who believe themselves entitled because of some kind of brilliance they believe they have, also wanting a gigantic slice of the American pie. 

With so much control of our media held by wealthy corporate America, that vulnerable crowd can be courted hour after hour, with lies, disinformation, and gaslit to the Con's heart's content.  Those folks have been permitted to gain far too much wealth for their own good and ours.  They buy seats in Congress often for ignorant or inexperienced white folks who will do the bidding of the far too rich.  They have even gotten their supporters on our courts since there are no real qualifications for seats in our critical judiciary system or anything else related to our government.  Heck, they don't even have to know our Constitution, something we see proven daily.  

I wrote this response, wondering if there were anything we could do to cut the reach and power of the wealth being used against the American people for the benefit of some kind of oligarchic system that lets rich white men rule.  Such a system should be acceptable to no one!  However, over time, we have been courted with a host of programs glorifying rich folks, even their criminal behavior as though it were an entertainment in real life as in our media. We are not amused! (or entertained) 

Happy Halloween!  We certainly do have “evil” ghouls and goblins haunting our congress and nearly every part of our government right now.  It’s too bad we can’t just exorcize them!