The bottom line is the lie. And the more this behavior is repeated, the more the public buys into it. The grifters and the American public are both running amok. We have lost sight of virtue.
Where is the Pied Piper when we need him?
12
The folks I know over 40 that still use Facebook are using it to promote their businesses, nothing else.
22
Maureen, I think you're missing the point here. Trump voters weren't conned at all. Whatever he said during the campaign and whatever he says now is immaterial. Look at his poll numbers among his base. Their support has remained steady, if not grown. Yet there's no wall, no infrastructure, no help with taxes. It's like they don't care about his words. It's his hateful, angry, ignorant rant that's music to their ears, not his lyrics.
Others are better then I, by natural gifts, temperament and training to explain why this is so. I only know what I see, and it ain't pretty.
72
Hey, the U.S. is only 1 of 2 nations in the world that permits drug companies to advertise their prescription drugs directly to consumers. And when Macron was asked why he thinks he won the French election and not right-winger Marie Le Pen, he said that France does not have Fox News.
We Americans are known around the world as laughably stupid and gullible and that we will fall for anything.
And that is why grifters, con artists, sociopaths, psychopaths, Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, etc., and drug companies do so well in this country.
67
One thing I am grateful to Trump for: Ms. Dowd has - in the face of the seriousness of the threat his administration poses - dropped her super cool, super hip, snarky writing style. She now writes with a maturity commensurate with her talent. I guess The Donald has forced us all to concentrate, grow up and take seriously the challenges that we face as a country.
28
Grifters? Javanka. You betcha!
25
This column is an attention getter and therein is the problem. The antics of the oval office are attracting too much ink, too many eyeballs, zillions of clicks, higher revenues for our media. Meanwhile, many of the swampsters behind the curtain of this attention grabbing natural entertainer are manipulating very narrow interests, foreign and domestic, with the phony promise of access to the new American monarch for very handsome retainers.
The problem is that the broader public interests such as the horrible condition of the public infrastructure, like our dangerously congested highways, our aging and outmoded mass transit, commuter rail and subway commuter systems: the urgent need to pursue the science of energy and environment and the health harming pollution pouring from the tailpipes of a steadily increasing number of automobiles in increasing affluent newly industrialized countries like China and India (we all share in the commons of the atmosphere and oceans), and the hugely urgent issue of global warming that could make life hell for all humankind.
From recent commencement addresses I have learned that 25% of our students are from families that live below the poverty line. There is something seriously wrong in our distribution of the Nation's income that shows up unmistakably in the large gap in wealth. Somehow, free market capitalism is coming up short on both health, education, and opportunities for attaining a better life.
It is time to get serious. 11/6/18.
37
I wonder if Don Draper, Tony Soprano, and Walter White will enter the pantheon of American literature in the decades to come--taught in 11th- Grade English along with Huck Finn, Cotton Mather, etc.
I hope so.
All literary traditions have their rogues and con-artists, but I think only America makes heroes of them.
6
Yes, the grifters have gone wild. And Americans are totally lost in it's wilderness.
11
Trump seems to me to be a hustler and a huckster. And people are just eating it up. I don't have problems with husters and hucksters per se because as you say, they have always been around. But what I do have a problem with is accountability. Anyone is free to be a scam artist but there should be legal accountability for the scam. Such as - you scam people - you go to jail. Or you scam people - you compensate them monetarily. The problem is that Trump supporters and Trump himself seem ready to see our legal system go down or be rendered non-functional, just to keep their man in office, and at the same time cover up his scams. With no legal accountability - we will just live in a fantasy world - which sounds to me like the road to fascism. One question I always think of - would you let this person perform surgery on you? The answer for Trump is that I would tell him to wait outside the hospital. I would not let him in.
119
I can't help but think that this all goes back to education -- if we had a more educated society, then people wouldn't have succumbed so easily to a liar and a cheat.
21
We have something more readily available. It's called the internet. All it takes is some searching.
3
You missed the entry about the Theranos investors. We want to believe what we want to believe.
7
Check out the common thread in many of these comments - "We weren't duped/ We're not stupid." followed by citing the very things that they were duped by as evidence. Makes a point, doesn't it? Con artists also thrive in an environment of denial. and self-justification. On that basis, Bernie Madoff is a saint, Nixon wasn't a crook, and 911 never happened. What you believe and what you want to believe are the things most likely to kill you, because they're what you base your actions upon. The rest, sadly, really is history.
11
Let’s face it, Maureen, Americans have always been suckers for The Big Con. We’ve bought into work as wealth as the highest forms of achievement. Christians have convinced themselves that “dominion” is being faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Too many of us buy into an adolescent, cocksure version of masculinity.l and choose “leaders” accordingly. And, yes, deals are seen as good, while work is for suckers.
We will, I predict, wake up one day fairly soon to some sort of dystopia and say “I didn’t think it could happen here.” These will be the words of a nation whose people chose ease and entertainment over critical thought, principle and true adult responsibility.
28
Guess I really did not expect you to have the Obama’s in your story. But, they certainly are making their way into the .1%! Amazing for a couple who’ve really done nothing of note, besides getting elected of course.
As $100’s of Million$ flow into their bank accounts - and that’s what is available to the public to know about - what’s their real agenda?
Can only imagine if HRC had followed their planning
8
I always look forward for someone to point out the Obamas for some travesty worse than that of the conman president. I would bet their main goal is to save our democracy from the likes of the grifter king. But at a minimum they are making money in the old fashioned way, by earning it, as opposed to being elected president and pushing legislation that benefits his personal bottom line and ditching any semblance of ethical conduct.
46
Trump, with his constant prevarication, is the model for future grifters. Think we should be counting on many more of them in the future, unfortunately.
9
For sure, as Ms. Dowd posits, the country is in a state of massive change right now, but the world has gone through many periods of great change and no matter how incomprehensible the wars, the mechanical-industrial and political revolutions may have seemed at the time, when the smoke cleared, we found they had brought us a better world. The tech and social revolutions going on now will do the same.
Hang on, Ms. Dowd and all the pessimistic posters here. Inject a little optimism into your view of our human journey and you may find it is a drama that it is not dark and foreboding, but endlessly fascinating.
4
No no no. The replacement of communication by social media is as simple as it is ancient. Social interaction. That’s right. People in the same room talking and listening to each other.
It’s refreshing, low key, ad free, (usually) violence free, generally upbeat (including funeral receptions), full of opportunities for learning and a laugh or two. The electricity of human bodies transmitting and processing what human minds desire to communicate is a stimulation without parallel.
It’s the only antidote to device dependent, technologically mediated contact. And it works!
8
Where were you, Ms. Dowd, in the run up to the election? You were beating up on Hilary and practically extolling the virtues of the person who is now the con artist in chief. Your complaints regarding the con artist in chief ring rather hollow. I’m surprised he didn’t offer some cabinet position to you.
35
A great article, Ms Dowd. The final paragraph is so sad and feels so true. Thanks for this editorial piece.
1
We live in a society that has lotteries on every street corner.
It is being advertised on tv, on the net, in newspapers, essentially everywhere. It offers the get rich quick scheme, that if you only buy a ticket, then your chance at riches is written.
It is the same with the republican party platform, that if you only vote for them, that you could be like them, with the mass riches and paying little, if no taxes. Government runs by itself and if it doesn't, then there just some more decimals added to the national debt and we are all bailed out.
The true con.
10
It’s voters prerogative to wallow in lies because they are up to their eyeballs in them with Trump. As for the other grifters, selling get rich quick or I’m gonna make you a star routines are old hat. Maybe the tech and the movies are the new tools, but still the old story. One born every minute!
7
Well said.
2
"Trump voters allowed themselves to believe they had a successful billionaire who knew the art of the deal when he only knew the art of the con. They bought his seductive campaign narrative, that the system was rigged and corrupt and only he could fix it. After winning by warning voters they were being suckered, he’s made them all suckers" is the best descriptive paragraph of the 2016 election I've read. Congratulations Ms. Dowd, you've hit the proverbial nail on the head.
13
A vote for Trump was not so much an endorsement of his candidacy but more so, a vote against Clinton and dynasty, a vote against the adoption of Sanders left wing fantasy, a vote to stop the eight decade long building of the cradle to grave nanny state, a vote to end the alphabet soup of entrenched bureaucracy that we survived without for a century and a half, a vote to return - for better or worse - to individual responsibility, a vote against the punishment of success/wealth/capitalism via the tax code, a vote for the least worst candidate.
10
Wow you nailed it!
2
One of journalism's leading Hillary-haters writes yet another article deploring Trump. Too little, too late. If anybody has lost credibility, it's Ms Dowd. We have yet to read her regrets for not having voted for Hillary, or for having motivated others to stay home or vote for Trump with all of her 2016 anti-Clinton columns. One is left with a feeling of persistent nausea and sadness over what happened.
41
Turns out all those folks making CEO salaries or even hedge fund billionaires or even Joe the Plumber - those folks are the true grifters, the scammers, and the con artists .
Take Slacker Jared Kushner whose real estate tycoon father paid Harvard big bucks to admit his son. Now Jared is making billions learning new scams from Donald Trump.
You can scam your way to the top and the rest of us are suckers . But you can only have so many people on top - the 1% .
Reduce the money supply of the 1% and we’d all live a lot better .
21
I enjoy the irony of having Jaron Lanier commenting on flim flam.
1
The problem is US. Donald Trump represents the thinking of 1/2 this country. 45% would vote for him today. The biggest con has always been how great this country is, when it has the same capabilities of being a banana republic as any other when given the opportunity.
22
We live in a society that has lotteries on every street corner.
It is being advertised on tv, on the net, in newspapers, essentially everywhere. It offers the get rich quick scheme, that if you only buy a ticket, then your chance at riches is written.
It is the same with the republican party platform, that if you only vote for them, that you could be like them, with the mass riches and paying little, if no taxes. Government runs by itself and if it doesn't, then there just some more decimals added to the national debt and we are all bailed out.
The true con.
3
We're a nation of marks. It was actually planned, and the 45 year GOP war on public education is a big factor in it.
25
Could it be any clearer this president disregards the rule of law and all matters of ethics?
He's enlarged and engorged the swamp, is profiting from his presidency in many ways--- most obviously his properties.
Foreigners access him at Mar-a-Lago and D.C. Hotel. There are no visitors log at these properties or at the People's White House. Cabinet members misuse funds & resources. And are lobbyists themselves, or fail to regulate.
Trump's staffers' Twitter accounts post political messages for and against specific candidates. Abuse of The Justice Dept. is rampant. And Fox News guides this president in foreign policy. Sean Hannity, lacking a security clearance, has direct access to the president.
Grifters Gone Wild Indeed.
8
Dowd says, "“Anytime people want to contact each other or have an awareness of each other, it can only be when it’s financed by a third party who wants to manipulate us, to change us in some way or affect how we vote or what we buy,” he says. “In the old days, to be in that unusual situation, you had to be in a cult or a volunteer in an experiment in a psychology building or be in an abusive relationship or at a bogus real estate seminar."
Not so. The telephone doesn't try to manipulate us (AFAIK), nor does plain old USPS mail. These communication tools are still fully available; we've just been conned and lured into replacing them with flashy, expensive technology.
5
For many millions of users, social media is an innocuous and helpful tool for Grandmothers to share grandchildren photos and recipes and for the lonely, sick and elderly to make meaningful and lifesaving contacts. Looking beyond that innocent and beneficent facade, the underbelly of social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter, is indeed truly heinous, especially when that "free speech" text or altered photo can be nothing but lies, half truths or intended to wrongfully harm and discredit an individual, group or institution. When Russians impersonating Americans succeed with impunity, essentially yelling "Fire" to the millions of Americans crowded on Facebook and Twitter, social media becomes arguably the equivalent of flying a commercial jet into a skyscraper or a detonating bomb left in a pubic square. Even though the human carnage and physical destruction of property is not an immediate consequence of nefarious social media posts, the long term effects can be far worse.
The enormous challenge of regulating social media appears to be the issue at hand. Given the current less the honorable elements in charge of the federal government at the moment, it is not clear whether the current mad tweeter-in-chief mob boss, his sycophantic party of goons in charge of Congress or a majority tone-deaf Supreme Court are up to this critical task.
4
Ms. Dowd, I am very disappointed. I thought you had figured out, by now, that Americans weren't conned into voting for Trump. We were so disgusted by Hillary and friends calling us deplorables; ad nauseum that we really had no choice if we didn't want 4 years of crooked Hillary as president. And we don't want to live in a European Socialist state; and we don't want $6.00 gasoline, and we don't think America can tax itself into prosperity; and on and on...........That's the bottom line, not being conned, not being deceived--and by the way the economy seems to have responded in a way that justified our decision. In fact I would say that most American's lives are better today than they were under Obama and would have been under Crooked Hillary as president.
10
When all is said and done, Trump's presidency will mark a sea-change in American politics and culture; but the mainstream media will be the last to notice that their brand has been forever and irrevocably tarnished and diminished. The erstwhile manufacturers of consent flounder about in the rubble, ferreting about in the flotsam generated by the Trump miracle: the destruction of the deep state and their media collaborators. Desperate to regain the semblance of legitimacy, they pillory the president with unrestrained insults and contumely. Yet it amounts to little more than spasms of destruction. Show-biz was always our emptiest suit.
3
You talk about four people -- Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, Elizabeth Holmes, and Jaron Lanier -- and tie them all together. You shouldn't. They share little.
Donald Trump is not a con man. There's no evidence that he, for example, colluded with the Russians. Or did anything else illegal. And he has been upfront with the American people about what he want to do -- make America great (peaceful and prosperous). He exaggerates, but that's his shtick.
Harvey Weinstein is just another in the long line of men who use their power to get sex. That's disgusting, but that's biology. It's as old as humanity.
Elizabeth Holmes is no con woman. I've been a lawyer and executive in Silicon Valley for 30 years. Theranos is one of many, many companies that had a technology that didn't pan out. Most don't.
But she didn't defraud anybody. (Even the SEC let her off with a slap on the wrist.) People did their due diligence before they invested in Theranos. They knew the risk, and they lost. Happens all the time.
Finally, Jaron Lanier is an interesting guy, but he exaggerates more than Donald Trump. He's one of those guys (and I've run into him twice over the years) who can seriously say, as you quote, "[Facebook and its ilk] may destroy our civilization and even our species", and believe it. He makes you think, but he gets carried away.
Some think that we are living in perilous times that threaten an apocalypse. We don't. Things are good, and getting better.
33
Donald Trump is not a con man? Did you ever hear of Trump University?
108
“Make America great again.” Now there’s a bold, edgy slogan. How’s the swamp-draining coming (ie, reducing the power of lobbyists and business)? How about hiring only the very best people? Or the great infrastructure plan? Health care for everyone?
Anyone who voted for Trump based on his populist message has been conned. Face it.
126
John Smithson you need to do some research about Donald Trump. His casino "empire" went up in flames of bankruptcy as he paid few of his contractors and did not pay back his lenders. He was a conman his entire real estate career. The US and legit European banks denying him credit is what sent him to the Russian oligarchs and money laundering. The info as all there. He is the biggest conman in the USA and you are a mark for him.
116
No black or brown people? Shall I go on?
5
More than any other "journalist", that has a column in the NY Times, Ms. Dowd is responsible for the cock-up in the "Oval", as she put it. Her attacks on Hillary were incessant and her biases were very clear!
I would have thought that a vow of silence and a period of penance was called for but alas, that has not been the case!
21
No, opinion writers are specifically NOT hard-news people.
Not that the Times has had any ehthical journalists working on government and politics in decades, but no one asks the opinioneers to not show Bias. hat's why we have the term ''opinion column.''
Abe Rosenthal was the best at keeping the opinions ONLY on the opinion page. He would have been proud of Maureen not caring what ''the in crowd'' thought of her opinions for and against Obama, Hillary, or their good buddy Weinstein.
1
yes, we understand the difference between hard-news and opinion. the point was that her NEGATIVE opinions regarding hillary were incessant, negative, and deleterious. and now we have a uniquely UNQUALIFIED grifter in the oval office. but gee, thanks so much for the explanation from all the way out in fair verona.
3
The claim that opposition to Hillary is tantamount to support for Trump is shallow and naive, and symptomatic of the disease in American culture so clearly exemplified by the selection of both of these extremely unpopular and inadequate candidates for the presidency.
2
"Trump voters allowed themselves to believe they had a successful billionaire who knew the art of the deal when he only knew the art of the con. "
This is an exaggeration Maureen. It only took a few voters in 3 states (~70,000 in all) to overcome the 3 million voters that HRC won the national vote by. The election was also a result of Dems who could not vote for HRC so they did not vote or voted Green for the 1st time. The vast majority of Trump voters belonged to the Never-Vote-Dem tribe. If Jesus had been running against Trump in 2016 he would not have gotten their votes either.
Mostly it is tribalism. Cheer for your tribe but never stop to evaluate (Think Critically) about it. It is in our DNA from Homo Erectus to Homo Sapiens and our evolution put it there.
10
Can Facebook and Google go the way of Wikipedia, as I understand it?
If a search service, a social network, could be established with a primacy given to, user privacy, to fairness, the fairness of search results, which, because it would be user funded, would not be subject to advertising dollars and, advertizising's inevitable real intrusiveness, would it be a better world for us? Now, fb and Goog are said to be "free of charge," but, I think we are beginning to see a real cost to sharing our closest world(s), with very very aggressive business models. Can a real equivalent to Goog, to fb, be more like a non profit, a public utility?
1
Re Elizabeth Holmes: I wouldn’t put her in the same category as a grifter. You say she fooled and fleeced some very wealthy people. The reality is that they acted like standard venture capital investors and took a flyer on a new technology, based on an assessment of the potential risk and reward. I doubt their investments were material relative to their personal wealth.
5
Great article. Thank you for your wit and insight.
Maureen fails to identify the unifying them in the examples she gives; modern-day US culture. We need to connect the dots. Optimism that no longer correlates with our reality. Deeply held but increasingly unrealistic beliefs about what we should be able to attain with modest education or skills, no personal accountability but plenty of groups to blame (immigrants, Deep State, Corporations, etc).Selfishness and entitlement that make us particularly susceptible to messages that feed either fear or greed (or both).Fear that fuels the election of Trump. Greed and fear of missing out that make us invest in things we don't understand, as in the Theranos and "vaporwear" examples.Increasing reliance on our gut and feelings, both shaped by fear and greed, at a time when our own data and habits are used to craft ever more subtle and personalized marketing messages, often packaged as coming from our Facebook Friends. Sharing more and more visual and verbal "selfies" to receive often loaded but self-reinforcing feedback. A fear of "judging" that allows inappropriate and harmful behavior go unchecked, as in the movie mogul syndrome. Grifters have gone wild because our culture has created fertile ground for them to strive.
12
You forgot to include the role of thinking, you know, actually using our brains to consider what we’re doing, instead of blindly going into the tunnel.
6
Melville has already covered this topic in his book, "The Confidence Man" Who, exactly, is worthy of your trust?
8
Life itself is the biggest con of all. It holds the material illusion of success and accomplishments, but in the end old age, disease, and death take it all away from you. The universe has the whole thing rigged.
Talk of tech "vaporware," try religious institutions too. They're either selling "immortality" or "fire insurance," depending on the brand. And we all subsidize this one with tax exemption! An even better con: fleece the membership and pay no taxes. Genius.
If we have the "art of the con" master in the White House, it is largely due in part due to his opponent being an equally despised choice. It was one con or the other, it always is. Ask the people in the shadows who finance the whole campaign system, and stand to profit further from whatever decisions the new Administrations are encouraged to make, no matter which party is "driving" the ship of state. Orwell described it perfectly in "1984," "War is Peace," "Ignorance is Strength." We've been at war for seventeen years now, and the ignorance of the electorate is palpable.
18
The Holmes story is the one I just don't get. What little was said in the press about the technology simply didn't make sense. My reaction was "You can't get there on the road she said she was taking." Very small sample sizes say large relative errors, even assuming that the sample contained sufficient material for detection. I'm a chemist; I'm not brightest bulb on the string, so surely some yellow flags were waving where investors bothered to ask even stupid questions, much less "due diligence."
5
"Government" is a myth we shouldn't believe in. There is no monolithic entity possessed of a will and intentionality. This is the leviathan Government so often abused and made bogeyman by the right. It doesn't exist. Yes, there is a federal bureaucracy, and thank whatever gods there are for it. It is the flywheel on the engine of government.
But not believing in Government is no valid excuse for giving up on governance, especially now that we have shown just how bad it can be. Anarchy is for armchairs. It doesn't work out in the world.
7
Two thoughts, one is Bitcoin being at least an invitation to scam, if not a scam in itself. The other is that Theranos seems to taken in mostly wealthy, well-known conservatives/republicans. Not that liberals are immune from scamsters, but still...
7
The American people need to hound McConnell and Ryan to stand up for our country. They are the only two leaders who initiate a "check and balance" action against Trump. Yet they sit there and do nothing. Ryan and McConnell's failure to challenge Trump on his lies, his false conspiracy theories and allow him and his family to continue to take "pay-for-play" payments from foreign nations is an outrageous dereliction of duty. Ivanka Trump just got approval for 5 new patents from Chinese government as DJT feverishly fights for dropping sanctions against ZTE.
14
Please don't wait for any of those bought and paid for hacks to bail this country out or look out for its citizens. The are too entrenched in their own worlds to care a fig about us.
4
Theranos and Trump are excellent examples of a central flaw of human nature - people hear what they want to hear. And once the scam is revealed, a second human flaw comes into play - denial - so much so that people will double-down in their mistake rather than rectify it.
Trump and Holmes instinctively understood the interplay between these two flaws. Holmes' scam has come crashing down. Will Trump's do the same, while there is still time to prevent dictatorship and save democracy?
8
I believe the women were complicit in these matters. I believe after they are investigated and put on the stand under oath and under a vigorous and detailed cross examination, each and every one of them will show that they routinely play the sex card to garner benefits. They are only accusatory if they did not get enough with their cheap antics. They routinely show disrespect for their own bodies. They end up with nothing when their beauty fades and they made no provisions to be a citizen in society. They should thank Harvey for giving them opportunities. He will not be convicted. He will rise again to prominence and success because he knows how to work hard and be a focused executive.
4
So why, Rich, did Harvey Weinstein hire former Mossad spies to attempt to stop his accusers from going public? Is this how a person "knows how to work hard and be a focused executive", as you describe him, functions to get ahead? A habitual sexual predator is more the type to kill or be killed, not a businessperson. I also question you describing the women accusers as showing disrespect for their own bodies -- have you seen anything more gross than the tremendous veil of fat Weinstein has worn for years while the actors and actresses around him have remained 20 pounds underweight to look better on film?
2
Oh, sure we’ve got a narcissistic con artist in the Oval Office but that’s so much better than Hillary, after all. I mean what about those emails!?
Thanks again for the hatchet job Ms. Dowd; the one you did on Sec. Clinton that is.
20
When I was a child my big sisters little B&W TV had a sticker that read: Turn on Tune in Throw up. I think that's more appropriate now than back in 1963
2
Turn on Tune in wisely Enjoy
Current television, unlike 1963, has a lot of excellent programming to offer.
2
I think some voters were conned by Trump. Others simply did not care how gross Trump was. They thought Trump spoke their language and they emotionally connected with Trump.
Those other voters were simply wanting anyone but Hilary.
We tend to lump all Trump voters together. That is a big mistake.
Trump's voters are every bit as complex as Hilary voters.
They are not all mysogynists, racists, stupid or rich.
We should remember this.
And we should also remember that Holmes was a woman and every bit a con. Both sexes are capable of conning. And both sexes are capable of being conned, even if they are normally intelligent humans. So we have Schulz, Kissinger, Mattis, Bpoes, Murdoch and Robert Kraft conned by an intelligent, attractive, ambitious and morally corrupt woman.
I have to say, in some way it scares me that these distinguished men of power are no smarter than the average person. And some of them were in charge, or are in charge of parts of our Government. Even scarier.
This what we get when we get too greedy.
3
Yet another diatribe of attacks on Trump. All with
insinuating him with the "animal" Weinstein.
