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I heard at least part of this story on the car radio yesterday. It's the story of an old woman who was scammed out of over half a million dollars by savvy con-artists pretending to be law enforcement agents fighting against fentanyl drug cartels. One of the things that they kept repeating was that it was not this woman's fault that she was scammed, how it is kind of ridiculous to expect an 80 year old to catch all the "red flags" (such as how the emails she was receiving from the scammers came from a spoofed "USA.com" email address, rather than anything with ".gov" at the end), and how scammers like this have been perfecting their technique for decades.
And...
...
...(you can probably already see where I'm about to go with this if you've read my blog at all for the past decade)...
...
...the whole time I was listening to it, I couldn't help but think about the almost 80 million US citizens who have been similarly scammed. I am, of course, talking about how Donald Trump somehow managed to convince those almost 80 million US citizens to shitcan their votes by casting them for him, similar to how Judith Boivin was convinced to shitcan most of her $600,000 life savings by giving it to scammers. Like Judith Boivin, who thought she was doing a good thing by stopping scammers from using her Social Security number to open accounts for the purpose of something something the fentanyl crisis, those almost 80 million voters thought they were going to "Make America Great Again" by voting for Trump. In both the case of Judith Boivin and the case of those almost 80 million voters, they couldn't have been more wrong.
Obviously, though, there are a few key differences between the two situations.
First, whereas Judith Boivin (and many others like her) were scammed by slick criminals doing a very convincing impression of law enforcement officials, those who have been scammed by Donald Trump were scammed by a person who... well... *gestures vaguely at how Donald Trump has been presenting himself for at least the past decade or so.* There has been nothing even remotely "slick" about how Donald Trump behaves or presents himself to his scam victims. Donald Trump had been an overt, brazen piece of shit, the entire time. Trump has been absolutely nothing but "red flags." He has most assuredly not been doing anything resembling a convincing impression of a competent public official, that's for damn certain. And yet, they all still sucked it down, hook, line, and sinker.
Second, whereas the ones being scammed like Judith Boivin are also primarily the same ones being harmed by the scam (i.e. by losing most of her life savings, in the case of Judith Boivin), the ones harmed by the scam of Donald Trump are not necessarily the same ones who were scammed by Donald Trump. While, granted, a lot of the ones who were scammed are also being harmed by the results, thousands of people who may have explicitly voted against Donald Trump are still being harmed by the dogshit of Donald Trump, only made possible because he successfully scammed his way into the Presidency.
Third, whereas Judith Boivin ultimately felt shame and stupidity for having been scammed, even if she may not deserve to feel that way, victims of Donald Trump's scam, to this day, feel vindication and self-righteousness and even malicious approval for the godawful bullshit being conducted in their name by the blatant con-man who is only in the White House now thanks to them and their shameful stupidity. I just hope every single Trump voter lives long enough to actually feel the same sort of shame and stupidity for having been scammed by Trump. Unlike Judith Boivin, Trump voters fully deserve to feel that way.
(Or, you know, maybe Trump voters weren't scammed by Trump at all, and they, instead, were and are and continue to be completely and fully on board and complicit with his vile, evil, often flagrantly criminal horseshit. Either way, I still hope they live to feel the same shame and stupidity for having voted for him, because they still more than deserve to feel that way.)
And...
...
...(you can probably already see where I'm about to go with this if you've read my blog at all for the past decade)...
...
...the whole time I was listening to it, I couldn't help but think about the almost 80 million US citizens who have been similarly scammed. I am, of course, talking about how Donald Trump somehow managed to convince those almost 80 million US citizens to shitcan their votes by casting them for him, similar to how Judith Boivin was convinced to shitcan most of her $600,000 life savings by giving it to scammers. Like Judith Boivin, who thought she was doing a good thing by stopping scammers from using her Social Security number to open accounts for the purpose of something something the fentanyl crisis, those almost 80 million voters thought they were going to "Make America Great Again" by voting for Trump. In both the case of Judith Boivin and the case of those almost 80 million voters, they couldn't have been more wrong.
Obviously, though, there are a few key differences between the two situations.
First, whereas Judith Boivin (and many others like her) were scammed by slick criminals doing a very convincing impression of law enforcement officials, those who have been scammed by Donald Trump were scammed by a person who... well... *gestures vaguely at how Donald Trump has been presenting himself for at least the past decade or so.* There has been nothing even remotely "slick" about how Donald Trump behaves or presents himself to his scam victims. Donald Trump had been an overt, brazen piece of shit, the entire time. Trump has been absolutely nothing but "red flags." He has most assuredly not been doing anything resembling a convincing impression of a competent public official, that's for damn certain. And yet, they all still sucked it down, hook, line, and sinker.
Second, whereas the ones being scammed like Judith Boivin are also primarily the same ones being harmed by the scam (i.e. by losing most of her life savings, in the case of Judith Boivin), the ones harmed by the scam of Donald Trump are not necessarily the same ones who were scammed by Donald Trump. While, granted, a lot of the ones who were scammed are also being harmed by the results, thousands of people who may have explicitly voted against Donald Trump are still being harmed by the dogshit of Donald Trump, only made possible because he successfully scammed his way into the Presidency.
Third, whereas Judith Boivin ultimately felt shame and stupidity for having been scammed, even if she may not deserve to feel that way, victims of Donald Trump's scam, to this day, feel vindication and self-righteousness and even malicious approval for the godawful bullshit being conducted in their name by the blatant con-man who is only in the White House now thanks to them and their shameful stupidity. I just hope every single Trump voter lives long enough to actually feel the same sort of shame and stupidity for having been scammed by Trump. Unlike Judith Boivin, Trump voters fully deserve to feel that way.
(Or, you know, maybe Trump voters weren't scammed by Trump at all, and they, instead, were and are and continue to be completely and fully on board and complicit with his vile, evil, often flagrantly criminal horseshit. Either way, I still hope they live to feel the same shame and stupidity for having voted for him, because they still more than deserve to feel that way.)
