Plan B Forum

Donald Trump may be a man with a very limited set of talents, but he has learned to apply those talents to masterful effect. His talent is to employ shameless lies to create an image of himself in the media, and then use that media to bilk people.

Typically, a grifter runs up against the limits of public knowledge: Once he is exposed, it becomes progressively more difficult to find new marks. But here is where Trump’s particular genius exceeds all who came before him, and allowed him to operate his scam on a world-historical scale. Trump has always attracted so much media that any particular exposé of his crooked deeds is overwhelmed by the cacophony.
[...]
[Final paragraph:] Almost every confidence artist has had to flee from his victims after they realized the trick. Trump may be the greatest con man in history. His victims still adore him.

Henry Gondorff:  You gotta keep his con even after you take his money.  He can't know you took him.

An investigation of Federal Election Commission records done by the New York Times found that the Trump campaign, in the last two months of 2020, was forced to give hundreds of thousands of refunds in the amount of about $64 million.  In total the campaign refunded $122 million, the newspaper said.

Many of these accidental repeat donors believed they were signing up to give a one-time contribution, the New York Times reported.  Some of the victims of this scheme, like 63-year-old Stacy Blatt, were cancer patients who found themselves unable to pay bills and rent because of the repeated donations to the Trump campaign, the newspaper reported.

It started with an unusual and "aggressive" move:  the addition of a small, bright yellow box on Trump's campaign donation portal in March 2020.  "Make this a monthly recurring donation," the text in the box read.  The box had automatically been checked off as soon as donors landed on the page, the Times reported.

In order to avoid this recurring donation, donors had to manually opt out, the Times said.

Months later, the donation portal added a second pre-checked box.  This time, the box automatically directed an additional contribution from the donor in honor of Trump's birthday in June, according to the Times.

Between June and September, contributions were pouring into the Biden campaign.  So the Trump campaign ramped up its approach.

By September, the text in the initial pre-checked box silently changed from "monthly" to "weekly" donation, according to the newspaper.
(https://www.businessinsider.com/trump- ... ns-2021-4)

Sue U wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:17 pm

Just out of curiosity, is there anyone on this BBS who identifies as a Republican?

Sue U wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:17 pm

Just out of curiosity, is there anyone on this BBS who identifies as a Republican?