And lastly, to acknowledge that Streep and others
knew or turned blind-eyes to him. Yet I remember all too well
MS Steep standing in ovation while honoring Roman
Polanski. His digressions were NOT a secret.
I'd call him an animal too~
5
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
- Ernest Hemingway
You do the interpretation.
4
Facebook, twitter et al, are kinda like social heroin - easy to access and ingest but can you handle withdrawal? There was a time when opium was the emollient for crying, teething babies and Sigmund Fraud was an advocate for cocaine - which he lauded as a wonder drug. And so it is with digital social media technologies...they're new and their long-term impact are not well understood. But it's scarier than that - Artificial Intelligence is rapidly emerging as the gateway technology to further influence our binary dependence. 'Siri - Alexa how do I stop this thing? ' just ain't gonna help.
1
Wondering when his victims will sue the manufacturer of Caverject, which enabled the guy.
A column about GRIFTERS without any mention of Bill and Hill?!
Seriously, Mo?
2
The media has always seemed to be enchanted with "law breakers". They romanticize crooks, and basically promote them and their society-destroying behavior, in daily news and supposed entertainment. They often make it seem like fun, frivolous behavior.
Bonnie and Clyde, The Godfather, Wolf of Wall Street, House of Cards, Mob wives, etc., etc., etc.
Why? These people steal from the rest of us. Every wealthy individual I know got their money by breaking rules and evading laws and taxes. The rest of us pay for their insatiable greed and lack of social conscience.
Some years ago Michael Lewis wrote "Liar's Poker" to warn the public about how Wall Street Robber Barons steal from the rest of us. He was shocked to find that his book enticed many young people - mostly men - to want jobs on Wall street so they could get in on the action.
There was time to prevent the wealth inequality we have today back then. There was time to prevent the Robber Barons from getting control of OUR governments at every level and to prevent The Con Don - and/or his brethren - from stalking around OUR white house.
Apparently these poor excuses for human beings think It's easier to steal from the rest of us than actually work and add something to civilization.
The media and entertainment industries need to take a close look at themselves and, if they truly care about anything but money, get on board to help WE THE PEOPLE preserve/restore true democracy in OUR United States of America.
NOW.
7
I totally agree with Niglea here!
We can't have our culture making heroes of crooks.
The world we leave for our kids is corrupt enough already.
2
Henry Kissinger, David Boies, Rupert Murdoch.... These are our "high-minded" individuals? We're in worse trouble than I thought.
6
Miss Dowd does not mention the one grifter who has fathered a thousand children like him; someone whose ideological progeny continue to prosper politically, economically, and--among a large part of our society--socially. Yes, the legacy of Elmer Gantry is alive and flourishing to this day in the United States.
6
Con the voters once, shame on you. Con the voters twice, shame on... You're not going to shame the electorate in 2018 or 2020. The cleanup needs to start now.
8
Where were all the "Hillary is a terrible candidate" cryers in the years, nay months, before she became the nominee? Were they working to support a candidate more to their liking before Bernie decided to run? I don't think so, I think they decided to take action once Bernie took it for them. Hindsight is 20-20, laziness and blaming others is just laziness.
3
What I am waiting for is the day Maureen Dowd uses her words to acknowledge her role in helping to elect the con man in the White House. And to the Trump voters who say that they knew he was ‘flawed’ but wanted his policies, I truly hope you are good with all of them - the tearing away of children from their parents at our border, the tearing down of the EPA under the biggest con man in the Cabinet, the anti education policies of his religious school wonk, the list is just so long.
18
Dear Maureen, A good grifter is way better at the game then our President. RAW
5
Here is a guess as to the legal response to Trump's long con; prosecution under Rico. What do you think?
5
"Elizabeth Holmes shot to fame as the youngest female self-made billionaire after she dropped out of Stanford at 19 and then founded the company that became Theranos. She claimed to have created an easier, cheaper way to do blood tests, just by pricking a finger, but then it turned out she was a literal bloodsucker, defrauding investors of $700 million on a nonexistent technology."
Let's not forget the grifter investors that thought they would make millions from fake science like General Jim Mattis!
5
"...Just because you made a lot of money doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re a role model for boys and girls.”
An often cited reason if many voters who supported Trump was that he was a successful businessman. Was the idolization of the mighty dollar more important than the values in a leader that they wished to teach their children?
Values like:
- Money and wealth are not the ultimate "raisons d'etre" in a meaningful life
- Vulgar name calling and bullying are never to be used
- Constant lying, lying and lying, etc. is not to be tolerated ever
- Sexual assault (with a new meaning for a cat) is not just locker room talk and must be condemned
- Marriages are not OK with dalliances with porn stars
How terribly tragic that America has descended into a depraved version of "In Trump We Trust" instead of in "God We Trust." May those coins be discarded into a dirty dustbin in DC. along with his adminisration.
May our children be shielded from cable news and Facebook and be taught the true principles that define an inspirational, ethical and trustworthy leader. And may we vote him and his cohorts out of office before their values become a "normal" part of the next generations.
9
He's not even a good businessman (evidence aplenty, not providing it here, but a simple search will provide the facts ...), just a greedy bully consorting with mobsters, kleptocrats, cheaters, and dictators.
7
Many people seem to confuse "good businessman" with "born rich."
4
Sharp changes in communication and the spread of information seem to be behind the terrifying rise of authoritarian leaders. They take advantage of our insecurity in the face of unsettling change.
Radio brought us Hitler and Mussolini.
Now technology has taken another amazing leap forward and we are convinced that it's the end of the world. We are desperate for a strong, in-charge leader who gives us scapegoats, reassuring slogans, and hope. Someone who can make it all better.
Trump's followers have enough evidence now to see that he isn't the guy.
We need a new Churchill.
4
Even the venerable NYT has become a part of this manipulative con. For one of my business clients I was searching online for products that might be suitable for his project so I could talk with some reasonable familiarity with a couple of our vendor reps. The next day a half dozen of these products appeared in banner ads on the electronic version of the NYT. That was last Thursday, as of today I am still getting bombarded. Everything is tied to commerce whether it is Facebook or donald trump.
12
People don't like institutions because there are people in them, and people know that other people can and usually will be corrupted and manipulated. That's why Trump's "deep state" nonsense continues to resonate with such surprising effectiveness. There is a tiny sliver of truth in it, just enough for weak minded suckers to buy into it.
And it's why we need "Gods" and "Laws".
When our laws fail us, as they inevitably do, all we have to do is hold hands, pray, and everything is OK again, at least for a minute. Who needs gun control when you have Mike Pence around?
And "God" is our cosmic garbageman, he never fails to take out the trash that we leave, so we see no reason to stop littering.
Say what you want about Elizabeth Holmes’s business practices, but you have to admit that that’s an amazing villain jacket she’s wearing in the photo!
3
Finally Maureen, finally you printed something about female enabling and co depending the predator!
Congratulations!
Weinstein carefully used people like Judi Dench, M. Streep, Hillary Clinton and groups like NOW to help prey on other women.
Also many women wait many yrs., only complain when the raises, promotions stop or worse start the sexual activity before they complain.
The only thing as bad as a predator is a co depender or enabler.
Predators live for them.
PS: The cases of Holmes, Trump etc. are flim flam artists and are true but are separate from sexual harassment.
2
Maureen, first let me say I admire your progressive columns in the NY Times.
However, nobody is perfect including the both of us.
it is the nature of the beast.
You are one of the greatest writers in newspapers male or female.
However you can "stray", not seeing the whole truth.
That is all I am saying.
2
So, I read in the linked article regarding Theranos that Elizabeth Holmes will pay a very heavy fine of $500,000 for defrauding people out of $700,000,000 dollars. Which would seem to suggest that the biggest con-artist grifter of all time, is our very own legal system. Second only to Donald "let's save these Chinese jobs I just got $500,000,000 to save!" Trump.
Doesn't having him as president make all of us part of the #metoo movement?
2
The fault, dear Maureen, is not in our Hollywood stars but in the Press. Who amongst you knew about and protected the well known actions of the Harvey Weinsteins of Hollywood or the predatory politicians of Washington and remained silent?
2
Why do you blame the press without even mentioning anyone who knew what Weinstein was doing with women and who failed to report it.
Also, even for those who knew, it took incredibly innovative research methods to prove what Weinstein was doing. Weinstein was so clever at hiding his misbehavior with non-disclosure agreements that newspapers couldn't do a thing with the rumors. In the real press, printing unsubstantiated rumors, is considered a serious flaw.
The Times and the reporters who were able to prove Weinstein's guilt deserve major applause for what they were able to do. This does not make the rest of the press guilty for not figuring it out.
You are suggesting a coverup by the press, but you should be blaming Weinstein for the coverup. I am grateful to those who managed to prove that Weinstein was a serial sex offender. Try giving credit where credit is due, not blaming those who were unable to find proof.
1
Lanier makes a good point. It's all about manipulating the masses to buy or vote, to believe or not.
The "Father of PR" and nephew of Freud, Edward Bernays started "engineering [public] consent" the in early 1900s, applying the principles of propaganda and his uncle's brilliant insights into the human psyche. Bernays wasn't interested in influencing the masses...his goal was to shape their reality.
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, and our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of…. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind." Propaganda, Edward Bernays 1928
Enter Social Media aka Facebook, Google et al
They engineered consent and made billions.
BTW Joseph Goebbels was also inspired by Bernays' thesis in the 1930s
2
Another book to add to Maureen’s list: Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Bright-Sided.” A brilliant insight into the Great American Religion of Positivism. We have always been set up for the snake oil salesman. Send us the slickest one you’ve got!
But the greatest con of all is the media’s portrayal of the U.S. Just one seemingly innocuous graphic guarantees American gullibility: the map of the U.S. as backdrop to countless talking-head news shows always shows the lower 48 as if it were a continent all to itself. No Canada. No Mexico. No other Americas. We want to think we are the center and circumference of the universe. And it is this fundamental denial of reality that leads to all the rest of the laughable ignorance most of us act out.
And we’re the ones running the world?
1
Mo you've gone a little too far with this one even with your glorious skill as a journalist. The species is intact. The generals were finally allowed to defeat ISIS, a force without air power whose war tools date back over 100 years. The gassing of Syrian children has been blotted from the species with precision missile strikes. Finally something may finally be done about the REAL North Korean threat to our species. None of the above was accomplished with a confidence game. Your article where it touches upon the POTUS just decreases my confidence in you despite your extraordinary linguistic skill.
2
North Korea has always,wanted recognition without giving up anything. Trump was easily outplayed because he got rid of all competent advisors. The only good thing that is coming from this,administration is that other countries are finally rallying a d their leaders are stepping into the vacuum the U. S. Left when we put a wildly incompetent leader in charge.
1
It is not fair to say that Trump voters completely swallowed the con that he was a great business person. In fact, the information about his scamming his way to near the top of the heap in Manhattan real estate came too late.
How did this work? First, a huge subset of voters were driven by dislike, even hatred, of Hillary. She had been subjected to a 25 yr. campaign of vilification and NOTHING was going to change their minds. Then, falsehoods were dropped like exploding bombs: she "secretly" moved more than a billion dollars overseas so she and Bill would have plenty of money if they lost. She's part of a child molestation cult! Anything people wanted to believe was dropped into their Facebook feeds.
As for Trump, the details of his mangled, tangled business career came too late for millions. It was taken as little more than typical political attacks and, by then, they had made up their minds. Some people liked some of what he said ("He's bold!"), most people knew him to be rather unstable and something of a jerk. After the quiet years of Obama when the Great Recession roared like a dying lion, a shift seemed in order.
If we had a "do-over" election, would he be voted out? Yes and maybe. Once people committed, once the elites were thoroughly against him, the wagons circled. Minds became calcified.
We have a deeply flawed democracy. It can't survive an attack from Russia plus the trillion or so dollars spent to demonized Democrats during Obama. We need fundamental change.
5
The historian Richard Hofstadter observed over a half-century ago that America was founded by people who were always "looking for the main chance." This "philosophy" has become imbedded in our culture. This trait makes Americans particularly liable to being conned. Joseph Weil (aka The Yellow Kid) America's most successful con man said he never cheated an honest man (he conned $2 million out of Benito Mussolini so is was probably right).
Trump now has The Yellow Kid's title as America's most successful conman (Conman-in-Chief?). He convinced millions of voters he could give them something for nothing and those millions still think they got something. To admit they were conned would be disastrous for them, so they go along with the magical thinking of those who were conned. This con will not have a good end.
By the way, crime does pay - The Yellow Kid died in 1976 a few months short of his 101st birthday. I expect Trump to live to at least 120.
3
Trump is still making millions while sitting in the Oval Office ... say, wasn't he supposed to divest ?
And didn't he promise to show his tax returns if he got elected ? Seems like he gets away with murder .
Everybody is afraid to question this guy .
3
The negative responses to this piece are "Exhibit A" for how we got here. Multiple recently published pieces re: psychological propensities have concluded that people gravitate and respond more positively to lies than to truth and facts. Imagine a world without the NY Times and you find yourself in rough waters with no lifeline.
4
All politicians like most people have some degree of conman. On a sliding scale of zero (really honest) to one hundred (all con all the tine) Donald Trumph likely rates about 70, the remaining 30 is when he is sleeping.
5
If Trump were a con artist, he would have put on a show in Singapore, received the broken, and then pulled out of the deal. That is what s smart but wicked con would do. Trump is wicked but not smart.
1
Thank you Karen Garcia, Rima Rigas and Maureen Dowd. As long as someone continues to speak the truth rather than repeat the faux mantra of “their side”, (failing to understand they are both being played), there is hope. Unfortunately it appears the Hillary bots are still in play, if the Dems want to win the next election they should have a strategy other than one so devisive, I am beginning to think perhaps they don’t, they would rather take “their turn at the blame game charade” by allowing inequality to increase as their base continues to prosper and have the excuse of blaming Trump.
1
To Ted from Portland ~ Bernie Sanders is not a registered Democrat. Yes, he caucuses with the Dems but he is not registered as one except when he wanted to run in the Democrats' primaries in 2016.
I know that he inspires people (he inspired me at one time too) but he did prove divisive in election 2016 and ironically considering his message, helped give us djt, because about 10% of his supporters voted for trump.
I voted for Hillary Clinton. I am NOT a bot.
12
The DNC made a tactical error by not having g a fair election and by lying to all of us. Clinton and her leadership at the DNC chose to divide all democrats. Yes, many of us ultimately voted for Clinton but we many many more,would have voted for her had she won fairly without cheating and lying. That is what brought us Trump. Bernie was simply an honest running candidate who couldn't compete with the huge corporate funded dishonest DNC.
2
Mary Ann, you and many millions of others, in fact the popular vote per se.
1
Everyone lives in their own personal fantasyland. Everyone. The only question is how much overlap does there exist between one's fantasyland and reality. What the Trump "presidency" has really exposed is that the overlap has grown small among the voters in the United States.
Ms. Dowd was well known for her dislike of Hillary. Within her personal fantasyland, she could entertain all the propaganda that the alt-right and the Russians produced and pretend that it all might be true. That is the basic tenet of a good con, tell people what they want to hear and they will forgo due diligence and just believe the lies. So Trump tells his base that the FBI had spies in his campaign and the Trumpkins don't need no stinkin proof because they want to believe. They want to believe all of his lies because they help prop up their own fantasyland.
From a WP article, "Do lies really spread faster than truth?
Definitely yes, according to a new paper from Soroush Vosoughi and Deb Roy of MIT’s Media Lab, and Sinan Aral, a professor at the institute’s Sloan School of Management. In fact, these researchers found, “It took the truth about six times as long as falsehood to reach 1,500 people.”
Hillary didn't lose the election because she was such a poor candidate. Hillary lost because so many Americans live in a fantasyland where the truth doesn't matter...only power is valued. Trump has made lying a presidential virtue, and any president who tells the truth, a loser.
8
I am not happy with our current administration, but I still believe in government, still value (more than ever) education, and respect the F.B.I.
I do think you have to take digital media with a grain of salt, just as you have to be savvy about print media. I don't know why it was so often said (maybe it was feelings about the McCarthy era percolating down to the school yard), but when I was a child in Philadelphia in the 50's, a little saying that kids had was, "don't believe everything you read." I don't know what the true purpose of that was at the time, but it stuck and it is a truism. You have to do some thinking yourself, even when sifting facts.
1
Look, anyone who scams Rupert Murdoch can’t be all bad!
2
GOP: Grifters On Parade
5
I would concentrate on the grifter-in-chief if I were you Ms. Dowd. The con of all cons you helped getting elected!
10
“Grifters Gone Wild?”
Why don’t I see the Clintons listed here?
2
Maureen, it seems like you’ve been writing columns for the past several months detailing Trump’s faults and danger to this country. There are millions of us who recognized this during the campaign. Actually, millions of us knew it before he preened his way down the escalator.
Did you choose to ignore Trump’s lurid personal life, business failures, and epic narcissism so that you could get quite a few columns out of that famous, rascally gent? Or did you get conned? Unfortunately, I think you chose to intentionally paper over the threat this man posed because you’re too smart to have been conned.
9
Not to keep beating a dead horse, but it's really weird how you talk about Trump as though you had it all the way. HRC would have been, at the least, a capable, functional, credible president -- would have, should have and, if the actual will of the actual people counts for jack, really kind of IS.
But you used your NYT megaphone for the wrong team, apparently because it was somehow delicious for you. You are among the incremental needle-moving nabobs that collectively served to tip the electoral college, birthing this horrorshow that We the People never sanctioned. That's a bit serious, ma'am; and I could take you more seriously if you'd start by coming clean.
9
Reading Maureen Dowd now is like stepping through the looking glass. She'll never even acknowledge there's any disconnect. She writes now as if she'd been warning us about Trump all along! And a great many readers apparently read her as if that's what she had been doing. They either didn't read her during the campaign, or their attention spans are just as bad as Trump's.
3
If you'd like to see one of the ways grifters work, look no further than the claim in these comments (with a lot of approvals!) that Maureen Dowd cheered for Trump's election.
Didn't happen. What happened was she published some remarks from her, ah, loopy brother, in order to help explain how Trump got elected.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/maureen-dowd-election-therapy/
I'm not a fan of Dowd's endless dumping on Hillary Clinton, however much much of it was deserved. But this sort of nonsense...well, it's how guys like Trump slide by. I guarantee nobody checked before sounding off, and it's EASY to check: took me fifteen seconds.
Our laziness, our faithlessness, our indifference, not hers. We're conning ourselves, as much as we're being conned.
4
Checked what? What are you talking about? I read her throughout the campaign, and I'd been reading her for a couple of decades before that, too. I read her while she called Barack Obama "Barry" for eight years, and she's been running her Clinton hate fest since the 1990's. Who's lazy, who took fifteen seconds? I've taken decades to "check."
1
"High-minded elites like to scornfully say that Trump voters fell for his scam because they were ignorant and racist."
Yes, and "high-minded" or not, they were correct.
9
All these "rapscallions" belong in jail. Interesting description.
If you are not enthralled with wealth or it isn't your main priority it is harder for the charlatans to fool you. Elizabeth Holmes fooled the greedy. Even when the skeptical said her vaporware was suspect she was able to continue getting more investors. George Schultz got his grandson a job at Theranos and when he reported back to Grandpa that the technology was a fraud the elder Schultz didn't believe him. Because the money was too tempting.
5
Several of the other supporters are suspect. Kraft, Kissinger, Murdoch, for starters. More money than god, but not much in the way of public spirit or conscience.
3
Thanks for bringing up Jaron Lanier, I enjoyed your review when it came out; though he's an oddball his points are valuable. Anyone who can bring us to our senses is a valuable voice.
We are becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of marketing, putting short-term profit, mostly for the top, well ahead of what is good for the community of humankind and our hospitable planet.
Every time I hear about another disrupter looking to become the next billionaire I want to spit. The hard work of making things work with fairness for all is surrendered to burgeoning bank accounts that go beyond dreams of avarice. A little convenience is nice, but nowadays advertisements are all about dancing around tapping screens. Is that life? Is it worth it?
Taking away benefits and cutting out collective bargaining, discouraging whistleblowing, ruining our world for new "clean" houses that make our children more vulnerable to every little thing.
We need a little raw earthy reality to inoculate ourselves against pixillation and its consequent deadening of noticing and respecting ourselves and each others as members of the human species.
2
It will come down to Putin and the Chinese running the world; don't think you'll get to pick which side of the fence you're on.
Sorry
4
Talk about con-artists.......Gloria Alred collected millions, while leading the charge to destroy Roy Moore......now her daughter, Lisa Bloom, is DEFENDING Harvey Weinstein.
3
Ooooh, blame the women for what the men do! That always works!
7
Only her job!! Cons are free !! Don’t Americans love cons?
It is called .. being a lawyer. eg. Getting O.J. Simpson off of murdering 2 people.
2
For many (this writer included) Harvey Weinstein serves as an avatar for the felon currently occupying the White House.
Even after bragging that his power entitled him to grab women by the pudendae, his sycophants voted for him.
Mr. Weinstein - as reprehensible as he allegedly is - serves as a symbol for all that is wrong with Donald Trump. Only Trump is getting away with it.
NOT my president
8
Perhaps Ms. Dowd could offer a bit of mea culpa re her cynical disdain for the candidate otherwise known as Mrs. Hillary Clinton...
13
"Perhaps Ms. Dowd could offer a bit of mea culpa re her cynical disdain for the candidate otherwise known as Mrs. Hillary Clinton...:
Yes , HRC was the lesser of 2 evils and now we see how much less but HRC won the Wasserman Shultz primary. Bernie was the only honest person running. HRC wo the primary by 3 million votes most of which were in Red states & thus were meaningless when it comes to the Electoral College.
The USA would not have given the 1% a $800 billion tax cut to be paid for by reducing health care & amassing more federal debt to paid by the next generation. The USA would be in the Paris Climate Accord , the P5+1 Iran deal and working on universal health care & free college tuition but not stripping the EPA of its teeth.
3
I read your comments about Facebook & Google ! You then tell me to follow U ON THEM SHAME ON U !
5
But you helped peddle the con Ms. Dowd. What about that?
16
There has never been a bigger con-artist than Steve Jobs.
The more you know about him, the less there is to like.
And the first person he shafted was his own partner Steve Wosniak.
Yes, he made a lot of money, and he made a lot of people rich, but, he never "invented" a single thing in his entire life, and his entire persona was a carefully created con.
His legacy is Tim Cook. A man who in his first year as CEO of Apple made more money than all of the Apple store employees combined. Apple is an elitist con-job.
Oh, Job's other legacy? A phone manufactured using slave labor and $93 worth of parts that sells for $1000. And three penny wire connectors and power supplies that sell for $40 to $100.
Perhaps not a con artist in the same sense as the others written about in this article, but, he is the defining personality of the modern "gouger" approach to business.
His is the archetype of the "stick to you customers, and stick it to them hard" model of "business ethics".
7
Exactly, Mo !!..... where have you been hiding ??
2
Social media is not the problem. It is the inability to discern fact from fiction. Social media has a very positive presence in our lives. It has allowed my once very closely knit extended family to reconnect and keep in touch--especially since the older generation has passed and not around to give us the latest from the cousins. It has allowed us aging baby boomers to maintain old friendships after moving to different locations. The dark side of social media is obviously the fake news coming not from reputable news sources, but from all the other "riff raff" that calls itself news. Finally, the problem in this country is not its people--it is Washington. It has gone from not that bad to horrible with this administration and Congress. Don't underestimate the American public. We are out here in mid-America living our lives and trying to take care of our families.
4
Thank you Maureen: I still agree with and thank you for your courage in pointing out The Real Hillary, unfortunately it did not get us a real Democrat who represented the interests of the working class in America, Bernie Sanders, but we have Wasserman Schultz and the DNC to thank for that, not the working class, ignored for forty years, who voted for Trump and by the way so did lots of rich folks in New York and Palm Beach, in case you haven’t noticed Israel has gotten their wish list fulfilled just as Hillary had promised to do. It’s obvious from the posts that the next election will be no different, another case of the coastal elites against the rest. Ironically, it takes an Uber capitalist publication like The Financial Times to offer a balanced narrative on the subject. The Democratic Party as represented by the Clintons and Republican Party are two sides of the same coin doing the bidding of the wealthy liberal elite on one side and the bidding of the wealthy conservative elite on the other. Either way it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the middle and working class have been thrown under the proverbial bus and as long as they can keep us fighting each other rather than turning the pitchforks on them they will win.
