Trump and the Long Con
I’m bracing myself for the first hushed rumor. Something Sean Spicer will ‘neither confirm nor deny.’ Probably in a week or less. It will definitely be racist. Something like fried chicken bones under the couch cushions in the oval office or watermelon rinds in the Lincoln Bedroom. Something much, much worse than a removed ‘W’ from a computer keyboard.
Remember that? It started off a a harmless prank from the outgoing staff of President Clinton. They’d removed a few ‘W’ keys from the computers in the oval office. Within weeks this prank had been elevated by the GOP junior high rumor mill into an economic travesty. Within three weeks of George W. Bush’s inauguration no less a popular figure than Paul Harvey was lying to his millions of listeners, claiming that it was costing taxpayers $10,000 a day to repair the physical damage and vandalism the Clinton staff had done to the White House.
Just you wait. It’ll be something terrible. And part and parcel of the long con we’re all victims of now.
This whole thing started out as a short con. Trump was like that pop-up spamware that claims your phone has 37 viruses and you only have two minutes to download this expensive software or your phone will blow up. America is a hellish cesspool and only I can clean it up. A short con to stay in the limelight, to grasp onto anything that might keep him relevant for relevancy is his only source of income. But so many people started falling for it. Why? That’s an easy one. It’s the racism. It’s the fried chicken bones staining the upholstery in the White House.
Racism can only sustain a short con for so long because although America is a racist country (the end), I’d like to hope that most of us aren’t racists ourselves. So the short con became the long con and now we’re in for the long haul.
You think Trump gives a shit about this country or its institutions? Aww, you fell for the short con. He doesn’t give a flying fuck about America. He ran out of leverage with millions in the hole, so he’s using this job to leverage more relevance for relevance is his only source of income. I’d call him a con artist but he’s not very artful. He’s not hiding any of it. Just follow the money. Currently. When something he says or does in his capacity as President moves money toward him, then he’s conning you and and me like only a con man does. He’s not acting in the interests of our country.
You think you’ll pay fewer taxes because Trump doesn’t pay taxes? Oh you poor thing, you fell for the short con. You know they call it ‘trickle down’ cuz they’re pissing on you, right? When the GOP is in town, middle class taxes go up. Look at Gov. Rick Snyder in Michigan. Promised lower taxes, and sure enough taxes were lowered on businesses. But property taxes went up. Gasoline taxes went up. Vehicle registration fees went up. The taxes you and I pay all went up. There may be lower taxes for some people, but we’re not allowed to eat in their restaurants.
You thought this country would come together because Trump won? Oh boy, you really fell for the short con. You didn’t think people were going to shut up just because Trump won, did you? I guess you figure you don’t need to pay attention anymore because Trump won and therefore America is great again. You won’t have to hear about bathroom bills and safe spaces and womens’ and blacks’ lives mattering anymore. America is great again cuz he sez it is.
That’s the short con. That’s the phony spamware virus. You bought the expensive software to make your phone great again when if you’d just looked around a little bit you’d have realized things were never on fire.
And now the short con has become the long con and everything you believed about the fabric of this nation is wrong.
It’s really very simple: this country is for all of us, or it’s for none of us. And a con man and his shills ain’t ever gonna give a shit about all of us.
This is the Emergency Broadcast System. This is not a test.