3
It's so amazing to me that women constitute a tiny percentqge of politicians, but they are always the villains in these stories. And by the way, black working-class and middle-class voters went for Clinton by huge margins. Thanks for ignoring them.
4
Thanks. It's important to be reminded that lefties and progressives also get conned into buying the Big Lie: no point in voting, no point in voting for a candidate who might actually get elected, because They're All the Same.
No, they are not. Nobody stole the primary from St. Bernie; they played politics, which is what primaries are, just as St. Bernie did in Washington State. And to claim that things would be the same had Hillary been elected is just bonkers.
It ought to bother you guys a lot more than it does that you have exactly the same argument as any rabid Trumpists, and that your message is precisely what Putin's bots have been pushing.
Myself, I think it shows that smug laziness helps drive getting conned.
3
Robert. I hope the Corporate Dem Neo liberals don't follow your playbook because if they do it will be Trump in 2020. The Clinton, Podesta, Wasserman Schultz con brought us the government we now have.
1
Many of my college educated friends voted for Trump. After a while, I kept quiet because I realized I could not get through to them - many have changed their mind since then. My excellent education, which I received in Europe as well as in the US made me speak against the ill fated invasion in Iraq, but it was suggested many times to me to go back to Europe if I do not like it - after a while I also kept quiet; apparently, the first amendment did not apply to me, a naturalized US citizen. But, if I keep quiet about issues that bother me, I might as well become the person in Martin Niemoeller's poem: "First they came....."
22
Some useful adages:
"You can't cheat an honest man." (Honest, not naive. All big cons rely on the mark thinking he's being sold a short cut or an outright cheat.)
"If it's so great, why is he telling you?"
In the end it's a matter of ego: thinking you can't be hustled, which explains the names of Murdoch, etc., in this story
11
"Anytime people want to contact....it can only be when it's financed." Give credit to the prescient brilliant thinker/futurist Jeremy Rifkin, who saw this change coming nearly 20 years ago and published The Age of Access, where he described how for-profit corporations would become the gateways of the access people wanted to art, information and each other, and that access would become central to people's lives. This shift from ownership to access would have consequences including that people (esp Millennials), by being less focused on ownership, would also be less focused on history since access is much more relevant than context. That prediction is also playing out - such that I doubt many Millennial readers have any idea what or who Oklahoma is or Harold Hill (well played today by Trump). As Truman said, what's new in the world is what you don't know about history, and we have this nutty president partly because too many voters were easily taken in, and we have tech bubbles that burst partly because people seek a quick "pill" to solve global problems of unsustainability instead of making sensible adjustments to lifestyles. Thanks Ms. Dowd - with Rifkin and many others you're articulated an important trend to stifle.
8
"As Maria Konnikova wrote in her book, “The Confidence Game,” “The whirlwind advance of technology heralds a new golden age of the grift. Cons thrive in times of transition and fast change” when we are losing the old ways and open to the unexpected."
Ergo: Blockchain/Bitcoin. "If we don't understand it, it must be double-plus-good!
12
Great piece but a little bit depressing.
How do we fight the state of affairs?
What can be done to reslease us from these times of deceit and inequality?
I'm not sure hitting google and fb is the primary objective.
Restoring a solidly democratic governments balancing the market forces with strong public institutions might do it. "Hand-outs" to the poor/unemployed is also a well proven method to create a more solid society. We tried it with some success last century, and still does, here in Sweden. There was also an experiment in Finland doing that recently as reported in this eminent paper. Unfortunnately the current more rightleaning Finnish government scapped that experiment prematuretly.
9
We have become a nation of people who can be easily duped, conned and manipulated. My observation not only includes those bamboozled by the grifter from Queens, but some media outlets, many political pundits and talking heads, a good majority of politicians and TV hucksters ranging from the “religion salespersons” and exercise machine peddlers.
We have dumbed down ourselves and have discarded two important rules-If it sounds too good to be true it probably is, and, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
104
A consumer economy relies on suckers to function. Advertising presumes a sea of gullibility and only suckers will spend their whole lives seeking happiness in stuff and more stuff. Look at how the term "brand" has infiltrated every aspect of society. Where it once applied to toothpaste, now people are anxious to consider themselves no different than products on a store shelf.
6
Advertising isn’t just about setting up suckers. One important function of advertising is “giving permission.” It’s not only that the average consumer needs to be given an imaginative new way of using a product (more reasons to buy it), but the consumer also needs to see that use acted out in order to feel they are being officially permitted to do it themselves.
Now add fake news to that psyche and mix well...
1
It's an odd confluence with grifters and neocons running the country, and #MeToo taking one or more of them down almost every week. If it's giving you a bit of cognitive dissonance, maybe this will help: the extreme right wing has surrendered the social agenda while tightening its grip on the economy.
Remember when the right wing railed against moral decay and the loss of Christian values? You don't hear that much anymore, but the gap between the rich and everyone else is wider than ever. The Supreme Court, on an even conservative/liberal split, just decided that employees can't join together to file class action suits against their employers, but must take on the ultra-organized corporations as individuals if they have a grievance. Gays, transgender people and women have more rights but employees have fewer. It's a massive compromise on the part of the right wing, but it gives them what they want: control over the things that the rest of us need.
Keep your eyes on the ball. It's a complex game with our futures at stake.
11
Trump's lies are true for his followers if they believe them.
7
Getting coned is so easy. We have this idea in our heads that this time, with this one, and in this situation, EVERYTHING is going to go our way for once.
But we have to have an ingredient in ourselves to make the con work.
Greed, hate, bigotry, racism, anger, a willingness to suspend any doubts or ignore them.
IMO, it is hard to con someone who isn't, even a little, willing to be conned.
7
Trump is the quintessential trumped up character of our time.
6
"Trump voters allowed themselves to believe they had a successful billionaire who knew the art of the deal when he only knew the art of the con. They bought his seductive campaign narrative, that the system was rigged and corrupt and only he could fix it. After winning by warning voters they were being suckered, he’s made them all suckers."
It's tempting and comforting to believe that the only con Trump offered, and which his gullible voters swallowed, involved the purported swamp. Inconveniently, however, the scholarly jury is in. Exemplified by last month's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/04/18/1718155115), the overwhelming academic consensus is that what primarily drove Trump voters was his and their shared racism. Put another way: A Trump who promised to drain the purported swamp, but who eschewed racist appeals to the very worst in the American people, would not now be president.
It's evidently hard to face the truth.
17
The biggest and most unforgivable marks were in the so-called liberal media. You know who they are -- the media barons who made money turning the 2016 race into a reality show instead of battle for the republic, and the reporters and bloviating heads who peddled false equivalences and completely ignored the issues ... all the while foolishly and disastrously believing that there was no way a grotesque, buffoonish sociopath could be elected.
Journalists (and publishers) in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
21
Not the least part of Trump's con is getting people to believe that "the media," didn't report on exactly what Trump was.
2
Log onto a list of all the movies produced in the past five years and you will see that 99% of them are dreck. Moviegoers like to be conned; voters like to be conned; Republicans especially seem to like being conned. Where else can an ignorant, unread, unprepared real estate hustler win the highest office in the land? Where else can a corrupt Oklahoma grifter convince Congress he's protecting the environment even as he destroys it? Where else can a neocon who's been wrong on every national security issue that got us into two Iraq wars become, you guessed it, the president's national security adviser?
7
I would like to know when Ms. Dowd will address her readers and explain to us how she could have pulled the lever for Donald Trump, what was in your head. I still remember one of her columns just before the election seeming so proud that she and her brother will be voting for him. A man who was caught on camera admitting to violating women and being proud of it, a man who took people's hard working money via Trump university, a man who advocated jailing women if they got an abortion, a man who was obviously a racist and advocated policeman to treat suspected criminals very harshly, obviously a demagogue.
Please tell us when if you have or will search your soul perhaps even for the rest of your life to understand how you could have done this. It could be the beginning of deep self knowledge.
You owe this to your readers and to yourself. A vote is the embodiment of who you are.
26
FYI, this is not true.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/maureen-dowd-election-therapy/
1
Cons are bad. We can agree on that. But the real cons are the ones that operate within the law, laws often written by the very grifters. That perniciousness is the stuff of which swamps are made. Nigerian princes have nothing on Wall Street and the halls of government.
9
Re. Ms. Holmes: How do you get to drive a car with no license plate?
8
Ironic, at the bottom of her opinion piece, an invitation to join her on Facebook and also her Twitter...
10
"Behind every great fortune is a great crime." - BALZAC
8
Trump is more than merely History's Greatest Con Man. He's America's greatest living exemplar of the Power of the Dark Side, the political influence to be gained through incessant lying and slanders, pandering via preposterous promises, and rocket-fueling rallies with hate and bigotry.
He presents many dangers to the current generation, but unless Trumpism is consigned to the dustbin of history, his greatest impact will be on posterity. It's easy to imagine a future where our grandchildren and their grandchildren are crushed under the debt amassed by forging their names on serial trillion-dollar IOUs, consigned to blighted lives on a despoiled planet, and led by politicians who have universally concluded that good character is too great a burden to bear.
7
We Trump voters were not conned - we knew exactly what we were getting: a flawed human but one with policies we wanted. Hillary voters were the ones who were conned: someone running as a faux progressive when all she wanted was power.
59
Trump and his administration are successful at enriching themselves and vacationing in style at record levels - at taxpayer expense.
Maybe his followers should be responsible for paying for that grift instead of socking that cost to the majority of taxpayers (who didn't vote for him).
His one accomplishment is passing a tax cut that creates short term gain for people and corporations who have already been benefitting far more through similar tax cuts and policies for the last 20 years, saddling our children with unnecessary debt.
157
Flawed human being ? Ha, ha, ha ! You're being awfully charitable.
90
"...when all she wanted was power."
Oh, like the donald doesn't live for and crave power. He is misusing Presidential power to enrich himself and his cronies and his policies if you haven't already noticed favor the rich, not the many middle and working classes who voted for him.
Even in the 21st century a woman who strives for power is put down. Hillary worked hard her whole life for policies that benefited children and the less powerful. She more than earned the privilege of running for President and to be President.
149
For a long time, America longed for a business man as president. Now we have one from the darkside of the business world, bringing all the corruption of that world into public life.
We should pare back the homeland security budget: The enemy destroying America is from within, and it sits in the White House.
474
We had a business guy in the WH...Bush 2. MBA from Harvard. That worked out well.
11
Hoover, Bush II, and the final insult, Trump.
Strike 3---yer out! No more businessmen in the oval office. Ever.
Yes, and as Frank Bruni points out, a growing number of universities want to eliminate the majors that help teach students to think--the squishy liberal arts majors--and replace them with the college version of vocational training. We used to value knowing things and having critical thinking skills. Now we want instant answers. Which brings us to Maureen's point about Trump voters: There are two parts to his supporters' equation. They fell for the con that he could fix it, yes; but more than that, they saw the country as broken and in need of fixing. That's what we tend to ignore. They never saw 21st century America as worthy and whole to begin with. And now they've helped ruin it altogether.
15
Con is the eternal game of power and money - high tech con is the newer incarnation of that game. In the past we have seen cons in the churches, financial businesses, education, .... The recent incarnation is in politics, entertainment and high technology. Question is why we are so susceptible to such con artists - how we miss the obvious signs of the con games. The answer lies in the human weakness of miracles - we always like to believe that God plays miracle. We create our own fantasy by collecting facts that supports this fantasy world, and ignore the facts that questions it. Education or social standing, wealth and sophistication can not shield us from this stupidity. Only thing that can protect us is the common sense - in America common sense is a rare commodity. Let us pray to God - give us back our common sense.
3
So, you think that God makes sense?
3
A cautionary column on the day before Memorial Day.
Did our soldiers die in so many wars to protect our right to be foolish sheep ready and willing to be fleeced?
7
The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville.
3
Philip Roth thought so. I agree.
1
What’s most disappointing in this discussion of American grifters is that Ms. Dowd didn’t use her considerable platform to condemn Donald Trump for his unethical business practices ahead of the 2016 election. Instead, she heaped scorn on Hilary Clinton, whose considerable knowledge and experience in government would have served her well in the White House. Instead, a former reality TV show host with long track record of bankruptcies conned both the media—-including Ms. Dowd—-and 60 million voters into supporting him. The rest of us “nonsuckers” can only shake our heads and weep as our democratic values and global reputation are being eviscerated...
28
It has become depressingly-usual for a vast segment of our society to blame everyone and anyone for Clinton's 2016 loss -- except Clinton, herself, and her campaign.
This emotion-driven explanation of "what happened" is obscuring the reality that needs to be understood if "it" is to be prevented from happening again and again.
Wake up, folks. You can't blame your way to new victories.
1
All campaigns make mistakes. All candidates are flawed. But none have ever faced this kind of sabotage from the FBI, Putin, billions in dark money, and an opposition campaign that welcomed offers of foreign help instead of reporting them to the authorities like every campaign before them did.
Despite that. Clinton's vote margin was greater than those of most seated Presidents. So if you can't see a systemic problem with this election, you need to put on your glasses. The "it" is not the candidates. It's our failure to ensure the integrity of our election process.
When I read the headline for your article I was sure you must be referring to the Clintons, who were the original modern day grifters with a national profile. There is apparently no shortage of these people in our country today, but when you establish a precedent with the leaders of our country, apparently no bar is too low for the rest of society to follow.
4
It’s the oldest story in the book—if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And that is especially true when it is all wrapped up in a pretty package, like Elizabeth Holmes.
But Maureen, in terms of Donald, you certainly swilled the koolaid and served it up to the rest of us. Many of us thankfully didn’t believe you but some folks did. My question is, do you consider yourself part of the big grift?
22
It won't be long before our jails are filled with celebrities behaving badly. So long Oscar red carpets--hello to perp walks on the way to being indicted for sexual assault. Pretty soon there won't be anyone left for Barbara Walters to interview on her pre-Oscar specials.
I don't know what Maureen Dowd is complaining about. The Grifters aren't going wild--one by one they're being tracked down and busted. Bill Cosby will learn how long he will be incarcerated in September Harvey Weinstein had to go through the humiliating experience of being marched off in handcuffs to some nondescript police station to be booked for his past crimes. Bernie Madoff went from penthouse to a tiny jail cell for ripping off his investors for decades. Now Morgan Freeman becomes the latest celebrity casualty to join this hall of shame. If anything is to be learned from this mess is "How the Mighty have fallen."
1
Once upon a time in America, there was a popular feller named Horatio Alger. What ever happened to him?
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
Sadly, his stories were entirely fictional.
1
He sure was. But the notions of ethics and morality are real.
And now and then some real person's remarkable triumph is described as Alger-like.
As for Trump, Weinstein and so many others . . .dg
When I think of con men I think of those who get rich off of fraud. Trump's election is about something much worse. Con man doesn't do it justice. I'd say the same about Weinstein. But Holmes surely fits the bill.
I prosecuted con men for a living. I figured it was a way to do what I wanted while targeting fat cats. I learned something about con men over the years. They targeted foolish people with schemes that were too good to be true. And a lot of them went south after a long history of failure. Some of them were likable rogues. -- shades of PT Barnum. Some of them were pathetic losers. On the whole, they were not as despicable as I expected. And there just aren't that many of them. A good con takes skill.
If we stop believing in government, there won't be millions of con men. But there will be countless common criminals, looting, and rioting. Even the con men will take cover.
44
Hey now. I’m a descendant of BF Skinner. The box was ridiculous but not worthy of mention amongst the likes of Trump and rapists and this slimy blood test con artist.
Big difference between dreaming of utopian societies and Harvey luring dreamers to his suites.
Please, Dowd. The last lines needs a tweak.
1
This is a ridiculous column. Harvey Weinstein might well be a monster but he is clearly a brilliant businessman and producer - check out the list of films distributed and/or produced by Miramax. That doesn’t excuse his behaviour, of course, and nor should it have any bearing on the punishment he is finally given. But he is clearly in a different category as a business-person to both Trump and Elizabeth Holmes.
7
The great line about Hollywood is:
"Success is making your lie come true"
This is what Trump pushes for
1
Ms Dowd ,
Too late to complain about Donald now. You blew it when you had a chance. Only difference between the Trump supporters and you is they didn’t know what they were getting into and you did know but chose to ignore to some how oppose Hillary. I see no difference between Trump supporters and you.
17
Spot on.
2
"Trump voters allowed themselves to believe they had a successful billionaire who knew the art of the deal when he only knew the art of the con."
.
And Hillary's voters, smarter, prettier, socially conscious, environmentally active and highly educated, weren't conned? A woman that had to twice introduce herself, with national tours, so voters could get to know her better and now spends the better part of every week hawking a book to explain "What Happened"?
.
She knows people don't like her or trust her, but she is tough, smart and unafraid of con men like Trump. Except she is worse than Trump. At least Trump can point to actual accomplishments. Hillary, not so much. She is still on a book tour, trying to sell her version of why her rightful place atop America was stolen from her.
.
It's 90F in Boston and she's wearing enough wool to keep 4 sheep warm. She wonders how people are dumb enough to fall for Trump's lies.
.
Until the buzzard lands, she is running in 2020.
4
I have no Twitter
I have no Facebook
I have no Reddit
I have no Amazon Prime
No cat videos on my phone for me!
I’m a happy person too!
4
Ok, I do have cat videos on my phone...but they're all my cats!
1
Great column, Maureen. Let me a add to your rogue's gallery. In the 90s, I always thought of Bill Clinton as the ultimate charlatan. He lied constantly, was self-serving, and people loved him. He was the loveable rogue who made it all the way to the White House. Liberals and feminists were actually the most susceptible to his charms, but they were not the only ones. He was the kind of guy that truck drivers would want to have a beer with. To this day, he probably enjoys a better a better reputation than Donald Trump, because he is smoother, more erudite, but given his dishonesty, his sexual predations, and his narcissism, that just shows that he is the better con man.
7
There are several differences between Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. Clinton has never been ascribed as being a pathological liar, a sociopath and a profoundly ignorant man like Trump. Nor has he ever been called a narcissist despite the fact that he usually is the smart person in the room. As for sexual predator, a lot of men cheat on their women, so.... Lewinsky, while wrong, was consensual, and Juanita Broderick's claim of rape is undermined by two sworn statements to the FBI that it NEVER happened
And Bill Clinton never LIED the U.S. into an unending debacle like Iraq like your upstanding Republican president GWB did.
Give up the false moral equivalency here, Chuck. There is simply no comparison between Bill Clinton and Donnie Trump.
2
At the core GOP/Trumpet voters failure to separate words from actions is extremely outside American historic norms. Cagey if a bit naive and earnest used to be the U.S. norm.
Trump is a crook. He will steal from you and do you damage. Why give him power and access? That is the question. Why does a voter let him con them? Racism and sexism and xenophobia have always had dangerous power in democracies and republics. Remember Caesar the general with war booty? He died but empire stayed. Very dangerous. Technology just speeds it up and takes off the brakes.
2
No mention of Elon Musk?
So happy that Rupert invested & lost money. But I really don't think that Facebook 'endangers our species'.
1
Is it just me or was this column all over the map?
7
Finally we confront the fact that Donald Trump is a con artist. Until we realize this, we are hopeless.
2
America is the land of opportunity. Donald Trump would agree with that sentiment. Where else would a deceiver like him make it to the presidency.
2
The president of the United States is boosting the fortunes of a Chinese tech business that has threatened, and continues to threaten, the security of our country, and against the actions of the Congress. Said Chinese company just happened to finance one of his big projects to the tune of $500,000,000 - I only know what I read in the paper - and no one in government or out is patriotic enough to blow the whistle on that! Everyone wants to be an oligarch, I guess. Or maybe there is just enough dirt on all of them so that they do not dare to speak up!
5
A bit on the bleak side, Maureen. I take the women in Ireland triumphing over the oldest con, the Catholic Church, as a good sign.
5
Great writing as usual, but nothing new! Since the beginning of human communication, there have always been con-men, liars megalomaniacs and plain old manic depressives.
Sometimes they're just an incompetent worker who nuzzles up to the boss and lies about a better employee. Sometimes they lead a continent into warfare.
Believe it or not, there is a "Flat World" movement in play- here in the good ole USA.
Glad a popular columnist like M. Dowd is bringing it front and center. Not enough folks are actually aware of the reality of it all.
2
The cons work because those being conned are getting something out of it. Marian the librarian got the attention and love she was after. Holmes' investors got their money (for a while). The movie stars got their movies made and got their fame.
So what did the Trump voters get? Depends on which ones you look at. The "deplorables" got their revenge on Hillary and those "elitists." The college-educated Republican suburbanites got their tax breaks. And the Evangelicals got their religious judges. When you think about it, it's the Trump voters that are conning the rest of the nation. They know Trump is a con man. They just don't care, as long as they're sticking it to the Dems and those elitists.
Boy, that's not the way to make America great, is it?
9
The art of the Con is to convince other people you really, really have their best interests in mind, when you really, really have only your own. See Trump and his middle class tax cut for corporations. See Trump rob us blind while he protects us from Crooked Hillary. See Trump sell out America for his own financial gains. See the Republican party turn a blind eye to the con job.
Don the Con pulled a fast one on 60 million voters.
2
Back in the early 19th century the Nova Scotia statesman, writer and humourist Thomas Chandler Haliburton was the best selling author on the planet and every month his latest story about Sam Slick of Slicksville the Yankee trader and clock maker was eagerly awaited.
It might be enlightening to examine how the delightful rascal of the early 19th century evolved into the fiends and villains of today.
Sam Slick known for his wise saws such as "The early bird catches the worm" , "A stitch in time saves nine" and his humourous but harmless cons has evolved into a humourless and vicious con artist president and his criminal syndicate that takes delight in destroying reputations and lives and endangers the entire planet.
I still do not understand how a simple conman and money launderer became the President of the richest most powerful nation on earth even as I saw it happen. I would expect at least Donald Trump to be a good liar but when 87% of the population know he is lying I can't understand why he wasn't locked up decades ago.
3
How we as a society feel about con artists and their misdeeds will become more evident when we see the punishments meted out to them.
- Bill Cosby has been convicted, but will no doubt appeal.
- Harvey Weinstein has been arrested and charged, but not yet tried.
- Elizabeth Holmes has been fined a paltry half million dollars, and forbidden to sit on the board of any publicly traded company for a mere ten years. Boo hoo.
- And Trump remains in the West Wing of The People's House, where he and his family of grifters have taken up residence.
6
Observe how Elizabeth Holmes seduced scores of famous supposedly very smart people to lend their names to a scheme that was fatally flawed at its root by reliance on samples too small to be statistically valid.
Selling one's fame and reputation is a big part of what makes the US such a rat's nest of lies.
3
Insofar that Trump among us has made America reflect on our traditions of grift and graft and con men and corruption, he has done us a service. If only we would think on these things. It's not just about Trump's appalling greed, ignorance and corruption. It's about America's.
2
Reality is a fools Paradise. That was the title of a transcript a good friend of mine wrote back in the late 60’s. Con’s have been around long before “The Flimflam Man” of old. I’m guessing maybe as long ago as humans first appeared on this planet. Lying to achieve a better place in the line of life is one of those innate propensities common to almost every society. So while we can pretty much agree that cheating isn’t something new in our present day society, in many ways, it’s becoming acceptable. Every Empire throughout the entire history of Earth collapses when that becomes the norm. Is it too late to stop this madness? I don’t know. Maybe the elections in 2018 can serve as a Clarion Call. Only YOU can make that decision! If not you, then who???
Harvey Weinstein may be a sexual predator and a bully, but a con man? As a film producer he seems to have delivered the goods.
And while Trump may go down in history as the world's greatest con man, he did get Trump Tower built and the Wollman Rink restored.
So we should return him to the one thing he is good at: pouring concrete.
2
Outstanding piece, Maureen!
In a more enlightened age, that hulking, sneering manspreading waste of time at 1600 Penn would be shown the door.
The cons are everywhere - who will stay them? Where are the critical faculties?
1
Her board had George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, Jim Mattis and David Boies; Rupert Murdoch and Robert Kraft were investors.
Now there is your problem in using the 'We' fell for it.
2
Maureen, if you are so worried about Facebook and Twitter, then delete your accounts and don't invite your readers to join you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter. If you're going to tall the talk, then walk the walk.
They are Skinner boxes, they aren't healthy, and they are just another grift.
3
The "con" is as American as apple pie.
3
How we as a society feel about con artists and their misdeeds will become more evident when we see the punishments meted out to them.
- Bill Cosby has been convicted, but will no doubt appeal.
- Harvey Weinstein has been arrested and charged, but not yet tried.
- Elizabeth Holmes has been fined a paltry half million dollars, and forbidden to sit on the board of any publicly traded company for a mere ten years. Boo hoo.
- And Trump remains in the West Wing of The People's House, where he and his family of grifters have taken up residence.
1
I wish, Maureen, that you had exercised the same "acumen" 2 years ago when helping society distinguish between a qualified candidate and the imbicle who now holds the most important office in the world. We could have used your insights, such as they are, then. Now, you are but an empty shell of history, discussing superficial tabloid items in an effort to remain relevant.
And, as an aside, for the future record, I could not care less what your brother thinks about anything.
7
So what do you have to say about those who support them? Dupes? Power-mad? Corrupt? Do tell! Oh and now what are you going to do about their enablers who should know better? This POTUS has now moved to confiscate children while saying it’s horrible. Yes we know they are getting more horrible each day. We must have an intervention and we will remember everyone who didn’t intervene when they could have. That IS the slippery slope: not standing up when it’s early enough to intervene until when you do figure it out - it’s too late - and that’s the key lesson of history too.
1
Ms Dowd - Please write a column offering suggestions to increase the intelligence of the American people. There will always be con men/women. They've been around since the beginning of time. But they can only succeed if there are people gullible and stupid enough to believe them. The Trump WH doesn't infuriate me as much as his supporters do. He's robbing us blind, using our tax money to support his lies, destroying our institutions and democracy, mocking our press and war heroes, and yet his base still thinks he doing swell. Can we make these people smarter? Let's start with the hundreds of Trump supporters soon to be laid off by Harley Davidson, or how about the short-handed farmers watching their produce die on the vine because of Trump's immigration policies.
2
Well, Ms. Dowd, based on the number of those who to want to slice away at you; count it success. Whenever a writer zings a reader, is it the penster or the thing revealed that musters mayhem? For those uncomfortable with thought, there's nothing more annoying that a person who stirs the stew. Great recipe, by the way.
And at the end of the article, we are invited to join the author via Twitter and Facebook. Ironic.
3
Most Trump voters were not conned; rather, most of them were middle/upper class mainstream conservatives who, fully aware of Trump's deep flaws, eagerly voted for him. The explanation is simple: the promise of tax cuts. Ultimately it is money that drives most conservative voters. We must not forget this.
As for the white working class, they were indeed conned by the orange fraudster. This cohort can be counted on to reliably vote against their own interests because they are easily manipulated by appeals to their fears, prejudices, and grievances. These are the true suckers. They have always existed and always will. What is frightening is that they have learned nothing in the past 18 months; the vast majority of them still adore Trump, and always will.
4
Thomas Watson, the founder of IBM, famously said:
“…it's very difficult to build and very easy to destroy.”
While past Presidents and everyone would want to build a stronger, more equitable and prosperous society and economy, the Twitter in Chief has been reducing America’s position and status in the world and damaging America’s society, economy and its future.
While the Bully in Chief continues to grace his acidic comments and destructive decisions with superlative adjectives, reality shows that he is alone and divisive in his actions and decision making.
But the horror of reality is that none of the comments of revulsion and disbelief expressed against the Bully in Chief matter. He marches on to his own tune and the voices in his head and listens to or takes the advice from no one !!! But the Bully in Chief believes that he is above reproach and that he is always right on anything.
Bottom Line: The Con Artist in Chief cares only about himself and nothing else, and is moving forward with his eyes only on himself in the mirror,
America is paying the price !!!
Robert. Mueller: Continue to move ahead in your work … the world is waiting with anticipation.
5
And thank you so very much for facilitating the winning of the Oval Office by the Grifter-in-Chief. Your weekly tear-downs of the Clintons helped the con as does the accomplice of the three-card monte dealer. Are you happy with who you see in the mirror?
6
This piece would be more compelling if Maureen explained how it was that she was thisclose to endorsing Trump?
And how if she now believes Trump is this awful, when she had this epiphany?
And if she always knew he was a huckster and threat to the world why she pounded Hillary on such a personal level?
Or is it all just about being glib with Monday morning quarterbacking?
4
David Boies was more than a board member. He was given 300,000 shares for work done for Theranos (Thanatos would be a better name) and he and his law firm were major actors in the persecution and intimidation of Carreyrou, as you should know if your read the book. As well, Murdoch, when pressured directly by Holmes to refuse to publish Carreyrou's findings, said he trusted his editorial staff to make the right decision - although he was a major investor.
Oh, yes, Boies is a Democrat who tried to protect the value of his shares, whereas Murdoch is not and stood to lose $100 million. Did you just forget these FACTS Maureen?
2
"We have one running amok in the Oval."
Ms Dowd! "Oval Office" will never again be a mere architectural chamber.
The etymology of "patriotism' aside--counties have always been feminine. The Oval Office is where presidents do their business.
That business is now doing to the country what was done to Stormy Daniels.
The president ("Do I look like someone who needs to pay for sex" ), however, expects (a) to be paid for his services and (b) the country to swoon.
1
Guess you missed Bishop Curry's sermon last week, Mo. If we can just recenter ourselves around an old standby, love and affection for one another, redemption may steer us clear thru the crumbling chaos. Facebook may be scammy, but believe me, it has charmingly replaced Hallmark come your birthday. And interestingly enough, while cynicism colors our view of politics right now, a whole generation of young people are planning to vote....who'd a thought!
As for Hollywood, well, in the gutter it may be, but an old standby, Mary Poppins is landing back to save us all from ourselves this fall..with Lin Manuel Miranda as Bert....I suspect we'll all show up for that!
2
The con artist in chief is being abetted by Fox News. They keep the Trump crowd hypnotized and in the con's thrall. I spoke to a Trump voter, a nice but uninformed person, about Trump. And, she sees nothing wrong with Trump not releasing his tax returns. She is an accountant and says that Obama did not release his tax returns. I told her that he had, as did Clinton, and she just says that she doesn't like to talk about politics.
3
YEP! And ye shall reap what has been sowed.
1
"Silicon Valley has always had “a flimflam element” and a “fake it ’til you make it” ethos, from the early ’80s, when it was selling vaporware (hardware or software that was more of a concept or work in progress than a workable reality)."
Bill Gates certainly epitomized that ethos, pitching his PC idea before he even had an operating system. We can see how that has played out.
"...fell for Holmes’s scam... Her board had George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, Jim Mattis and David Boies; Rupert Murdoch and Robert Kraft were investors."
I don't know if you've cherry-picked these GOP names, but it sure seems rich conservative old white men are ripe suckers for such "get rich quick - only I can improve your life" scams. Always be suspicious when you hear self-aggrandizing words to that effect. At least your self-promoting "entrepreneur" was actually a fake and a failure. Your conservative co-writer Stephens today takes Elon Musk to task for essentially the same thing in spite of Musk's many successes. I guess conservatives are reluctant to back "green" entrepreneurs, so they only lose betting on traditional self-centered cons like Theranos and Trump.
4
With respect to Don the con, I've yet to read a better comment concerning him than what one reader said in response to an NYT article or op-ed last year: "Here in New York, we've been acquainted with Donald Trump for nearly 40 years, and we have a saying about him that goes like this: 'I told you so.' "
4
Isn't cheating and the quick buck the American way? That's how Republicans win elections (including the last two winning Republican POTUS candidates) and got their last SCOTUS judge seated.
Actually, its the global way. Look at the Wells Fargo and VW scams. Even monopolies aren't enough. The plutocrats have graduated to kleptocrats as they steal even more wealth from the masses through tax cuts paid for by the poor, monopolies and yet more deregulation to increase already astronomical profits.
Those who fell for the Nigerian scams fell for the trump-Russian-Republican scam.
Trump certainly fixed the rigged system - in his favor, as only he can.
"Mexican are rapists ... He's a hero because he was captured ...." Yea, a real "seductive" message for his base.
I take it for granted that if you are astronomically rich, you definitely did not make it on your own and are most likely a crook - with extremely rare exceptions.
Isn't the American Dream just another con too? Republicans would have us believe that tax cuts for the richest of us is how all of us reach the American dream; that pollution means more jobs, not just added profits to plutocrats; that no health care means utopia; that science and education are fake and all you ever need to know comes from only one book written by men a couple millennia ago.
Cons are equal opportunity - as more women get power and positions of influence, there will be more Ms. Holmes of the world. For now it's mostly a man's world of con.
5
Speaking of men behaving badly, Clinton. Despite Ivy League educations, millions and a few decades advantage, both Clintons managed to throw Lewinsky under the bus - Monica turns out to be a rather thoughtful person these days. Maureen cast a bright light on Bill and Hillary, a light that showed brilliance and weaknesses. I doubt the people who elected Trump are reading this. In any event, time to work to oust Trump and complicit Republicans. Time to stop blaming Maureen.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/society/2014/06/monica-lewinsky-humilia...
Yes, we are all susceptible to the "con". But that does not mean that a large proportion of the people that voted for Trump are not racist, sexist, nativist and homophobic. They are. They just are.
1
first you write about the dangers of social media. Then you invite the reader to follow you on twitter and facebook.so,which one is it?
4
Well, wasn’t the first lie; All men are created equal. It sounded good, but we all know it’s a lie. A good enough lie on which to found a country.
3
How nice.
Is there an apology and an acknowledgement in the offing for those many of us who said just as much BEFORE all of this water flowed under the bridge?
(Why? The gaggle-majority did, after all, foist these vehicles upon us by weight of with sheer numbers mindlessly adopting these modes of interaction, thus forcibly marginalizing anyone who stood fast and refused to be taken in. And columnists, you are certainly NOT off the hook here. Most of you were all too happy to sing the premature praises of every shiny new techie toy.)
Please forgive me for not saying, "oh how wonderful" to this column. We told you so -- and were ostracized for so doing -- a long time ago.
1
Ms. Dowd,
You misunderstand "Weinstein." He is a sexual predator who happens to hold liberal social and political views; his liberalism is not camouflage and his predation is without political orientation. Men who support women's rights may still be rapists. To assert that such support is simply part of the con is to deny the complexity of a personality like Mr. Weinstein's in which perfectly normal, even admirable behaviors are mixed with psychopathy in ways that are difficult to detect.
If you would like to get ahead of the curve, write about the limits of #MeToo. Right now, NYT is taking down Morgan Freeman for comments that made a reporter feel "uncomfortable." Others are now "coming forward" to report that they too have, at times, felt uncomfortable because of Mr. Freeman's remarks. A source is quoted to the effect that Mr. Freeman is entitled to "due process but. . . ." NYT positions his story next to stories about Mr. Weinstein, implying an editorial view of equivalency. Now that Mr. Freeman has been designated a Witch, his career is in sudden decline with sponsors fleeing and so forth.
I wonder, how may Mr. Freeman obtain "due process" for his discomfort-causing remarks? What are the limits of #MeToo, Ms. Dowd, what are the limits?
4
Two years ago, Maureen Dowd, you ranted and raved against Hillary Clinton and her private email server. You ragged on Obama for executive orders and anything else that you could think of every Sunday. One of the main reasons we have Trump is that the media--particularly pundits like you who think you know it all--cut Trump and the GOP break after break, didn't rigorously investigate their words and deeds, and turned a mostly blind eye to Russian intervention in the election. No complaints please. This was apparently what you wanted then, and now we've all got it. Enjoy the ride into the abyss.
6
Funny (not really) how people can view this article as one-sided. I enjoyed it tremendously because it calls out charlatans all along the grifter spectrum and points out how they thrive in times of social and industrial change.
Sad how some commenters, Maria from Pine Brook in particular, are still drinking the con man's Kool-aid and dispalying an inability to see how Ms. Dowd is expressing a bigger picture of the dangers we face in this moment.
My impression of Ms Dowd is that of a highly intelligent person with significant buyer's remorse. She tried hard to be critical of Hillary through her columns (exactly why is unclear) and not hard at all to criticize Trump (again exact reasons unclear). Now she points us "elites" in the direction of our own Buyers remorse, vis-a-vis Ms Holmes. Sure will do Ms Dowd - doesnt excuse you though.
2
And this article, Maureen, is one of the best you’ve written. We are a nation infused with conmen.
Yet the conman aspect of capitalism is it’s cancer - that’s the clarification I’d make here. We see light because of the dark. All light, therefore, contains the dark. There is a crack in everything.
We will get through Trump. Yet some broken and twisted form of democracy will stumble on as long as we fight back against the cancers. Trump is that cancer, Therenos certainly.... and in Apple and Facebook the potential for cancer consistently shows its face.
1
"High-minded elites like to scornfully say that Trump voters fell for his scam because they were ignorant and racist."
Yes, that, too. But they were enabled in their self-destruction by those - like you - who not only said little to open their eyes to the truth THEN but also savaged a perfectly honorable and qualified, if not likeable, opposition, Hillary Clinton.
In ushering in the Trump con, you got yourself plenty of column-fodder. Nice work, Mo.
4
Whether it’s a Trump voter or Holmes’ Threnos investor or Weinstein’s victim, it’s America.....white vs nonwhite. Trump won the election only because of the fear of the whites being dominated by nonwhites by 2040. Elizabeth Holmes’s idea would never have taken off the ground had she been a nonwhite. And Weinstein’s story? One can see who were the victims. This is 2018 and America at its best or America at its ugliest.......with clear consequences.... don’t blame Trump voters.....blame your own bias and fear, the greed, the individual narcissism and foolish hopes of making America white again versus making the best country in the world which I thought when I came here 42 years ago.
1
We have become untethered as the lighthouses which guided us have serially winked out--government, religion, the media, respected real pundits in favor of virtual communities spouting virtual truth. With the proper if misguided mouse clicks we can find "proof" the moon landings, the Holocaust or the Sandy Hook shooting were all hoaxes or the path to health, wealth and happiness lies with chelation, mangosteen or any of a thousand nostrums vying for our attention and (mostly) money.
I am pleased to have had an education with a thick vein of healthy skepticism and parents who provided a loving and challenging environment for my upbringing. Now with Ms. DeVos at the helm, education is poised to enter the dustbin of history.
O tempore! O mores!
249
Trump is the essence of "Short Attention Span Theater." Watch Fox News, rinse, spin and repeat. He is an authoritarian wannabe, with a willing audience of 40% eager to be told what to think. Is it America's turn for a tragic history to repeat itself? Not without OUR strong resistance!
21
As "Honest Abe" said Maureen, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." So, it is with trio of cons--Don, Elizabeth, and Harvey, The latter two, of course, have reached their expiration dates and hopefully this November, the con artist in chief will find the Oval surrounded by a Democratic Congress willing to uphold the Constitution as a "check and balance" to his toxic snake oil (aka Autocratic Tweetnesss). We don't need to be mindless rats pressing a lever for food pellet reward crumbs in a Skinner box. We just have to engage in mindful, cognitive behavior a pull the right lever this November. Remember: Today a con, tomorrow a convict.
11
I'm seeing comments indicating that we really missed out by not crowning Clinton. Does anybody believe her buddy Weinstein would be facing consequences for his behavior if Clinton was in the Oval Office?
1
It takes a grifter to out a grifter?
I do.
1
This is one of Ms. Dowd's finest columns. This shows her strengths without being diluted by snarky comments-bluntly spoken yet deep and thorough. The fact that new technology has failed us and has seriously damaged our nation is THE story of our time and is worthy of serious discussion. Ms. Dowd has given us a fine introduction to these very important issues.
3
The king and his new clothes, Jack and his magic beans and witches with bad apples freely walk around today to include every corridor, of every type, of power and success.
And while the dupers and dupes may be guiding donkey carts, many are ivy league grads, whom are celebrated rather than exposed.
3
"Grifter in the White House?" Huh? After 15 months, the world has not fallen apart, we have not gone broke, we have not been swindled. What's wrong, Maureen? Isn't it about time to stop this nonsense and face the fact that the American electorate has a certain genius for electing the right person at the right time, or are you the only American who hasn't gotten safer, richer and more in the past 15 months?
My husband's business is down 25% under trump. We made tons of money in the manufacturing sector under Obama. As a woman my rights are threatened. Devos is working to destroy public education, the EPA is for dirty air and water. National land is going to be destroyed. Trump lies every time he opens his mouth.
Gay people are under threat. More high school students died from gunfire than soldiers so far this year. Mister I Am Not Afraid of the NRA does nothing.
We are considered upper middle class and the tax cut does nothing for us. Our children are thrilled that they will have to deal with the growing deficits. The stock market is finally starting to discount his constant bizarre ranting about tariffs but who knows what else he may say. Glad he is helping ZTE steak more intellectual property.
But more than anything the constant ugly talk, the disrespect for everyone who disagrees with him is depressing and is making the whole country anxious and/or angry with each other. As a liberal Christian, ie. I love my God and my neighbor, I am saddened by the "evangelicals" working so hard to turn even more people away from Christ while they seek to make the whole country live under their misguided version of Shariah law.
Recognize that!
Melissa Marsh
Atlanta
8
There is a tide in the affairs of the Oval Office which when taken at the flood leads to a circus of Clowns. I think Maureen you are slightly off base, when the Grifters land on the world stage they are not considered Cons, instead the world starts playing that tune "Here come the Clowns"
I wasn't swindled because it was no surprise to me that the "populist" Trump signed a "tax reform" that blows a $1.5 trillion hole in the budget, will (by repealing the individual mandate) make health insurance unaffordable for 3 million Americans in 2019 (jumping to 13 million by 2027), and gives 82.8% of the benefits to the top 1% of taxpayers (59.8% to the top 0.1%), with taxpayers who earn under $75,000 getting a tax INCREASE over the life of the bill.
Safer? Not for those who will die prematurely and unnecessarily because they cannot afford health insurance. Richer? Not those who are earning under $75,000. Since the median income is $59,039, that's more than half the country, Internationalist.
And since the hole blown in the deficit by this outrageous giveaway to billionaires and multinationals will be paid for by cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, pretty much everyone NOT in the top 1% will suffer both monetarily and health-wise.
So unless you're in the top 1%, Internationalist, YOU WERE SWINDLED, only (like Robert Shaw in The Sting) you don't even know it.
2
Trump won because Hillary ran a horrible campaign. Let's not conflate a charlatan bamboozling 72,000 ignoramuses in the midwest to win an outdated Electoral College with the "end of times."
3
Oh yes. Well said.
Looks like a lot of trolls today for Trump.
Ms. Dowd is correct. Grifting in the US is a sport. Ask the Prez!
A nation of settlers, people who take and consider giving back a personal slight. A nation of grifters, settlers and potential planet destroyers. Yes you!
No one should have 130 Billion dollars. If you do you ripped off people. That is grifting as well, walking off with the productive work of others.
Pull the troops back and go to rehab!
1
How true! Right on the button, Maureen.
Grifters abound, now that Trump, a master grifter himself, gave his permission to confuse folks further, so he can go on cheating on us with impunity. Now, everybody may do likewise, with no fear of persecution. Trump is a charlatan, clueless of what's going on in real life, as he continues to invent reality to his liking. Why is it, in an era of revolutionary digital technology, when there is information aplenty, we know less and less, unable or unwilling to tell fiction from fact? And Trump is loving it, so he may spread his constant lies while distracting us from his incompetence, and find scapegoats to blame for his corruption. As you said, a con man...and a fraud.
3
Yes, there is more information out there. But less people with critical thinking skills, intellectual curiosity, and discernment.
"Trump voters" suggests a distinction from "Republicans" that does not exist. And to suggest they were "suckered" is to offer them an excuse, and flies in the face of universal and ever-increasing evidence to the contrary.
Trump's campaign inexplicably did not crash to a halt upon launch by characterizing American POWs as "losers," the first time.
Trump slaughtered the best contenders Republicans could muster over a decade by merely proving he was the most miserable excuse for a human being of that mangy lot. He continued to profess vast volumes of knowledge it could not have been more obvious he was devoid of method of having learned.
He is unembarrassed to hammer away at the pillars of democracy and congressional Republicans are unembarrassed to commit treason in their own interests when they get away with it by doing nothing behind the virtually bulletproof and literally impervious to wear Republican defense, "You can't prove we're lying and not just exactly as stupid as we are unembarrassed to pretend, and imply we know you are."
To remain a Republican at this point requires no less than the literally infinite and utterly flawless absence of capacity for embarrassment that distinguishes Republican moral values from those of species dog.
3
So what's the grand theme in this essay, Maureen? Everyone who's anyone recognizes that with Trump, farce has long since become tragedy. I can understand why you don't report on how this ignoramus was elected.
Dirty old men desperate for sex is an ancient story, and few perceptive people are surprised that it is now, and probably will remain, an ugly part of ordinary life. Not much of a news story there.
I suggest you use what reputation you still have to write columns deftly skewering Trump and all his evil associates. Making amends is not the obligation of just substance abusers.
4
"I did not have sexuall relations with that woman..." is still my favorite.
Why? How were you harmed by that statement? How did it affect your life?
3
We need to worry most about the judgment of two of the currently most powerful men on the planet, Jim Mattis & Rupert Murdoch --- because they were conned at least twice, that we know of, by Holmes & Trump.
1
"With all these institutions the subject of ridicule, there's nothing".
Why? This ridicule is being driven and invented by the Grifters, especially the Grifter-In-Chief.
All institutions are not perfect and deserve proper examination to see where they are failing and need improvement. Even the fake messages of Trump can ring true 2 times a day but that does not mean we have to buy the whole self-serving Trumpian message.
Once again, truth needs to be valued. Truth, facts are not malleable. You are entitled to your opinion, not your FACTS as the saying goes. Education is not just for dummies or suckers. It can create a mind which thinks critically and discern the facts. No wonder the GOP hates education. Keep the populace in the shade of not knowing and grift them with the con. They will never know.
They will never know. Isn't that the thing that Grifters are betting on? That people will not be able to think enough about what they say to identify the con?
Sure even "smart" people can be taken in and are emotionally gullible but not as often and maybe because the lure of money speaks louder than the facts. Never underestimate the power of greed to turn facts into convenient temporary mush.
Emotional satisfaction is part of the Con. Our Grifter-In-Chief tells his cult that they can join in WITH him and make Liberals cry! There is nothing better than that smugness for his cult. They know he lies but they don't care because it feels so good.
1
Wrong, Ms. Dowd. "Trump voters fell for his scam because they were ignorant and racist."
They did't care about his real estate scams.; "they were ignorant and racist."
They didn't care about his serial marriages; "they were ignorant and racist."
They didn't care that he was a braggart and a serial adultery; "they were ignorant and racist."
They didn't care that he night have been hip-deep with a hostile foreign power in 2016; "they were ignorant and racist."
Ms. Dowd, you're trying very hard to dress up a pig in skirts. He's at 85% with Republicans in job approval rating. Fully 40% of the voting electorate supports him.
Sixty-three millions voted for Trump only "because they were ignorant and racist."
You trot out Harvey Weinstein and other Silicon Valley types who have put one over on their investors and the general public. But that pales in comparison with a determined breach of politesse and a retreat from the generous impulses of a nation of immigrants, a class of people who are scored as "animals" by Donald Trump who is also "ignorant and racist."
Don't stop there, Ms. Dowd. Try calling out Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes and Kevin McCarthy and all down the line. They're "ignorant and racist" too. Or do you wish to paint over their anti-American sins with fluff from Silicon Valley and Tribeca's charms?
We elected Donald Trump, Ms. Dowd, because, as a country, we are "ignorant and racist." I rest my case. You never made yours.
6
Trump's followers haven't just been conned, they seem brainwashed in to believing that it is ok to be racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic. Harvey Weinstein is just the updated version of the casting couch producer, a wolf in feminist clothing, not just conning young women with offers of bright careers but apparently forcing himself on them. Social media offers the widest venue for conning and brainwashing, and was probably instrumental in giving us the con artist in chief occupying the Oval Office.
Silicon Valley opened Pandora's box. We cannot go back now.
1
Here's an image of justice on steroids: Weinstein and Trump sharing space in C Block. I think of that catchy tune from Breakfast at Tiffany's when Weinstein and Trump come to mind:
Two grifters, off to rape the world, there's such a lot of world to rape.
We have 320 million people and many of them are not very smart. Your own family voted for Trump.
5
"High-minded elites like to scornfully say that Trump voters fell for his scam because they were ignorant and racist. But the high-minded elites fell for Holmes’s scam,"
Right. And Maureen Dowd is Exhibit A. She may not have literally fallen for Trump's scam, but she cynically helped elect him anyway.
Which is worse? Voting for Trump because you don't know better? Or using a national platform to viciously undermine the candidate who ISN'T a grifter and actually had copious relevant political experience, because she - um, didn't know better I guess? Or because she thought she was even smarter than the so-called elites I guess?
She's right - elites like her are a big part of the problem - and she doesn't even know it.
1
The Holmes' Theranos gang looks like a "Who's Who" of Militarists, Generals, right-wing Hoover Institution types (George Shultz), fanatical Christian fundamentalists (Betsy DeVos, current Sec. of Education), immoral corporatists (Walton Family), Wall Street Angel Investors skilled and pumping and dumping companies -- you know, your standard Republicans these days.
The best thing about the failed Holmes' con is that from the looks of things, almost $700 million was transferred from the Oligarchs to the 1% and other people. It's really cool to see DeVos lose 10% ($100 million) of her coming $1 Billion inheritance in a pyramid scheme like the one (Amway) that generated all the income for her father.
1
The changer things are, the samer they remain.
In effect technology is using the suckers. The suckers are more than happy to accept the con largely because it is easy and feeds their anger. Of course building that anger is an important aspect of the con. In other words willful gullibility is the essence of bliss for irresponsible fools.
As long as prey is easy hunting the grifters will continue to offer a product which more often than not is worthless. Grifters aren't any more intelligent than anyone else they just could not care less who they hurt in the process.
1
That was delightful, Ms. Dowd. Thank you.
Some thoughts. For instance. . .
. . .King George III (after the reality of his humiliating defeat had sunk in) exclaiming: we Americans were ALL such a mass of knavery and chicanery . . .
. .. maybe the British Empire was better off WITHOUT us.
Talk about sour grapes! But I have often wondered whether (after all) the monarch was not on target.
So many con men--grifters--flimflam guys--and my goodness! all the NAMES we have . . . .
. . .all those con men that got busy during our Civil War. Oh to be be sure! thousands died in that bloody war. Died in agony, many of them.
But the crooks were at work--crooks! now there's ANOTHER one. Sherlock Holmes (impersonating an American--neat trick!) refers to a "Yankee crook."
At work doing WHAT? Selling shoes made of cardboard and blankets that disintegrated. Congress enacted some stern legislation: if your knavery cost the life of one Union soldier--your own life was forfeit.
Betcha THAT didn't stop 'em!
On the other hand--we LOVE the lovable crook. The Duke and Dauphin in "Huckleberry Finn"--"pitiful rascals" Huck calls them. But fun. Lots of fun . . . .
. . . .till they get tarred and feathered. Small-town America wasn't so fond of crooks.
Or take the movie, "The Sting." ALL the crooks and con men are as delightful as all get out. Aren't they?
And then there's. . . .uh. . . .
. . .THE PRESIDENT.
Think I'd better wrap up.
Thanks again.
Of course moving so it kind of a side deal that anyone can make it here which is a complete and total lie that sustains us as a couple as for
Lanier, and presumably Dowd since she cites him, lump Google and Facebook together, but the quotation from Lanier indicts Facebook, not Google. I don't use Google to "contact" people, I use it for search. Google doesn't "con" me, it provides me with by far the best search engine. That's it, that's all. Enough with the scare tactics. "Modification loop"? What are you talking about? Let's skip the high-falutin and oh-so-knowing hype: Google is the best search engine by miles. Skinner boxes! Are you nuts?
2
And so goes the American Dream...
Thanks Maureen
I’ve got to throw up once again.
Ms. Dowd, you forgot to include yourself in that long line of sinners who twist truth to their own political purposes.Your arguments, while smartly pithy and pretentious, are ridden with solely ad hominem conclusions. And when women who disagree with you emerge, it's often an ad feminem guillotine. The grifters we will always have with us. It's the drifters from truth and honesty we need to worry about. Remove the stump from your own eye.
4
I guess one of your points, Ms. Dowd, is we should stop blaming the Trump voters who are willing dupes, because non-Trump voters are also susceptible to being duped...albeit not willingly?
I hope you include yourself as a dupe...you sure did not scream buyer beware before Trump was bought hook, line and sinker. Oh. Sorry, you did scream buyer beware...of Hillary Clinton.
But there is a difference between Trump voter dupes and other dupes. For Trump voters, buyer beware translates to buyer don't care. Trump voters are as pleased as punch over his take-down of the presidency and government. And as to his trashing truth, facts, reality and decency...Trump voters simply don't care. Trump voters are coming out in November to vote Republican to save the Trump. They want more.
The rest of us do. Care. Very much. If we get duped, we seek remedy, learn from our mistake and act with more caution.
So, there are dupes...and then there are the duped. Dupe me once; shame on you, dupe me twice, shame on me. Except if you are a Trump voter, you cannot get duped enough.
2
There's a sucker born every minute.
In all likelihood P.T. Barnum did not say this but it's true nonetheless.
Similar sentiments have been common in the English-speaking world since at least 1800.
"A new fool is born every day." (US)
"There is a fool born every hour." (UK)
Human nature never really changes all that much -- there have always been sheep and there have always been those who will shear them.
(thanks to the quoteinvestigator.com for the above)
Maureen, what took you so long to speak up? An interesting column from you would be a revisit to all the nasty unfounded things you said about Hillary, and how even her weaknesses make for a sane gestalt, compared to this circus barker presently in the Oval who you remained eerily quite about before the election, even though you knew.
3
Hillary = Hawk, Donald = Dove
And the biggest con of all... Religion!
2
Maureen, you should get out more. You seem to have lost touch with average, normal, Americans who have never encountered a grifter in their entire lives and probably never will.
Meanwhile, allow me to inform you that mature Americans know which way the wind blows and don't need you to tell us what we already know.
Premises considered, in the immortal words of that fictional grifter, Gordon Gekko, surprise us.
1
If you think you have never encountered a grifter in your entire life, you are deluding yourself. Every day we are confronted with a president who lies to deceive, and brags about it. That you discount that is evidence that the con is alive and well.
We'll wake up soon and find that Trump, his ilk and
his spawn have robbed the US Treasury.
Maureen criticises technology yet at the bottom of her column it says: "I invite you to follow me on Twitter (@MaureenDowd) and join me on Facebook."
5
"We have one running amok in the Oval."
MD should have thought about this when she continually attacked Hillary Clinton with the most trivial concerns.
You built this.
8
And the outcome of malignant narcissists on the rest of us is that depression and anxiety are rising and rising fast.
Malignant narcissists are like cancer, you have to remove them from your life completely before they destroy you.
3
It is a stretch to call Harvey Weinstein a grifter. It is a weakness but not a con to want to use some women sexually and still want to advance women's positions generally. Nor is it a con to write a column that ostensibly faults one candidate when it really normalizes him and skewers his opponent. Wait. Actually, that is a con. Mo, you have a lot to answer for. Add your own name to the list.
4
"They bought his seductive campaign narrative, that the system was rigged and corrupt and only he could fix it. After winning by warning voters they were being suckered, he’s made them all suckers."
We think they are suckers. They still think they are world-beaters who know everything. Most of them hate Hillary so much, that they are delighted Trump is in there and not Hillary no matter what happens. Repeat, no matter what happens. In their minds, things would have been worse under Hillary, just as they were under Obama. Repeat: in their minds only.
9
Where was this Dowd in 2016 when she gave trump a pass and went after Madame Hill instead ?
What makes people fall into the trap of con artists like trump and Elizabeth Holmes ?
Is it the money they thought they would be famous and rich falling to the traps and path of those ?
Elizabeth Holmes is still not prosecuted and what about her deep baritone low pitch voice sounded as fake as her self.
Then there is Harvey Weinstein who had a stunning gorgeous wife but that was not enough for him, he needed to attack other women or else ruin their careers.
My heart goes to Georgina Chapman his wife who had absolutely no knowledge of his extracurricular sick habits.
Wives are always the last one to know but Melania Trump knew and in spite of that she married the conman Donald J. trump.
5
H L Mencken is appropriate here. I don't remember the exact wording but the quote goes something like, no one ever went broke underestimating the stupidity of the American public.
2
Is it "underestimating" or "overestimating"? Did H L Mencken actually say one or the other? Silly, but a perfect Sunday morning confusion.
Thomas Watson, the founder of IBM, famously said:
“…it's very difficult to build and very easy to destroy.”
While past Presidents and everyone would want to build a stronger, more equitable and prosperous society and economy, the Twitter in Chief has been reducing America’s position and status in the world and damaging America’s society, economy and its future.
While the Draft Dodger in Chief continues to grace his acidic comments and destructive decisions with superlative adjectives, reality shows that he is alone and divisive in his actions and decision making.
But the horror of reality is that none of the comments of revulsion and disbelief expressed against the Bully in Chief matter. He marches on to his own tune and the voices in his head and listens to or takes the advice from no one !!! But the Bully in Chief believes that he is above reproach and that he is always right on anything.
Bottom Line: The Four-Times-Bankrupt Con Artist in Chief cares only about himself and nothing else, and is moving forward with his eyes only on himself in the mirror,
America is paying the price !!!
Robert. Mueller: Continue to move ahead in your work … the world is waiting with anticipation.
6
All covered ad nauseam elsewhere. Do you have anything to add? Do you EVER have anything to add?
2
Maybe we’re living in a golden age of CATCHING con artists, and that’s why we’re so aware of them. In any case, generalized, omnidirectional basic stupidity (including my own) remains a bigger threat than any specific con.
It’s fine to be wary of cons and manipulation, but it’s better to be wary of one’s own ignorance.
1
Not even Maureen is very adept at normalizing the Drumphian Mentality.
Castigating "elites" for calling out parochial laziness and stupidity, then winding up the piece by quoting an author leaning heavily the way of that same indictment, is an unusual inconsistency in your writing, Maureen. Speaking of cons?
Stupid is as stupid does. Cons go away when the easily conned do.
You think the bad hair would have set them right. But nope. Rubes love the carnival flash.
2
This piece strays tantalizingly close to something the media never quite grasps: most Trump voters liked the sense that he was a skilled grifter.
At every turn, he was playing the "wise guy" trope. Some people eat that up – not because they love crime, but because it's an exciting, fun, and even empowering bit of fiction. It's the difference between watching "Law & Order" or watching "Goodfellas." Sometimes rooting for the bad guys is the whole point, because they don't seem so bad in the right light.
In the context of politics, it's actually a bizarre riff on the Robin Hood theme. He sold the idea that he was going to Washington to grift on your behalf, voter. All the chumps there who take your money and do nothing for you, he was going to pulverize those suckers! Bada-bing! Bada-boom!
7
It will always be all about Trump for Dowd......just can't help herself
Should be able to overcome this weakness and do good writing....sigh
1
The same people who prospered and kept their mouths shut while creepy Harvey Weinstein was up are now kicking him when he's down, trying to have it both ways and hoping we have poor memories.
Unfortunately, Ms. Dowd fits right in with these people, being flirty and cute with Donald Trump until he won, then bashing him almost (but not quite) as much as she did Hillary, now that it's too late.
Looking for grifters? Check the mirror.
www.newyorkgritty.net
5
Once again, Trump voters are presented as duped victims. It's a line that the NYT loves. Some Trump voters were duped victims, and some Clinton voters were duped victims. But, I imagine, a lot of Trump voters voted the issues. If Trump was closer on their issues, Trump got the vote. The same thing with Trump's opponent. I don't think very many people would have chosen those two to run. But, assuming that Trump voters were conned is sloppy, self-indulgent journalism. This is part of the reason why the NYT has fallen from its lofty journalistic peak.
4
Here in Utah, a lot of people believed that Trump would fix health care. It would be, as the President promised, "cheaper than Obamacare and cover everybody." Clearly, the current motive is to destroy socialized healthcare. So if we were not conned, then what would you call it?
2
There are constitutional limits to the President's power to act unilaterally, and Trump may not have been aware of some of these limits.. Since they've been complaining about it since Day One, the GOP in the Senate and House should have been ready to replace Obamacare. They were not ready. I think Trump really did want to "repair" and replace Obamacare. But, the task was too large for him to do without substantial support from Congress.
As PT Barnum once said... “there’s a sucker born every minute”. True then and even more so today. As my mother told me when I was a child... if it sounds too good to be true...
People!! Learn to use your brain and think!
Charles M. Schulz understood:
>>>
Lucy van Pelt: Oh, Charlie Brown, I'll hold the football and you kick it.
Charlie Brown: You *say* you'll hold it, but what you really mean is you'll pull it away and I'll land flat on my back and I'll kill myself.
Lucy van Pelt: But I feel I have really come to know you. I now understand that you are kind, compassionate, brave, and funny. No one would pull a football away from someone with all *those* qualities.
Charlie Brown: [to himself] She's right. I would never pull a football away from someone with all *those* qualities. I am gonna kick this ball all the way to the moon.
[He starts running up and, as expected, Lucy pulls the football away from him]
Charlie Brown: AAUGH!
[Wham!]
Lucy van Pelt: And gullible. I forgot to mention gullible.
>>>
We have become marks for the cons, all too eager for one weird trick to whatever, and hence vulnerable to false promises. In short, we are gullible, and subject to manipulation by those who will take advantage. This is nothing new – Schulz did not invent the concept. It has simply become more rampant, the lies spreading faster and more effectively, with the omnipresence of social media and unwarranted faith in the Internet. Technology is a tool, and tools are no ‘smarter’ than those who wield them.
2
The confraternity of insider, wink-and-nod journalists could do us all a favor by withdrawing, cold turkey, from being complicit in "open secrets," even when the people in question share their political views or provide the kind of entertainment they like.
Not the ultimate solution, of course, but a heck of a good start. With any luck, the arc of the moral universe would continue to bend toward justice, but much, much faster.
Starting with the Acela Corridor and Hollywood writ large, no more sacred cows, please. Otherwise, "without fear or favor" is a slogan that tends to ring hollow.
1
You can put Donald Trump at the top of the list!
1
Con artists rule when people have lost their faith in humanity, God or a better future. In the case of our president, Mafia Don, his "supporters" are just enjoying the adrenaline rush that comes with hatred and schadenfreude. It's a suicidal joy ride.
1
What are we supposed to do with the "follow me on Twitter and Facebook" just after discussing how they might end the world? Is this kind of a Catch 22 test or something? Should I have not bothered to read the article because in the end what matters is that I help Twitter and FB exist?
But so ironically apt. Right now, social media is seen as reality and it even manages to erase a NYT times column by Dowd.
1
Why isn't she in jail? Now that we all are students at Pres Spankies university anything goes....A
Number one grifters are the Clintons. What have they done but destroy the middle class, start horrifying conflicts and enrich themselves? Bring back the Place des Tuileries and 1793.
Every president has his likes and dislikes. The current one simply doesn't care what you THINK about him but will probably react if you SAY how much you hate him, depending on the time of day.
America actually LIKES this about the President after so many years of flat-out lying and secrecy from progressive Democrats and milquetoast centrists Republicans refusing to confront liars openly.
Speaking of a rapscallion who never cared what you thought, how about Barack Obama spending tens of millions of somebody's money on simply filing lawsuits o NOT have to let us know things he had done as president?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-administration-spent-36m-on-records-l...
At least this is CBS News telling you, so your hate-trainers on the blogs won't see that you were reading some crazy Right-winger....
I trust crude & rude honest men a hundred times more than smooth liars who never once intended to be transparent about anything.
1
As someone who has contributed greatly to the conning of America, you have a lot of gall to write this column. Who are YOU to preach. You spent well over a year putting Hillary and Bill down, and allowing our despot in chief to be elected. Do you remember the column titled, "We could have had a Kennedy?" About your disapproval of Kirsten Gillibrand's appointment. I don't seem to remember you touting her success. Granted, your column is mainly about your personal elitist snark, but spare us from your preachery.
2
Mo, can answer one of your questions yourself - look who wasn't on Theranos's board or investing…
Several others out there at this scale of valuation and non-substance - apart from anything having anything to do with cryptocurrency or apps or AI…
But all this backbiting and backstabbing of Si Valley - beg to differ...
From back when 101 had 2 lanes in Palo Alto and SJ Airport had one runway and no parking garage - have watched and worked with many of these folks...
They are a breed apart and they are real and the valley's open borders reach from Seattle to San Diego...
For every one that hits $500B in value, there have been a hundred that hit $5B in value - built on some of the most intriguing and astounding discovery and innovation anywhere on the plant...
Meme of clicks vs bricks is oft used - but more like unregulated vs regulated...
The good ones - paradoxically - turned out to be the ones that've ridden roughshod over and exponentially beyond so much sclerotic statute in this country...
Think of Travis as minting unlimited numbers of taxi cryptomedallions - and taxis - anwhere and at a minute's notice...
Google fits more than the Library of Congress into an iPhone or Galaxy and Apple is - miGuess - going to take clinician's pocket-stowed devices so beyond anything out there today...
Regulators and their shills follow, yakking ethics for robots and contorting the energy industry and blocking us from buying back our own meds from overseas...
The real fakes…
1
I'm so tired of false equivalency I could scream. Republican grifters have gone wild. Republican grifters are destroying the fabric of our country. Republican grifters don't care about anyone but white, rich Christians.
And spare me your concern. Where was it in 2016? I seem to remember you fawning over Trump, the lying grifter in-chief, while bashing Hillary non-stop.
6
". nothing except Skinner boxes and cons." Fake News Mo! All one has to do
is act on the "ancient" advice of those old enough to predate this so-called
tech era and get off your lazy rearend and work toward something greater and longer lasting than your next tattoo or iphone! Try some human connection in your local public schools or deliver meals on wheels. America: Land of Whiners!
1
I must say, Ms. Dowd, it seems you really phoned this one in. The Holmes stuff reads like a re-hash of last week's 60 Minutes, with a little bit of Weinstein thrown in just because.
And it is a bit much to read your analysis about Trump conning America, considering how mildly you treated him during the 2016campaign, when it was already glaringly apparent exactly what a conman he was. Too little and far too late.
3
There is a poetic justice in the photo showing Weinstein being escorted to jail by a woman cop. There are dozens of women who would have given their eyeteeth for that job.
Most of us still haven't forgiven Ms. Dowd for her sycophantic expressions about the orange pig that would be President. To her credit she now calls the pig a pig.
There's one more step she needs to take- admit that Obama
is intelligent, decent and should be the model for anyone seeking elected office.
Admitting you were wrong will set you free, Maureen.
3
You say Trump voters are suckers who were conned. Usually the victims of a con are humiliated and then angry. When's that going to happen? They've had plenty of time to review the results and seem quite happy.
During the recent Irish election on women's rights Facebook was full of scam ads and news stories against the amendment. Which means Mark Zuckerberg is the greatest scam artist that ever lived with his "I am so sorry". But God Bless the Irish they know a scam when they see it
4
I love this op-ed but it seems rather hypocritical for this to appear at the bottom:
"I invite you to follow me on Twitter (@MaureenDowd) and join me on Facebook."
What can one say about voters who chose to vote for a racist, sexist, tax cheating, pathological lier because of his claims to creat jobs even though he is anti Union advocate with a history of enjoying cheap foreign labor?
What responsibility for this do you bear, with your decades of attacking Gore, Obama and Clinton for absolute superficialities, in some apparent effort to have your peers think you were even-handed, no-one’s dupe; an honest broker? Instead you elevated those public servants’ normal human frailties to the level of fatal flaws, so destructive to the union — Greek-tragedy-levels of failings easily equal to the debasements of W and Trump. How do you sleep?
3
Trump and his thugs are counting on “We don’t need no education.” That’s the art of the con. I’m afraid you fell for it too, Ms Dowd.
2
Bill and Hillary set the gold standard. Me toos forgave and progressives and opportunists funded the foundation.
If Bill and Hillary set the gold standard, then Donald Trump broke the bank and emptied out Fort Knox, and make Bill and Hillary look like amateurs.
1
Curiously, Dowd omits mention of another famous loser in the Theranos scam: Betsy DeVos, who got soaked for $100 million. Along with Rupert Murdoch's loss of $121 million, this reminds us that the best cons are the ones that con other cons.
3
"Her board had George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, Jim Mattis and David Boies; Rupert Murdoch and Robert Kraft were investors."
What do all these have in common? All Republican men...all fooled by a beautiful and dishonest female.
2
People — rich, poor, old, young, stupid, smart, female, male, you name it — have the seemingly universal quality of fearing they'll miss out on a big break. Many do truly stupid things, like buy Beanie Babies by the hundreds as an 'investment' and find themselves with a pile of worthless junk. Others tamp down their greed enough to follow advice they believe to be safe (think Madoff) but eventually get burned in the same too-good-to-be-true fire. A small subset use this desperation to feather their own nests (Hi Donald!) or, in the case of Weinsteins of the world, fill their nest with hopeful young chicks who don't realize they're nothing special.
People get conned in millions of ways, big and small. Wanna buy a copper bracelet? 'Herbal' Viagra? Contribute to my charity? Crowd-fund a fake sick person?
This is why we need science more than ever. Teach people from an early age to think, reason, be careful and skeptical, and then look at the evidence again. And it's why the Trumps of the world have gifted us with Betsy.
1
Maureen Dowd quotes Jaron Lanier at length, with sympathy, and includes this warning and his dire prediction:
“But now you just need to sign onto Facebook to find yourself in a behavior modification loop, which is the con. And this may destroy our civilization and even our species.”
Scroll down a bit, and these invitations turn up as footnotes:
“I invite you to follow me on Twitter (@MaureenDowd) and join me on Facebook.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.”
Hmmm.
4
Our history of falling for con artists is deeply rooted, I believe, in our innate culture of American optimism. We want to believe Elizabeth Holmes has invented this great new way to test blood and detect disease. We want to believe Bernie Madoff discovered a new way to make sustainable, out-sized returns on our money. We want to believe St. John's Wort is curing us of various ailments.
If you compare Americans, in this regard, to Russians, Israelis, Iranians, Japanese and other more pessimistic cultures, my guess is that you would find they fall less for conmen and film flam artists. They see the world more darkly, often due to historical events, and are generally mistrustful by nature. So they are more likely to let an opportunity pass them by than risk being taken.
Even the lying snake oil salesman Trump, with all of his negativity, offers an optimistic future--Everything is bad now and I will fix it all. I will vanquish our enemies. I will bring us back to the great days of American glory. He is part Adolph Hitler, part Alexander the Great, part Napoleon. (At least in his mind.) And about 35% of us have fallen for it.
Weinstein, however, is not a conman but, rather, straightforward in approach: Give in to my advances and you'll be in my movie; don't and you won't and I will make sure you get into no movies. He is a hideous human being and, if convicted of the charges laid, a criminal sexual assaulter and rapist. But calling him a conman is an insult to conmen.
3
Maureen, I suppose the Clintons are to blame for all this, right?
I remember reading your articles on sports, all those years ago. You did a credible job. Maybe you should consider going back to sports.
2
"Bad (baad) blood (bloood) the woman was born to lie,
Make promises she can't keep in the wink of an eye.
"Bad (baad) blood (bloood), brother you've been deceived,
It's bound to change your mind about all you believe."
Apologies to Neil Sedaka. Maybe he knew Ms. Holmes in another
life.
We are living in the big con from all sides and it will be hard to break out.
But you left out the best one in the last 50 years or so:
"We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves. "
Lyndon B. Johnson
October 21st, 1964
Ms. Dowd describes a society that too easily falls for con men/women without investing the requisite due diligence to assess the real value of their promises or schemes. Ms. Dowd famously herself exemplified this trait in the 2016 election when Trump’s long history of scams and abuses were not deemed entertaining enough to find their way into Ms. Dowd’s columns. It’s great she has now found “religion” and uses the power of her pen to shine a light on this, one of our society’s current greatest failings. But she needs now and in the future not to sacrifice her journalistic responsibilities on the altar of whatever seems most facile, funny, and flip as she did in 2016.
2
As loathsome as Harvey is, I would rather see Trump in cuffs perp walking in front of the cameras, toupee askew, orange blotched . His gutting of the federal government subsidies for healthcare, social services and infrastructure , along with outsourcing our Middle East policy to the hardline Israeli Likud party will cause orders of magnitude more damage affecting hundreds of millions of people here and throughout the world.
2
So should I join you on Facebook?
Too bad you didn't focus more on what a narcissistic con man Trump was before the election.
2
I am not sure who the bigger pig is.
I hate it that I can't see peoples' comments when you send these supposedly hand-picked for me articles. I learn not just from the NYT article-writers say but also from what other readers say.
This article is hyperbolic, to say the least. Lumping in Silicon Valley techies with Trump and Weinstein?
Also, throughout this piece there is a type of screaming paranoia, more nuanced than Alex Jones, yet just as (ostensibly) frightened. Yes, there maybe a certain monied set of a certain generation that can delete all their social media now, but not this struggling writer. Unlike Ms Dowd, I don't have the luxury of a New York Times column, nor her connections beyond what I've made through social media.
America, I have written, is collectively resembling what psychoanalyst Melanie Klein called the paranoid-schizoid position, where, simply put, all is either deemed 'good' or 'bad.' This column is another iteration of that phenomena.
2
As a lifelong New Yorker of some seven plus decades, this has to be the most shameful of times. With Weinstein now added to the antics of Trumpy, Giuliani. Cohen and a host of the most despicable New Yorkers to surface from their rat holes, leads me to wonder: How could so many Americans, many whom abhor the braggadocio and sheer arrogance of what they correctly view as New Yorker's at their worse, how in heaven's name could they have ignored such serious flaws possessed by these horrible men? They're jerks. Why didn't Americans see them for what they are? How could they have picked the worse of the worse who live in our burgh and put them on a pedestal? Didn't they ever wonder why we who live here detest them so? Maybe now you will. Problem is, it may be too late.
DD
Manhattan
1
What makes people fall into the trap of con artists like trump and Elizabeth Holmes ?
Is it the money they thought they would be famous and rich falling to the traps and path of those ?
Elizabeth Holmes is still not prosecuted and what about her deep baritone low pitch voice sounded as fake as her self.
Then there is Harvey Weinstein who had a stunning gorgeous wife but that was not enough for him, he needed to attack other women or else ruin their careers.
My heart goes to Georgina Chapman his wife who had absolutely no knowledge of his extracurricular sick habits.
Wives are always the last one to know but Melania Trump knew and in spite of that she married the conman Donald J. trump.
1
Thanks, Maureen - you totally nutshelled what's been going on here. We got trouble...right here in River City.
Maureen Dowd raises many legitimate problems in her well-justified rant against social media such as Facebook. A final addendum to her excellent article is the following:
"I invite you to follow me on Twitter (@MaureenDowd) and join me on Facebook."
How embarrassing for Mme Dowd's fans.
1
You New Yorkers need to calm down. All is well out here on the prairie where people are not so excitable.
2
"We are easy marks for faux Nigerian princes now"
Why do we need a Nigerian prince when we have our very own White, orange hair faux American prince. 40% of us voted for him. But our faux price is truly a Master Con Artist. We never heard a Nigerian offer a sham diploma for desperate young folks and have the audacity to call it Trump University.
4
Stop looking for heroes. Go to school. Do your job. Pay your bills. Eat right. Get eight hours of sleep each night...
1
It should be noted that Jaron Lanier, who bills himself as a futurist, is a bit of a long con himself. He certainly has many provocative ideas and his concerns are worthy of consideration. But, in the manner of many critics, since his early promise as a creator, he has largely contented himself with sniping from the sidelines.
2
My 20 year old son is extremely distressed about his generation (though I think it goes farther back).He can't find anyone his age who pays attention to the news or seems to care about what's going on in our country. He could not find anyone at his university who knew anything at all about the Iran deal. Among my peers I often have the same problem. A Democracy who votes (and often doesn't) with little to no knowledge of the facts cannot sustain. As Trump and fellow Republicans well know.
So of course it is remarkably easy to con people. And with the education system in our country going down the drain and getting worse, I fear nothing but more of this.
108
Yes, the Iran 'deal' was a great con by the previous president. Many Americans were duped into believing a discussion between the US president/secretary of state and Iran's foreign minister constituted a binding agreement. Iran did not sign the document listing the 'terms' and the US Government did not agree to anything because it isn't a treaty:
"The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is not a treaty or an executive agreement, and is not a signed document...The success of the JCPOA will depend not on whether it is legally binding or signed, but rather on the extensive verification measures we have put in place, as well as Iran’s understanding that we have the capacity to re-impose — and ramp up — our sanctions if Iran does not meet its commitments." -Official State Department response to (then) Congressman Mike Pompeo
A handshake 'agreement' where success depends on the word of a terrorist nation. Meanwhile, Kerry's good buddy FM Zarif is captured on video chanting 'Death to America' after Obama softened sanctions and sent pallets of shrink-wrapped cash.
Anyone who believed Obama that we had a deal got conned. At least the current grifter-in-chief doesn't have to send billions in cash or hand back 5 terrorists to get hostages released.
2
Soporific - you really should stop getting your "news" from fox and limbaugh. The cash sent to Iran, belonged to Iran. When the sanctions were imposed, monies held in this country and others was essentially frozen and out of their reach. About 2/3 of it was money owed (debt) to other nations. When they agreed to the terms of the treaty, that $$ was released back to them, minus what was owed to others. We did NOT GIVE them a single taxpayer dollar as you imply - we returned THEIR money to them.
Amen. Big time suckers, we are.
5
Maureen Dowd:
As you must know, the President's trip to North Korea to meet Kim Jong Un is scheduled to take place. I think that all Americans should back the President up in this extremely important conference.
You continue in your negativity. Why?
3
No, the scheduled meeting may or may take place as planned for June 12th. But according to the donald "both sides are still talking.... and we may or may not have a meeting,... maybe it will even be on the twelfh, who knows"? (donald j. trump)
Oh Sarah. I have seen many of your comments. I hate to say this but you are one of the conned. Of course all Americans hope for success with North Korea. In spite of no evidence that the President is knowledgeable or capable of this we still all wish for success.
1
Some people just can’t help it. It’s written in their dna job description to project negativity.
You simply cant compare the people you are trying to compare.
Weinstein was a successful businessman but a sexual predator He made good movies and was very rich. Holmes was not truthful about anything and turned out to be a failure.
Trump was and is a successful businessman and he is keeping all his promises (other than who is paying for the Wall )
This is unlike Obama who made empty promises about Healthcare and Israel and made executive decisions against the wishes of the people who elected him
This editorial is just an other editorial excuse to bash Trump
32
It is folks like you--without critical thinking skills--that have put us where we are this morning--on the path to an authoritarian regime.
179
Are you kidding me. Where is the better cheaper healthcare that he said he had a plan for then begged congress to bail him out while my policy went up 40%.
Where was the plan to defeat ISIS then he begged the generals to come up with a plan so he would not look the fool he is. And if anyone really believed that Mexico was going to pay for the "wall" then the word "stupid" comes to mind.
Trump is a con and his business was largely a con job which will be discovered eventually now that he is in such a public position. This is why he is so afraid of any investigation into his business practices. People are fools to believe he is a successful "honest" businessman.
151
Perhaps you forgot a few of Trump’s promises?
“Better, cheaper healthcare for everyone;”
Release of “my beautiful tax returns;”
“Drain the swamp”
“I’ll be too busy to play golf like Obama”
“Huge, beautiful infrastructure”
“ this tax cut will not be good for me...believe me”
“I don’t know any Russians”
....on and on and on..
Or perhaps you did not “forget” but simply live in that alternative universe that Trump commands with utter disregard for truth, hypocrisy or consequence.
236
I feel badly let down by Michael Cohen.
There was a time when Jews could take a measure of pride in Jewish gangsters like Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Abe Reles, Arnold Rothstein, Abner Zwillman, Dutch Schultz, Mickey Cohen and others whose complete disregard for the law, conspicuous ruthlessness and cunning, many successful business enterprises and supply of arms to Israel during its war of independence helped make up for some of their less desirable traits.
They have been the stuff of countless books and movies, including “The Godfather” and even had a part in fixing the 1919 World Series, for which they received a nice mention in “The Great Gatsby.”
What have we gotten from Michael Cohen -- a two-bit conniver in taxi-medallions and lickspittle lapdog to President Trump -- that’s in any way comparable?
He is a real scandal for the Jews.
4
Up is down and down is up. Cohen might come out unscathed.
**Resubmission** As "Honest Abe" said Maureen, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." So, it is with trio of cons--Don, Elizabeth, and Harvey. The latter two, of course, have reached their expiration dates and hopefully this November, the con artist in chief will find the Oval surrounded by a Democratic Congress willing to uphold the Constitution as a "check and balance" to his toxic snake oil (aka Autocratic Tweetness). We don't need to be mindless rats pressing a lever for food pellet reward crumbs in a Skinner box. We just have to engage in mindful, cognitive behavior and press the right lever this November. Remember: Today a con, tomorrow a convict.
3
Democrats "upholding the Constitution" ? Get real Paul and read the news without your rose colored glasses on. I am no Trumpster but what transpired in the run up to the election in the Hillary camp and the actions of the Oboma administration towards a duly elected POTUS ought to give you great pause.
Excuse me Maureen, but you were part of the con. Your snark, and strange crush you had on "campaign" Donald, and your disparaging remarks about Hilary Clinton, and Barack Obama, helped put the pathological liar, malevolent con, Donald Trump in the White House. I strongly suggest, your next column should be a humbling mea culpa. You owe the NY TIMES readers an apology. Before you do that, your columns, like this one, ring hollow.
14
I agree. MD's words mean nothing after the awful invective thrown at Obama and the Clintons. I am tired of her snark. Now she's attempting to redeem herself, walking back her words. Has she seen the light of the matter of truth and Trump? Even if she has, unfortunately it's too late. Thanks MD for nothing. Your words helped normalize the abnormal Trump with as you were busy filling the rest of your columns with shade and snark at Obama (Barry to you only) along with the Clintons. No-one is perfect but HRC would have been a far more mature, smart, intelligent, knowledgeable. President than Trump will never be any of those.
2
Super confused here: this piece was an easy (in a good way) read, not vile, not stewing and simmering with hatred.
And no mention whatsoever of the Clintons?? What have you done with Maureen?
3
Yeah, why didn't you mention the Kennedy's and, of course, Jimmy Carter, and don't forget LBJ.
Oh jeez. This from the woman who spent two decades telling us how utterly horrible the Clintons are because they're Arkansas hicks. Spare us your concern, Maureen.
13
You helped to bring this about. Still proud of it? No apology for making fun of Barack Obama. 'Sublime' racism is still racism. You are not a patriot. Your narcissism is more subtle. But you prefered Trump in the WH. You are responsible for this choice. Your criticising doesn't diminish your guilt for supporting this immoral hater and destroyer. Clean water act watered down. Clean air act cleared from protecting regulations. Destruction of the foreign office. Dismissing hundreds of experts and replacing them with idiots. You have a lot of reasons to be proud. Truly patriotic. I hope at least his tax reduction gives you what you craved.
10
Great journalism is to write about Weinstein before he was taken away in handcuffs and Elizabeth Holmes castigated universally for being a crook now. In both cases there was plenty of smoke to smell something was amiss. After the fact any person with a column and a laptop can write this type of article. Shallow and after the fact as usual. I am not impressed Ms. Dowd.
7
If all of those big shots and the whole media enterprise (remember she was on the cover of almost every business and news magazine and raved about on every news show) fell for the con, they need to own up to their culpability in the Groupthink and the general scam. It is fine and dandy to act like you are all aloof and objective Maureen, but a quick look at your op-eds from 2016 will expose you for quite the charlatan and flimflam artist when it comes to your write-ups on Hillary's alleged awfulness and Donald Trump's alleged coolness. Go and look then feel free to return to your rock pile and fling stones at others.
Elizabeth Holmes was a teenager when she got caught up in this swirl of madness. The fake masculine voice is something that her "handlers" must have taught her, listen to Ivana's voice and then daughter Ivanka's voice and you will see the husky, sultry base voice and manner in the latter. It was a mass hysteria moment in a collection of mass hysteria moments championed by the churning mass media sensation we are going through right now. And sadly Ms. Dowd you are not one of the good guys here, nor one of the good gals, you are a snake oil saleslady yourself, either a patsy or a scammer, neither a qualification for respect or reward. Look in the mirror lady.
6
To paraphrase Ivanka Trump, "there's a certain place in hell.." She wasn't talking about her father, but he's at the top of the list. The Trump hotel by the gates at the river Styx has the Devil's suite reserved for him. There are con man, and there's Trump, a Frankenstein like megalomaniac who is destroying the very foundations of our country. He's a mutant conglomeration of the worst values of our nation. They are absolute power, rampant greed, immorality, sexual deviation, obstruction of justice, racism, pathological lies, and no compassion for the needy. He has filed for bankruptcy many times. But as president he's bankrupting and hijacking the USA. He's accomplished this by manipulating social media. In a sense Facebook, Twitter, Fox News and others are liable for his treachery. Trump probably wouldn't have succeeded prior to social media. To his cult-like supporters, be careful what you wish for. Trump will make your lives a living hell. He already has to many of us.
3
Want to hear a con? Try this one: Get Out And Vote in 2018!
Seriously! Didn't you just have a rigged election in 2016? What in the world makes you think the 2018 election will be any better?
#calexit - stop lying to yourself; america is dead.
4
Herman Melville wrote the book on The Confidence-Man in 1857. He/she is all of us.
Note in particular that the whole financial industry (with minor exceptions) is a con sucking money out of the economy providing nothing in return.
6
Ain't nothing but a pax on their 'marks'. Stupid and blind people get grifted because they want to believe. People with little skepticism and lots of ignorance. Government is supposed to protect us from that, but, Republicans.
2
Is it not remarkable that a columnist for the New York Times, the most prestigious and credible news outlet in the world, can call our president a "con artist" and no one bats an eye but the con artist himself? It's that indisputable!
4
Gee Mo, where were all your critical insights into con men back in 2016 when they might have helped to prevent our current catastrophe? Oh, I forgot. You were too busy throwing darts at Hillary.
8
Don't blame the Con Man. Blame the Idiots who want to be conned.
5
Americans are simultaneously cynical and gullible because corporate capitalism has failed American democracy, especially by waging war against quality public education.
American increasingly are impoverished ignoramuses.
6
For all the horrors described here, one is left out.
Ms. Dowd labels the president a con artist and calls his voters suckers. Above all, she is amused. But the implicit revision here of her own history is an insult to the Times as an institution and to us, its readers. Ms. Dowd retailed the president’s lies as truths. Now she tries to excuse herself with an equivalence not merely intellectually deficient but also morally reprehensible. “High-minded elites like to scornfully say (sic) that Trump voters fell for his scam because they were ignorant and racist. But the high-minded elites fell for Holmes’s scam...” No, that’s not true. Nobody high-minded fell for Ms. Holmes. They were in it for the money. But the elites were right and Ms. Dowd was wrong about the “rapscallion” who, minute by minute, is destroying the greatest experiment in self-government in the history of man. Many elites, including the fascists running the Republican Party, refuse out of self interest to stop him. Democrats are hardly blameless; out of incompetence, stupidity, and their own self interest they stood by as the oligarchs took over and hit the New Deal and Great Society with a wrecking ball. But Ms. Dowd, as a Hillary-hater, occupies a special place in the firmament of destructive elites. Will she ever own up to the truth? Write a column comparing von Papen and von Hindenburg to McConnell and Ryan, and then, Mrs. Dowd, you might be doing some good.
11
Ms. Dowd,
My wife stopped reading your column after the 2016 election.
I read it every now and then but I have the feeling my wonderful wife was spot on.
There's a warm chair waiting for you at fox.
As we say in NYC - See Ya
8
You left off the biggest international scam in years: Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.
5
"...narcissistic con artists are dominating the main stage, soaring to great heights and spectacularly exploding...."
That would include you Ms Dowd!
4
No one worked harder to put Trump the Liar and
Grifter in the White House than Ms. Dowd
she is one of the "They."
She was too busy writing the umpteenth column
trashing Hillary Clinton
So a little modesty and silence is called for,.
You own this mess. Deal with it
12
The ultimate grifter is Donald Trump, a candidate Ms. Dowd promoted while bashing HRC. Let's talk about Ms. Dowd's enabling.
9
" There's a sucker born every minute " attributed to P.T. Barnum. Updated version : " There's a sucker MADE every minute " , FOX " news ". Too bad we had no warning about Trump, right, Ms. Dowd ?????
3
The “fake it ’til you make it” line seems to apply to Elon Musk and his Tesla Model 3. Does Ms. Dowd have a comment about Musk's campaign against journalists?
1
Trump voters fell for his line because HE was/is ignorant and racist.
2
Wow. Comparing Holmes to Weinstein. And getting away with it, of course. Because the Left and logic aren't friends, let's just say.
Lib hack women should--but oc won't--boycott that kind of immoral equivalencing but Mo, we righty real men love ya; but please, listen to your brother on this one. Sex assault is hard to prove.
Theranos is as red a herring as your, well, hair.
It's sad to watch. Truly.
Mr. and Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton have converted their immoral inhumane reign of adultery, sexual harassment, mass incarceration, welfare deformation, corporate plutocrat oligarch welfare, Rwandan genocide and war mongering 'public service' into a multimillion and growing fortune.
Mr. and Mrs. Barack Hussein Obama are about to convert their 'public service' reign of mass deportation of Hispanic/Latinos, talking down to black people, losing a majority in Congress and failing to deter, detect and defeat Russian interference in the 2016 election into a multimillion dollar fortune.
Grifting is the essence of most business, entertainment, politics and preaching.
2
A narcissistic con man running amok in the White House? Wow, imagine that! And a strong likelihood that he's a sexual predator, not to mention a sociopathic, pathological liar. Well, gee, Mo, most of us with an ounce of common sense and intelligence saw this train wreck coming. And if you saw it, and let your blind hatred of HRC (yes, that how it comes across the overwhelming majority of us readers) prevent you from warning the country of said impending disaster, what does that ultimately say about you? Not to mention your colleagues in the MSM, who threw nothing but shade and snark at HRC, but treated Trump like the object of abject fascination and giggling teenage crushes. NYT, the Post, CNN, MSBC, etc. in your coverage of 2016 are totally complicit in the catastrophe about to happen. Our norms, checks and balances will most likely not restrain a clearly out of control president, aided and abetted by a cowardly, do-nothing Congress. HRC is no more flawed than you and I are. A woman of intelligence, grit and decisiveness, she, on her worst day, would be better than the nightmare in the Oval Office. E-mails, indeed. "Crooked" Hillary, indeed.
Hope that the country is happy with the choice it made. Endgame is upon us and none of us will survive unscathed. That's assuming that we DO survive.
10
Finally Maureen. A worthy focused and clear commentary with no anti Obama or anti Clinton theme. Phew.
2
What was the point of this article, Maureen? All I got was that you love the sound of your smary. You wit has gone to waste. And few of us are amused anymore.
3
Well done Maureen, the contrast between Weinstein and Holmes is a great arc for discussion. Your point about the high and mighty and well-educated falling for scams is spot-on. A decade ago we (well, the Fed) had bought into how the new securitization technologies had brought on a new age of low volatility by diversifying risks throughout the financial sector. Well, no. The interesting follow-up is that the central bank was blind to how innovations in the on-line retail market would keep prices low during the recovery, thereby keeping monetary policy too tight, resulting in great economic distress for the middle class, and a sharp political reaction. Now I keep reading about how some Fed governors think that blockchain is an interesting technology and I’m getting worried again.
2
What about Uber and Lyft? Two companies who pay off politicians so that they can operate without any rules and are killing the regulated taxi industry. People are taking them because they are cheap. Of course they are when they don't pay for licenses, they don't do background checks, they don't train their drivers, their cars are not being subjected to safety checks, they put thousands of cars on the roads so no one can make a living, they pay no taxes...huge cost to society but it is allowed.
3
I use Lyft all the time. In my experience, the cars are all safe and most of the drivers are great. All of them are competent. A great contrast to the taxi industry, who were content to see the price of their regulated medallions go up year after year, and who paid little attention to quality Ir technology until it was too late.
Technology does not make you safe. None of the drivers are trained. Many are not even registered with Taxi Authorities. They pay no taxes. If something bad happens (fraud, sexual assault, expelled from car in the middle of nowhere...) they have no customer service telephone only email. Lyft does nothing to ensure your safety. They don't even report incidents to the police.
The "con" begins in business curriculums that teach commerce or "business " economics are the only legitimate and meaningful means for surviving in modern society. The teaching that the pursuit of money and wealth has no moral or ethical associations is false. That there is no explicit law against a certain set of business transactions does not absolve the transaction from being considered morally of ethically abhorrent. For example, many of our elected leaders do not seem concerned that their interactions with certain lobbyists who represent big and small business operations gives the appearance that the legislative branch and its members are corrupt is an ethical concern. The concern is huge and is financed by amounts of money that voters cannot overcome by voting and that courts refuse to sanction because after all money has no moral or ethical connections.
1
The easiest way to get conned is to think there is an easy way to wealth! Maybe if you inherit like the "trust fund babies" whose account I managed during my first job while working for a bank on the "real" Wall St in 1968. Or winning the lottery. Or like an uncle who started a successful company which still employees thousands of people. Otherwise the streets are not paved with gold. It will take a lifetime working at high salary jobs to save in your 401(k).
4
Not one voter was conned in 2016. Trump's supporters witnessed well in advance his serial bankruptcies, his racists birther campaign, his defrauding innocent students at his fake university, all of that and so much more played out in lurid detail. The media and the pubic loved it all. That's Entertainment.
That is why 63 million Americans voted for him - they admired his audacious chicanery as a thrilling demonstration of self-liberation. Trump was a free agent unbound by the frustrating restraints of morals and manners, and his supporters envied him for it.
Trump is indeed an American icon in the tradition of Charles Ponzi, Joseph Weil, Bernard Madoff, and topped off with the chutzpah of P.T. Barnum. But are these the sort of men we should entrust with Fort Knox, much less our nuclear arsenal?
10
“They bought his seductive campaign narrative...”. Here, you’re argument falls apart. What they bought was not seduction but convenience. Trump’s theme of violent loathing, know nothingness, and victim hood validated those underlying tendencies in a segment of the electorate effectively telling them these were legitimate and that it was legitimate to let them boil to the surface and overtake them. Those aspects were already there, those having those aspects already whispered such things to themselves. Trump’s public validation emboldened them and gave them full-throat in public spaces where these views had only been whispered before. Calling the process seduction allows those individuals expressing such things and taking such actions (that is, violence at campaign rallies and after) off the hook as if absolving them of their guilt. But they are complicit. There is no redemption without remorse. That remorse is critical to change and to re-entry and reintegration into the larger American society. It is not only wrong to call it seduction, it is dangerous by being dismissive of it.
7
The con artist usually deals with a small audience. But here we have a large audience made possible because the reach of their voice has expanded to include almost the entire country. The con is advanced through a huge propaganda machine that is financed by a few wealthy but wacko billionaires out to establish their own government, part a narrow -minded “Christian” Theocracy and part a power-mad Aristocracy.
To thwart this so-far hugely successful subversion of democracy the propaganda machine has to be dismantled. The GOP Congress bought and paid for by these bonkers billionaires has to be removed. Sane laws have to be passed that the Supreme Court cannot argue away saying free speech means freedom to run a hugely expensive brainwashing operation.
We need to vote out the venal vassals of the GOP!
12
"But the high-minded elites fell for Holmes’s scam, even the fake deep authoritative voice she put on. Her board had George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, Jim Mattis and David Boies; Rupert Murdoch and Robert Kraft were investors."
All of those "high minded elites" just happened to be conservatives. Is it possible there's something in modern conservativism that makes its adherents especially susceptible to scams?
10
A worthy columnist opens the eyes of his or her readers to issues not already in plain sight and thereby contributes to a more informed electorate. Ms Dowd, who somehow seems to have completely missed the impending catastrophe associated with trump's candidacy before he was elected, is now willing to call him a conman when that is already obvious to everyone except for those Republicans who can only see what they want to believe. Handicapping the horse after the race is over doesn't count for much.
seems content to share yesterday's insights
2
What you are describing is known as the "halo effect", the cognitive bias name by psychologist Edward Thorndike. A person is judged high in one positive trait (good looks, ability at making money, speaking well) and is therefore judge high in other traits (good looking = honest, making money = good at politics, speaking well = kind), which is nonsense. The halo effect always leads to a wrong/bad judgement. And every con man uses it to his advantage.
5
Go ahead, admit you were scammed. It is hard to do. It is easier to try to convince others that the con isn't a con. That is why con artists are successful. Con artists know and use that too.
5
Dowd makes this grifter tale out to be more of a novelty than it is. Though she acknowledges the vast tradition of American con artistry, she wants to draw things as more widespread than before. Two factors make them only seem that way: Communications and record trails are more accessible, so more is discovered and leaked than ever before. And there's more shamelessness about it - people not only don't mind being lurid, there's a cachet to having an image as slightly unscrupulous and boundary-breaking (perhaps it's Silicon Valley's ethic of being "disruptive" taken beyond boundaries of morality, or maybe everyone's just in their own movie now, their own Sopranos).
We've had plenty of grifters. In earlier times people in high places at least tried to hide it - now we've got a president who is shameless, who relishes being seen as a bad boy. (But in complicating things with a nationalist populism and extra-national racketeering ties, dispensing more demagoguery and causing more obvious national security hiccups, he's a really bad boy.)
There seems little voluntary morality in American politics and business. That's for suckers and naifs. We are more a nation of men than of laws. The ones doing the perp walks and getting the press and prosecutorial attention are only those who've tripped on themselves in the public morality or overt scandal department, or have become a political liability. The quiet banksters and American oligarchs? They're not doing any perp walks.
33
The con IS much more widespread than anytime in history. She explained why. Before, the vast majority of time you had to interact face to face or one on one with a conman. Like she said, now you just have to go online and you are instantly being manipulated...conned
That you don't recognize you are being conned all the time is proof that it works
6
I have two solutions. When and if possible disengage from the internet. And second, read books. Lots of really great reading material out there. Try a few new ones, or even some old ones. Re-read two fictions and a non fiction recently. Well worth the while. And yes, the con, the hustle the grift are central to this society. Without out it, there would be no real heroes. Never trade your hero for gold, ever.
3
What I don't understand is why so many people want to be so excessively rich that they would lie, cheat, steal in one form or another, take advantage of people's ignorance, weakness or misfortune, drive competitors bankrupt with ruthless tactics and the like. What is so great about being a multi-millionaire or billionaire? Do you sleep better at night? Do your spouse and children love you more? Are your friends more loyal? Do the roses smell sweeter, are rainbows more colorful?
3
Most of us in the west as well as those throughout the Middle East and Pacific islands are programmed from birth to accept a religious fallacy which is constantly reinforced by almost every person with whom we come in contact. That myth is further sanctified by our government which allows those who control it to qualify for a tax free existence.
Rligious belief denies reason yet we are taught to accept it as being of the utmost value. What is "sacred" but an invention used by those who avoid discussion based on observable reality?
Is it really any wonder we are so easily swayed by people who profess paltry billion dollar myths which are given credulity by others who adhere to the aforementioned trillion dollar myths we have been braiwashed to accept on the same basis?
Why is it a surprise when a clear charlatan is accepted as a saviorby a people trained to be gullible?
We are constantly played because we have a predilection to this sort of manipulation and until we, like the Irish, begin to remove myth from governance which affects our daily lives we will continue to succomb to this more blatant form of deception.
With regard to Ms Holmes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
3
We are at the bottom. The problem is is that it's the exception (the con artist, etc) not the rule. The institutions you say people "don't like" are generally good and filled with many excellent people. The main failure of education is that we are NOT taught how to think critically, and therefore have to little ability to separate sham from real.
1
How utterly depressing. Several people commented on the lack of critical thinking skills ushered in by the Right's total disregard for teachers and education, and I agree. While the Dumpster's base cheers at their Fox News heroes focusing on the shiny object in the White House, Betsy DeVos is dismantling everything good and decent in our public-education system to enrich herself and her like-minded lackeys while ensuring that the next generation of dumbed-down minimum-wage workers will vote reliably Republican.
This points to a fundamental flaw with American Exceptionalism. I'm not sure if it's capitalism run amok or our fascination with celebrities of all types (actors and actresses, singers, athletes, billionaires like Elon Mush, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Tim Cook, Elizabeth Holmes ...oh, and reality-TV stars) while the true heroes who get the work done--teachers and others working in our education system, police, first-responders, farmers, engineers (when's the last time you watched a team of engineers play another team on network TV?)--go under-noticed, under-appreciated, and under-paid. Says something about our "exceptionalism," doesn't it?
And I won't be buying Jaron Lanier's book, since I don't do social media--not FB, not Twitter, not Snapchat; not a bit. Pablum for the psyche.
3
It also doesn't help that Americans are extremely gullible (trusting is the PC word), uncritical, and fall in line like lemmings. The result: whiplash and swinging wildly from one extreme to the other.
3
Theranos had not one person who knew the slightest about the actual business on their board. I submit that the biggest conmen are the corporate elite essentially running our economy.
4
The only person who could take this loosely connected column and turn into a brilliant play would be Shakespeare himself. That is somewhat of a back-handed compliment.
This article ends oddly and abruptly, rendering it more of a lament staring into a chasm of despair ('destruction of our civilization and even of our species').
'Tis better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.'
Perhaps Maureen can find no light to shine in the enveloping darkness because of the role she played in getting us there. She is left to curse the darkness because the way in is not the way out.
It will be left to others -- including ourselves -- to find the way out of the con. Because Maureen seems spent.
3
Americans believed Reagan and Star Wars, George W and weapons of mass destruction, they cheered the military and then there was Oliver North dealing with the Iranians who held Americans hostage and there were no weapons of mass destruction. Betsy DeVos's brother carried off trunk loads of money with Blackwater. The Saudi’s receive arms although 9/11 terrorists came from their country - and the list goes on - Americans are the most gullible people in the world - just ask Donald Trump.
6
When I purchase something that is probably not essential, a friend, or salesman will say " you deserve this." People in America think they deserve a lot of stuff the rest of the world will never see and can only dream of having. The cynicism that goes with this unabashed selfishness is enormous. We literally don't care what is happening to people around us that are in dire financial straits, we don't care that we have blown up the Middle East and we don't care that children are dying daily from gunshot, poisons in the environment and suicide from lack of hope and love. And people who are starving in other countries want to come here while we prop up the corrupt governments who steal from them. What choice do they have? This is what Donald Trump represents - the last morally corrupt gasp.
1
Interesting ... But leaves out a few key points:
1) that today although it may be just a minority who get conned, that is plenty enough to allow the busting of accepted norms and dragging down of the majority.
2) that voices, whether bad or good, only have to be loud to influence and pull in a large following, not convincing, truthful, fair-minded or enlightened.
3) that outrageous, unusual behavior in a sideshow always grabs the spotlight faster than what has been seen before.
4) that power more often than not will corrupt.
1
I see a false equivalency between the Silicon Valley Holmes - a sad and dangerous scam involving health of a person - and the scam of con artist Trump which is destroying the health of a nation. There have always been grifters in the world - but the consequences of the Trump con are far greater than anything this country has known before - effecting the lives and health of ourselves, our children, and generations to come. Evil on the Trump scale has not been seen since the rise of fascism in Europe in the thirties.
5
there is a big difference between Google and Facebook. Google was built on the need to find information and if you follow its progress thru the published white papers you can see a real trail of contribution. Facebook was built on the real human need to connect with other people. There is a contribution there but there is also a lot of snake oil.
2
I do in fact believe in good governance, when government is run by good people. One of the many unfortunate legacy's of the Reagan years is a mistrust in government and devotion to the "market". Crazy in my book.
2
The key to this is that we are living in a mini anti-enlightenment. Since the age of Reagan and the Bushes, we were given license to dumb down - to embrace "midwestern values - that is what my Dad used to call unsophisticated.
Critical thinking is only for eggheads - people with their heads in the clouds.
Conning America today is like conning a group of three year old's.
We know nothing and we refuse to think.
That is why we are such easy pray for the Donlad Trupms and Harvey Weinsteins of the World.
3
You forgot to mention Elon Musk whose company and the Tesla car has not made a profit since its founding.
1
This all should have ended with Trump University. Trump University? And the Clintons should have gone back to Arkansas, except people wanted to keep throwing money at them. Just like people throw money at Trump. But these games will come to an end and the poorest will as always suffer the most.
3
So, is Elizabeth Holmes in jail ? Or did she walk away with her ill gotten gains stashed in the Caribbean banking system ? I certainly hope she is doing time in a federal prison.
3
Your editorial wouldn't be complete if you didn't go back just a bit further in history. On a corporate level, there were more flim-flam artists under one roof at the ENRON headquarters than you could indict. And, at a personal level, it seemed no one could beat Bernie Madoff at the con game. But, then along came Trump who took the game to a world scale.
It's unfortunate that the world has so many people who fail to remember that if something seems too good to be true, it usually isn't.
2
"While the number of lawsuits Holmes is facing has only grown since, Draper remains as bullish as ever on Theranos, which has seen its valuation plummet from $9 billion to under $1 billion in the past year. In a new interview with Axios’s Dan Primack, Draper stays on the defensive, calling stories critical of Theranos 'a witch hunt' and claiming the Journal—whose owner, Rupert Murdoch, is actually an investor in Theranos—set out to tarnish Holmes as part of a conspiracy to net Carreyrou millions of dollars." -- Vanity Fair
How many years did you write column after column telling us we should not like or trust Hillary Clinton? You softened the ground under her feet. Your columns may not be why Trump’s hard core base voted for him and the evangelical community seems so laser focuses on judges, abortion, and the LGBTQ community that it is hard to claim they were conned. But you wrote column after column attacking Hillary eight years earlier. The election turned on something like 60,000-80,000 votes in a handful of states so it turns out, not that many people had to be conned in to staying home or voting for Trump or Johnson or anyone other than Hillary.
4
I'm sad that I can no longer read Down without thinking of how much she was part of the machine that manipulated the 2016 election. Does she really not know or is she just gaslighting us?
5
I always look forward to Maureen Dowd’s column the way I look forward to fried chicken in the refrigerator. Reading her is like eating the thing you love best. This column was some excellent chicken. Thanks Maureen!
It's true that the tide of hope in Mueller's investigation is starting to feel like a retreating wave pulling the sand out from under our feet, due to all the daily lies from Trump and Giuliani, the meeting with Rosenstein in which Trump's lawyer was allowed to sneak into. It's as if we've all been caught in a rip tide of "legal lines crossed", lies, obfuscations, etc. we'll never get out of tossing us 'round and 'round like a washing machine day and night. My closest relatives fell for the Trump scam hook, line and sinker, and he's still reeling them in. I never thought I'd want to leave the country, but feel it's the only way to escape this nightmare.
2
Harvey Weinstein is out on $1M bail, probably a pittance to him. Far from being jailed, Elizabeth Holmes allegedly is still at a viable company enlisting yet more money from investors for Zika virus test. I still wait to hear about justice being done. It seems it never is.
2
You might add the "Tom Sawyernomics" business models of many Internet business, where the customers do the work that the companies harvest to sell back to them. An interesting example is the ubiquitous "recaptha" tests that Google provides: you know, prove you're a human by click all all of the street signs in the collection of images. What you're really doing is providing labeling of pictures for Google's machine learning system that power autonomous vehicles. That's Tom Sawyer at his best.
1
This is the result of allowing what we've created to control our behaviour as if it had none of flaws of those that created it.
1
"With all of these institutions the subject of ridicule, there’s nothing — except Skinner boxes and con artists.”
And it is our con-arts-in-chief and his party that have nurtured and created much of the ridicule of our institutions. Ask: Why? Ask: Who profits? For profit is the motive for it all. Trump wants to avoid all accountability and all criticism while robbing the country blind. The Republican party wants to appease their billionaire donors, who are like Trump in all respects: arrogant, grasping, grifters who care not in the least who gets hurt in their mob-like rush to empty the treasury while gutting all restrains on their behavior. The supreme court is in on the game and enables it whenever they can.
Really, America, is this the best we can do?
3
We will always have Jane Austen. Every summer I re-read her timeless classics and all is right with the world again.
Since the election of that con man squatting in the White House, I, and many others, have felt overwhelmed and disconnected
2
I will always remember former mayor Michael Bloomberg’s prescient comment during the presidential campaign, “I’m a New Yorker. I know a con when I see one.”
3
Well, humans are an opportunistic species. That is what gives "the rule of law" it's appeal. We are always just a bit behind the learning curve on moderating and managing new tech, and in the U.S. we never have really learned how to effectively help people cheated by the con artists. But today, we are actually regressing on that front, as has been well documented in the Press for the last 18 months or so. We really must make the most of the national elections this year and in 2020. When Trump supporters are inevitably disillusioned, how will their anger be expressed?
Seems the old adage taught by our grand parents is no longer in vogue. That being - if it seems to good to be true, it probably isn't true. Fascinating study to figure out why otherwise intelligent people make the dumb decisions they do. In Trumps case he was such an obvious con man and such a vain selfish candidate it's hard to understand his voter appeal. No news I guess, in hoping one man or one woman will make our lives richer or happier, no matter how dubious the message. I doubt we will ever learn.
Sometimes you have to burn it all down to build something better. We're at a point where the society we built based on greed and exploitation has been exposed for all too see. People are rejecting the notion that some people are just too powerful too touch. We're holding those who abuse their position accountable and saying that we've had enough.
The founders gave us our checks and balances because they recognized that previous Republics had failed because they didn't have enough counterbalances to ensure that the likes of Trump could be contained. Yes it seems dark right now because the GOP has chosen not to hold Trump accountable and are going out of their way to discredit the FBI but we have midterm elections for a reason. I have faith that the American people will vote in favor of containment and will not condone Trump's presidency.
Maybe now Americans will get a clue, and see why no New Yorker of recent past has gained enough prominence to elevate themselves to national office.
The last good men who did were the Rossevelt's, TR and FDR. Back then, technologically, we lived in what today would be considered prehistoric days. Americans did a far better job of picking its leaders. Now I find supposedly the more people have access to such a vast amount of knowledge, this has not enhanced our learning, it distorts it.
Too much information for too many people who do not seem adept at processing, filtering, and observing with a critical eye can be a dangerous thing. Not being able to discern real from fake, facts from propaganda, news from op-ed, is a sign of an increasingly semi-literate populace. People read less, at least less works of substance, and so when they attempt to tackle complex subjects their mushy minds are not adept at sorting out and interpreting fact from fiction.
Sixty million Americans were fooled into believing to the point of casting their precious vote for an utterly ridiculous braggadocio, a charlatan. I imagine some would want a do-over. Sorry, too late. Our so-called democracy is not cut-out that way.
The time for critical thought was before the election. Voters choices should never be taken so nonchalantly, so inconsequential. Maybe this is period will be looked at as yet another wake-up call to America. How indeed could America be so foolish?
DD
Manhattan
Is there a reason Holmes is not in prison for her fraud? You would think a close to a billion dollar fraud would demand it. Or are her powerful former Board members protecting her and maybe themselves?
1
There is no con with a President Trump who has delivered exactly what he promised, a much improved economy, many more jobs, record unemployment, Capital in Jerusalem, improved trade agreements, hostages coming back alive, and much more. There is much to love. You may hate him but he has delivered on his promise to help America first.
13
delete your social media, I did a day after the election , and for the very paranoid fear that I was laughed at the time of having my inner most thoughts online be monitored or used,and it turns out I was right.
Like Timothy Leary advocated drop out and tune in to your self .
The revolution is coming .
3
Depending of the results of the next November elections we will see if the USA has still a future.
The GOP is a decease to your country and United Citizen was the tool by which it usurps all the political power.Trump designation as "president" is utterly absurd...it is so absurd that it may wakes you up!
We will see this fall;good luck.
2
How about research into why so many senior Republicans support, enable and empower Trump? There are reports of Trump and Beau Dietl using hidden cameras in the Plaza Hotel rooms, of him listening in on the phone conversations of guests at his hotels, of him recording conversations in the Oval Office, that one has to wonder if he has been collecting embarassing information on people for decades. And using it to hush and compromise.
3
Good stuff and largely on track. But the behaviors discussed are end of cycle things. Ther’s Little left to do in tech and the hucksters are being exposed unlike people like Jobs and Gates who could actually field a product now because those products were relatively simple. Still there were lots of hucksters in the 1980’s and 90’s. But late in the cycle the easy niches are all gone and we get Theranos. Did you notice there were no life-science Ph.D.’s on the board??? A telltale sign. Time for a new cycle to start. It’s going to be in energy and ecosystem services and the hucksters are already lining up. I wrote a book about it.
1
Follow you on Twitter and join you on Facebook? After all you so persuasively wrote? Where's the con in that? I'm afraid the answer is much more troubling than we'd like to think of the public advocates for change that we'd like to lead. Can't we have more integrity, can't we do better?
2
Dowd makes this grifter tale out to be more of a novelty than it is. Though she acknowledges the vast tradition of American con artistry, she wants to draw it as being more widespread than before. Two factors make it only seem that way: Communications and record trails are more accessible, so more is known and leaked than ever before. And there's more shamelessness about it - people not only don't mind being lurid, there's a cachet to having an image as unscrupulous and boundary-breaking (Silicon Valley's ethic of being "disruptive" taken to and beyond boundaries of morality).
We've had plenty of grifters in high places, in the Oval Office more than just a couple undoubtedly mobbed up in the last fifty years. It may be one has no hope for the White House without being compromised by organized crime - I'm lumping the "legitimate" financial sectors in with that general classification - and now that includes more foreign players. Trump is complicating things with a nationalist populism and extra-national racketeering ties, causing national security hiccups. In earlier times dirty presidents at least tried to hide it - now we've got one who is shameless, who relishes being seen as a bad boy.
But note that the ones doing the perp walks and getting the press and prosecutorial attention are still only those who've tripped on themselves in the public morality department, or become a political liability. The quiet banksters and American oligarchs still aren't doing the perp walks.
Mr. Trump is just one part of the bigger con that is the GOP / Fox crime syndicate. Holmes just one face of Silicon Valley's peddling of technology as salvation, of manipulation as communication. All endeavors and institutions, from education to government, from science to the arts, measure themselves by the same monetary standard now. Capitalism has grown from something we control, a means to human ends, into an end in itself--something that controls us. The whole country is a con game. Our only real aspiration now is to spread our degeneracy & self-destructive greed across the globe.
1
I get it that it is currently in vogue to be jaded; especially in an environment dominated by Trump and Trumpism. And it is true that there have always been con men (and women) in America. A quick read of Kurt Anderson's "Fantasyland" will bear that out.
But here's the deal: before you go totally negative, take a look around. Travel in some other parts of the world. Get out of your own paradigm. Why? Because America is still the land of opportunity. If you don't believe me, travel to parts of China or the Phillipines.
FDR was correct: the only thing that we have to fear in America is fear itself. Unfortunately, that is what is being sold. Call it the FUD factor: fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Those that traffic in it use it as a form of control. Don't do it; don't succumb to it. As that great philosopher Pogo once said, "we have met the enemy, and it is us."
2
I didn't read all of this. She got so many things wrong in the first few paragraphs i gave up. To begin with her first characters are all fictitious; Trump and Weinstein are not. Trump voters in the South knew he was the "racist" candidate; in the areas he won in the midwest, it was probably the same appeal that resonated, plus Hillary voters stayed home. And Shakespeare in Love was a great movie probably not because of Harvey Weinstein--I don't think he wrote it, directed it, or starred in it. And if his female leads had to endure a sexual demands gauntlet to get the parts, it might have actually inspired them to independently give their best performances. Some were even forewarned of what they would be subjected to--what is different now is that there is no longer a code of silence, so that others may know beforehand of habitual offenders. Note that the charges are for specific crimes.
I suspect those who voted for Trump knew he was a con artist. If they were disaffected by what they saw as ordinary politics, they probably thought both the Dems and Reps had it coming to them.
2
Madison Avenue has been conning people (most of us) for the past 100 years. They have gotten us all to buy into a lifestyle to support the rich shareholders of corporations which arose to become the vehicle of this con.
And let's not forget the Art world which has filled museums and homes with objects which are often intellectually, as well as emotionally obsolete once they have been purchased. Yet 'experts' tell us that they are good, and of value so we buy them.
Facebook didn't let me down personally because I didn't give it any power over me. I use it to diffuse my paintings, nothing more.
I have no more expectations now than I did when I started the account. It's a space to exhibit, let friend see what I am up to.
None of FB content really matters to me, its just noise, some of it more interesting than others. I get my news from the NYTimes, the New Yorker, and Rachel Maddow, which suits me. Even these suppliers of News have their own bias' of which I am aware. In the end, it is my own curiosity and intelligence which guide me to navigate this crazy new digital world which moves at a frightful pace.
I cannot 'blame' anyone one else for the content which I have assimilated. I take responsibility for it, completely. If I put things out into the public domain why would I complain that it is public?
Yes, they have sold information, but who cares? My likes? My dislikes? Really? Take them!
I would have no problem with the description of grifter as applied to President Trump if the same standard was applied to former President Obama. Especially, in the course of a week where an announcement is made that he is to receive $50 million from Netflix for some trumped-up programming project. The same standard might also be applied to Bill Clinton, another recipient of unearned largesse. Ms. Dowd should included ALL of the grifters.
Typically a con will depend on their mark's greed: the undisciplined desire for more of "something" that's perceived to be necessary or pleasurable. Are we really any more susceptible now to these unscrupulous people than we were before? I don't think so; they just have easier access to us. We are no more naive then we were before; in fact, we ought to be savvier, given the knowledge available to us. And how could we possibly be any greedier when there never was a limit to it to begin with?
These character flaws have been around forever; what is truly naive and unreasonable is to imagine that we're somehow going to evolve as a species beyond them any time soon. The best thoughtful people can do is to examine whatever fears there are within us that would make us look for wealth or popularity to comfort us. Just understanding what those are is a very good start in protecting ourselves from those connivers who would take advantage of us. People, like our current president, so obvious, yet so successful in manipulating his "marks", know all about pandering to people's fears. It would behoove us, as a country, to have a dialogue about what we're afraid of, and why we look without to comfort us instead of looking within.
Back in 1957 when Vance Packard wrote “The Hidden Persuaders,” which sought to demistify and alert readers to the techniques employed by the advertising industry (and by extension politicians) to manipulate an often unsuspecting public, the Internet and cable news were still decades away. The book was a bestseller and people were suitably outraged and chastened by the book’s revelations.
Fast forward to 2018 and the gullibility and wilful ignorance of millions of Americans who take even the most easily debunked claims by politicians, buttressed by the right wing newsmongers, at face value, have increased exponentially.
Vance Packard died before the term “fake news” came into common parlance and we elected a con man as president, but he is currently spinning in his grave.
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Yes, on the money. There were more than a few of these warnings from the "Golden Age of Psychology," but they have mostly been lost. Remember Eugene Ionesco's (1959) "Rhinoceros?" Movies as well, The Manchurian Candidate comes to mind. But, people have lost their sense of who and what they are. Incredibly easy marks, as Maureen shows here. Down the slippery slope. Thanks for the post.
34
In some important ways, our capitalist economic system needs willing and unwilling dupes to survive and flourish. At least that is what the more libertarian Republicans would have us believe. To them, a cornerstone of liberty is the freedom to fleece! "Let the buyer beware," is a nefarious principle that says if you can fool them, you can steal from them and they (and you who profit from their ignorance or lack of guile) deserve it. Much of the battle in our legislatures is between those who believe the public should be defended from such charlatans and those who believe that liberty demands that the charlatans -- except perhaps the most extreme among them -- be given virtually free rein. Think I'm overreaching. Watch most of our advertising which says one thing out of one side of its mouth while using the smallest of small print or lightest or fastest of talk to simultaneously temper and even contradict the broader message. It happens virtually every minute in our commerce, our politics and now our social media interactions. It is a disease that has become part of our core and one struggles to fathom how or even whether it can somehow be cut out or even effectively treated. Most recent example? Contrast how EU law is dealing with privacy and the Internet and our FCC's looming gutting of network neutrality.
15
Most of these stories are more complicated than simple cons and most of them ultimately revolve around money. Kissinger, Mattis et al were enablers of Holmes because they were being paid fat fees and not required do anything for it. And yet Mattis is treated by the media as though he's some kind of god of good judgment. Gold plated names on company letterheads have been a staple of frauds since time begun. The grotesque and appalling behavior of Weinstein escaped notice for so long because his female "victims" or those females in the know usually profited from their relationship with him (often very handsomely) and so kept quiet about even when they had nothing to fear from him but are all now jumping on the bandwagon while the media as with Mattis portray them as heroes. All those working and middle class voters who bought Trump's baloney just can't bring themselves to accept their error despite his obvious incompetence and the fact that he and the Republican party are daily attempting to destroy the network of programs that primarily benefit their social class. So they persist in their stupidity.
34
"And this may destroy our civilization and even our species.”
Only those who cannot properly research their investments and, after doing so, cannot think critically about what they have found. But that is a good thing, as it always has been. Think for yourself. Healthy skepticism is an ethos that has stood the test of time. It represents your best chance to get out of the box, assuming that is where you want to be.
7
Ah, but the development of critical thinking is dependent on an education system that teaches it. Teaching to the test doesn't do that.
10
@nora m: When you put it that way, it's even more interesting that our current Secretary of Education was fleeced for $100 million in the Theranos swindle.
I think I have been pretty good at detecting and avoiding cons.
That said, I have missed a lot of opportunities.
Makes one wonder if grifters do serve a purpose.
6
I just want to address Ms. Dowd's last paragraph, the quote from Lanier. The "lot of people" he's describing are Trump people. The 2016 popular vote showed, the current polls show, and I believe the mid-term elections will show, that these people are a minority; a significant one, but a minority. If the Democrats had run a better candidate and Democrats who voted for Obama had not stayed home in November, 2016, we would not be in the terrible situation we are in now.
I also would point out that the Electoral College is, in effect, a small-state gerrymander. It's the result of a bargain struck 242 as well as a distrust of the wisdom of the majority by people like Hamilton. It's a broken antique, it's anti-democratic and needs to be fixed by constitutional amendment. Presidents should be elected democratically -- one person, one vote, majority rules. Had the Constitution been written that way, we would not have made the terrible Iraq blunder and Donald Trump would not be president.
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The small state, hillbilly crowd will fix this when pigs learn to fly.
Never mind excusing lazy and some stupid Democratic voters, we had the candidates chosen, and there was no contest who the better candidate was in preparedness, intellectual capacity and integrity; but Democratic voters who stayed home were stupid and hurt themselves and the country, but the ones who crossed lines to vote for the sleaziest and most incompetent man ever to sit in the oval office have not excuse.
3
Well, Grandpa, you’ve missed the point.
Hillary was a bigger con than the Donald. And, more importantly, devolution is a very good thing: States are better than the Fed; communities better than States; individuals better than communities or institutions.
It's not just times of transition and fast change, when we're open to the unexpected, but at a deeper level, its when we are frightened and in pain and feel powerless to help ourselves that we turn desperately to externalities. We've been conditioned in those awful moments to turn to a powerful 'other' for our salvation and that's when the grifters slither in and toy with our deepest yearnings and our highest hopes. It's not just about dreams of wealth, although America's cult of money often makes it seem so. Beneath it all, it's often about the dreams of a paradise free of uncertainty and pain we feel we deserve and are powerless to attain for ourselves. Always striving beyond ourselves, and conditioned by an economic worldview to do so, we live almost totally in a projected world. The technologies of social media arose as an amazingly perfect match for these conjured expectations, con trails high in a technicolor sky made touchable by computer assisted living. Important column, Ms, Dowd! Well done!
18
America's "cult of money" is the perfect description of its culture and ethos. America is fundamentally anti-intellectual. One only has to look at climate change deniers and their phony science. Businesspeople, whose sole purposes in life are to turn a buck, whether by hook or by crook, have been elevated to God-like status. Welcome to America's religion.
I take exception to your statement, "We are easy marks for faux Nigerian princes now," Ms Dowd. America has always been an easy mark, except that it used to be done by a selected few but now people with the audacity to be the most outrageous attract the most followers.
Even now, people like Tim Draper, himself a very rich venture capitalist, would defend Elizabeth Holmes. He also wanted to split up California so he wouldn't have to share the tax burden for the "whole" state.
Genuine humility is rare in humanity, let alone America. There are far more Trump, Cohn et al than Joseph Welch. But you should know, Ms Dowd, after all, ML Mencken and your late friend William Safire were supposed to be journalist but they certainly used their talents to seduce the masses and got away with a lot of damages
12
People who project a human personality onto nature lack essential critical judgment.
Mencken? No. Just read the guy.
"Cons thrive in times of transition and fast change" and they also flourish when the population is suffused with uneducated simpletons. We've reached the tipping point, there are sufficiently many non-critical thinkers voting and we have elected a Donald Trump.
It's as if society's autoimmune response system has been compromised, unable to control the conspiracy theories and theorists that are always present but seldom popular enough to go systemic.
Well, the infection has broken out world-wide and now we all have a real problem. Who will provide (or is even capable of providing) the antibiotics for this one?
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We are no longer educated we are only entertained. I fear where we are heading.
2
When the Congress decreed the US "under God", it dove into the deep end of abject presumptuous idiocy.
1
An auto immune disorder? I like it.
Combined with an earlier comment about how we live in projected reality, the commenters are kickin it hard today. Keep it up.
3
How depressing! All is not lost since I happen to have some risidual faith in my community. Here in Delaware we are working to house the homeless, clean up the environment and address global climate change, fight hard against opioid addiction, make children safe from predators through the Beau Biden Foundation, promote business and tourism, repair our infrastructure, tackle stubborn educational inequities and the list goes on and on. This drive to solve problems on a local level and to ignore the dysfunction in Washington and the Facebook “loop” keeps me sane and optimistic. Perhaps getting rid of the grifters will require another brutal internecine battle, similar to the one we raged against the Vietnam War. But, this same generation believes we can help keep our communities afloat while the Xers and Millennials cope with their cyber habits. Let’s preserve America and American values one long, boring, flip chart community meeting at a time.
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You had me with this response until you started bashing the Xers & Millenials. There will be cons & grifters in every generation, and there will always be new technology & new ways to make progress, and also do harm. At this moment in history, the perfect confluence of grifter & technology has shown us all that we need to address these problems as a local AND a global community. I'm choosing to take that as our reminder that we need to pay better attention & take acton. There are plenty of Xers, Millenials & Seniors (myself included) that do see that we must band together and stand up for what is right & actively work for it. Flip charts if you choose, and/or social media. Take your pic!
1
You make me proud to be from Delaware, Jean. Thank you for all you are doing!
As long as self aware people maintain their values, moral compass, desire to learn new things and always search for the truth, keeping
their optimism and maintaining fairness in their attitudes towards others within and without their lives, they will be happier, more knowledgeable and enjoy a more and better balanced satisfaction with both themselves and in their pursuit of happiness which we all wish, want and desire to live a life spent doing as well and best we can.
That is up to Us, the buck starts and stops there. But beware...because it most definitely isn't all about the Bucks, as the excesses and greed that Capitalism engenders only too well, as seen so often in the U.S.A but seen everywhere where the limits are weak or non existent and the consequences small.
As long as good government helps keep a fair , equitable and balanced playing Field, allowing the same opportunity to each and all to be able to pursue the happiness that should be everyone's to have...then it is, as it always will be , up to each person on how best and well they use the opportunities available to all , to excel, thrive and live their lives in the prosperity, wisdom and potential that lies within us all.
There are no free Lunches, but in advanced, democratic prosperous Nations, every citizen should never want for food or lack that basic (but always improving) Tool Set provided to ALL ensuring they share in the rewards and successes that their Country has made and easily provide.
10
A person can be very good at one thing, and still be a complete jerk in many other things. Yet we tend to take great success in one thing as proof of larger qualities.
The same is true of being rich, which is just an easy to understand measure of being very good at something, perhaps just at being born right or manipulating money.
A separate problem is people whose skill is being a con artist. That actually is a skill, even if one not commonly encouraged except maybe in politics and the art world and marketing, and . . . well I guess a lot of stuff.
How to recognize a con? It requires knowing about the underlying thing. Nobody knows everything. Therefore we could all be conned -- unless -- we seek out and take advice.
As a lawyer I used expert witnesses. My clients usually knew their own business a lot better than I ever would. In electronics, my secretary and my kids at home have saved me pretty regularly over the years, which comes easier to me because I professionally ask for and use advice.
Against con artists, the real remedy is trusting better people. You can't know it all.
Which brings us to Weinstein again. Who could a young actress trust? Those she did trust bear a painful measure of responsibility. They were not passive, they made the con work as much as Weinstein.
19
There is a fine line between genius and insanity; there is also that blurry distinction between being a con and being a politician. When wealthy people take a gamble on a start up and lose, it's just a bolder and more headline grabbing risk than the day to day cons by people who can't pay the mortgage or drive out of the showroom in the Lexus, unable to really make the payments. So when a politician comes along and sounds too good to be true, there are always people desperate enough to shake off the risk and downside to this person and say "they all do it". And even though those totally smitten with the guy know deep down the cure isn't really there, they go to the rally, not to confront him, but to praise him. The placebo may not have cured their cold, but they do feel a little better, they think. They also don't want to admit that spending this week's paycheck on the placebo, using the food money and rent to do so was a mistake. Unlike wealthy investor losing their play money, the Midwesterner has a lot more at stake. For, you see, Robert Craft may have gotten a little mud on his shoes, easily wiped clean and no one the wiser. But for the Trump voter eventually you have to look in the mirror to see all the egg that has dried there. Much more obvious. And much harder to clean. For Trump will walk away richer than when he started. The base will walk away rationalizing why their savings is getting depleted. Despite what he told them.
24
A perp walk like this is punishment by the police before conviction. It is not allowed in Canada, for example.
It may delight those who dislike the defendant in question, but we should see it for a manifestation of a police state. It is a dangerous road for us, not merely a calculated humiliation of the one defendant in question.
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And yet Mark, it is the fear of the perp walk that makes some people stop and think before getting involved in a scam/crime. I'm specifically thinking of some white collar crimes on Wall Street and some specific stories I was told.
1
sjs -- If they make the trains run on time, does that justify a police state?
Current research suggests they never actually did make the trains run on time.
Then again, current white collar crime levels suggests perp walks and such have not made many stop and think. White collar criminals commonly think they'll get away with it.
1
Canada. The U.s. could learn a lot from them.
2
I wonder what, if anything, will galvanize those of us frightened by these developments into meaningful action and reform. One reading of history is that it can take real catastrophe - Great Depression, WW II, 9/11 - to cause the creation of a suitable inflection platform.
President Trump holds out the hope of being that catastrophe but his supporters are so avid as to ignore all evidence contrary to the hypothesis of their mass hypnosis. Sometimes the greatest defense against admitting you've been conned is to deny any such con exists.
27
It's not just Facebook, Google and the like that have us in a behavior modification loop. Cable news networks con us every day with chirons running along the bottom of the screen highlighting every lie Trump tells 24/7.
Two weeks ago, an anchor on MSNBC stated that Trump had either spoken about or tweeted that the Mueller investigation was a WITCH HUNT 48 times. That seemed very low to me so I polled 5 friends to see what they thought the frequency was. Their responses were shocking: 200, 500, 500, 300 & 1,000 times WITCH HUNT was mentioned.
It was the constant loop of every anchor and guest repeating the same phrase over and over again as it ran across the bottom of the screen 24/7. For the next few days I monitored MSNBC & CNN and both followed the same formula.
Trump's lies and fake stories are not simply being promoted by Fox but also, by the networks we think of as liberal or mainstream. Trump might state a falsehood 50 times but we see or hear the lie hundreds of times.
Now, 59% of Americans think Mueller has found no criminal activity (19 indicted & 5 charged already) and will find none. Last year, 75% of Americans believed the Mueller investigation would find that criminal activity had occurred during the 2016 election.
Our con artist-in-chief dominates all media completely. Trump rules and nobody knows how to stop him. This train has left the station and it's rolling toward the 2018 elections with no viable plan to derail it except to get out our voters.
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The story is still developing about Donald Trump’s 2017 affair with a Playboy model, Shera Bechard, that led to her pregnancy and Trump-sponsored abortion. The news broke on the same day last week that Trump was honored as the ”Pro-Life Hero of the Year” by the anti-abortion Susan B Anthony List.
He’s a terrible president and a worse human being, but as a con man, he’s clearly found his true calling.
13
So field an intelligent, well spoken, moral, ethical candidate (don't care the gender) who will address illegal immigration and reform the legal immigration system to provide the type of labor we need, with human and worker rights in place, with schooling and medical needs accounted for, and you will have a chance to overcome Trump. Keep defending illegal immigration and you will lose.
3
Yes, there are and always have been con men in America.
But Donald Trump is the first con artist to actually become president.
Who would possibly believe that a man who declared bankruptcy 4 times is a great dealmaker and businessman?
Trump voters.
Who would possibly believe after hearing the Access Hollywood tape that that man respects women?
Trump voters.
Who wouldn't demand to see the tax returns of a man who was running for president?
Trump voters.
Who would believe the man and the smear he conjured up about Obama with the birther lie?
Trump voters.
Who would believe the man who said global warming is a Chinese hoax?
Trump voters.
Who would believe the man who repeats "witch hunt"?
Trump voters.
Who would believe the man who says he's going to build a wall across our southern border and Mexico is going to pay for it?
Trump voters.
.
Who would believe Donald Trump when he said he was a populist?
Trump voters
Seriously, Ms. Dowd, have you ever met a bigger group of suckers than Trump voters?
791
Oh, my. You didn't KNOW?
That sweet Gift From the Stars known as Hillary Clinton was the originator of the Obama-born-in-Kenya story.
While you might have been otherwise occupied in 2007, now you know better. I'm sure this will encourage you about this boor whose economy is now creating millions of new jobs across America. Because you care the most about our workers, right?
4
Trump voters were strongly influenced by his Russian friends manipulating FB and Twitter.
17
V and HRC -- thanks, keep posting this stuff. You're helping the (D) become a minor party. Keep it going.
4
Excellent parallel between the sophisticates of Silicon Valley and deplorables of the Midwest both falling for con artists. I likely would have fallen for Holmes’ con because (a) unlike Don the Con, she did not have a track record of failures and bankruptcies, and (b) her claims were plausible and will likely be realized by someone else in the not-too-distant future. What both had going for them is a fawning media culture that puts profits above truth.
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The "deplorables of the Midwest" elected Barack Obama, Illinois voted for Hillary Clinton with large numbers for Bernie Sanders and (Illinois) sent ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich to Federal prison for 40 years for doing what Trump & Syndicate do all the time, also ex-Governor George Ryan was imprisoned for corruption; Dennis Hastert, pedophile , lying to FBI and evading Federal bank rules. When it comes to "falling for con artists" I don't think the Midwest has anything over New York, California, Louisiana, Virginia, Florida....etc. Try, really try, to get over facile stereotypes and cliches, especially when they are not true.
All this shows is that we are a nation of get rich quick wannabees. The movie "The Sting" was based on a book by the Yellow Kid Weil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Weil), about the exploits of the best con men of the times.
The 2008 recession was the result of those who thought they could beat the system, along with help from the real estate industry. Donal1 the Mad, was elected by more dupes who believed his economic fairy tales, and still do.
We should name the voters Publicus Gulliblicus.. Tell them what they want to hear and they will vote for it. A swindler with a long history of it, a documented liar, and they still fall for it.
Now we have some of those grifters running our agencies, like the Amway lady and troglodytes running the Arizona schools. Give me your money and I will lead you to prosperity.
94
Or how about Publicus Corrupticius?
I think it needs to be recognized that Theranos did have some tests that worked as advertised, but the effective ones were not the most common ones and were not numerous enough to cover a broad enough range of tests for the company to be profitable in the short term. Thus the use of regular labs for some tests which were sent to them, which I believe was admitted up front, at least at first. The company was still trying to develop additional reagents for more tests under its own method, but possibly realized it would be many more years before these would pan out, and that was when the fraud element crept in. So we are still stuck with the current blood drawing and testing regimen, which is about as out of date as the dental industry.
As for deleting social media accounts, I have never had any, so way ahead on that one. Although I know Facebook has data on me though I have never been to one of its urls, which in my opinion is or should be illegal, and possibly is in the EU.
35
Elon Musk offered up an admission of sorts this past week when he proposed building a vast, sprawling underground conveyance for commuters at only $1 per ride. His admission was this: you can't run government at a profit. Nor was it meant to be run at a profit. Government is not a business.
No one realistically believes that Musk or anyone else could make a profit offering rides at $1 a head. Certainly not under the greater Los Angeles area. Probably not even at Disneyland.
But his instinct is at least a noble one, even if unintended. Our society would certainly benefit if more people could be induced to ride public transportation, especially in crowded places such as Los Angeles. It would relieve congestion on crowded freeways and highways, and make the air we breathe cleaner.
So if $1 rides is what induces people to ride public transportation, so be it. I'd be all for it. Getting $1 is better than getting nothing at all, and if we get less crowded freeways and cleaner air as a result -- great. Just realize at the outset, however, that it takes a buy-in from everyone else (yes, taxes) to make it all work.
And if Musk won't own up to that part of his vision, then politely shut the door in his face when he starts demanding mineral and water rights from Southern Californians, too.
31
We will see, if we, as a culture and society, have come closer to male/female equality, IF, Elizabeth Holmes, is indicted and more importantly, on the day of her sentencing. Stay tuned.
15
Hardly. Martha Stewart was imprisoned while most men guilty of far more didn't serve a day.
4
If we made Holmes president of the United States like the current grifter in chief, then you would see the kind of equality you're talking about.
Defrauding his university students by hiring scam-artists as teachers rather than real estate professionals, Trump took the presidency after taking his student's nest eggs.
Recall that Martha Stewart was imprisoned for doing what now seems like a "nothing" compared to what Trump & Syndicate (and their like-minded cronies) do all the time.
4
Americans. Everyone is so in it for themselves.
Including our public servants, which on the face of it, is insane. And yet, the entire administration is built on self interest, stunningly, astonishingly so.
Its a simple and proven truth, that one of the most effective ways of transforming depression into happiness, is to help someone else. I think that's true of our national confusion and malaise as well.
Maybe we should ask ourselves to give a little more to those who need our help. We have the means to fix so much suffering, and we could do it quickly, if there was the will.
The president thinks Americans need more, of everything, that like him, we're bottomless pits of greed. He mocks the sentiment of helping.
But imagine the satisfaction of solving problems for a change. If we cast off Twitter and our myriad distractions, and we took Jimmy Carter's path instead, built houses, made soup, taught classes. Cared for one another .
I think that focusing on this, as a people, would be of enormous benefit, not just for the unfortunate, but to the nation, as a whole.
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Don't forget all the wars we are currently fighting, and stationing our military assets all over the world in order to be ready to fight future wars. Whatever our justifications or intentions we end up killing and destroying millions and millions of people everywhere. Is that the purpose of our nation ? Is that the intention of our founding fathers ? That we create a more perfect union at home in order to rain miseries on other people on the planet ?
7
Well said, Sir! Amen!
2
It is not just "Americans". The real con-artists who gull as many people in the world as possible are the English upper classes. They despise the world of working, bringing up children (etc.), and wait for inheritances. Their wisdom is zero, and they're bent on now destroying the so-called "United Kingdom". Privilege is confined to pockets of London and "county estates". Australians loathe these people: the Irish in us always "takes the Mickey". But my star evidence from Australia is Rupert Murdoch! From his Reverend grandfather (meanness to non-Presbyterian starving children in the 1890s), to Keith, his media mogul father, Rupert picked up all sorts of attributes that far surpass Trump's. Keith Murdoch was proud of him: News is not the Fourth Estate, it's any old business. In addition, the confidence trickster has never needed the twitter, etc; there are all sorts of ways to skin us suckers.
4
The editorial ends on a pessimistic note, but there remain objective truths - they are true whether people believe them or not. Eventually, people will begin to appreciate them and act on them. Our biggest problem, global warming, is real, and math, physics and chemistry are real. Government can be effective at solving problems such as global warming when the people choose representatives that are committed to doing so.
61
When a man with experience meets a man with money, the man with experience usually ends up with money and the man with money usually ends up with experience. Trump voters are getting a shipping container full of experience. Unfortunately, so are the rest of us.
269
Yes, I certainly am getting vast experience as a result of voting for Trump. But it is not of the kind you suggest only, which is indeed disappointing, It is also of the rage that grips progressives when their narrative is questioned and of the barrage of insults they can muster and defend. I see a superiority and lack of listening I wasn't expecting. As a child, I thought adults knew what they were saying and doing. As an adult, I understand that is a myth most of the time. And yet, astonishingly, we humans survive.
Paul Wertz
The President has done great things for this country. Put your hate aside and do some research on what he has accomplished for you and the rest of the country.
Ann Landers in 1983 said something like this when she said "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted".
2
At the time of my high school graduation, in 1970, one of my classmates issued the dictum that: "When we get out of here, we'll be able to con anyone." That has been a touchstone for multi-millions of my fellow Baby Boomers, and it certainly has certified the success of our destiny.
America has always been the land of the con and the home of the grifters. It has always been built on a false foundation. There really is nothing that supports this nation. Our celebrated social and cultural icons are the flim-flam men, the snake-oil salespeople, the grifters, the sharks, the con artists. As I and my fellow classmates approach our earthly ends, our goals are being achieved and our ends reaching their peaks. People will be saying, "Who were those guys!?" Long may we reign! And long may our birthright leave its hallmark on America!
24
America is more than that. It's humanities greatest idea that a people can forms a government of the people, for the people and by the people. When we list sight of this founding tenant then we are truly lost. Keep the faith that the system works and get it and vote.
73
To my great sorrow, the sum of every day that's past since the founding of our country to this very day has proven your premise false. Property rights were clearly elevated over human rights from the beginning. Not every adult could vote. Slavery was a venerated institution. There were great disparities in wealth and status with the few profiting at the expense of the many. Laws written by the monied and powerful have always undermined the possibility of fair representation and equality under the law. The Declaration of Independence, in hind sight, was a con, a grift, a list of false promises. I'm a 73 year old gay man, out since 1958. Ask me. Ask ANY black man. We were destined from the start to fail. This is one of Maureen's best and most insightful articles I believe she's written.
Knowing a huge number of "baby boomers" who graduated in the 60s and 70s, I don't know anybody like those you describe. Nobody. I know people who have worked hard, tried to help others or at least "do no harm," and tried to live according to what used to be considered principles of good and decency. I think lumping that huge cohort into that one name, "baby boomers" has done tremendous harm to what are now senior citizens. Donald Trump is a "baby boomer" and so is Bernie Sanders, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Ralph Nader, et al, et al. There are good, bad and ugly in any age category; why don't we quit basing ideas on lumping and stereotyping.
3
In establishing our democracy our founding fathers wanted to ensure that only those "qualified" would govern, and thus limited the franchise to those with property, i.e., with money and power. But in protecting against rule by the unqualified—the ignorant mob—they neglected to protect against the excesses of money and power, and its ability to destroy democracy (cf. Hungry and Poland).
Eventually all men and women got the right to vote, so the wealthy and powerful, being a minority, had to find others ways to repress votes and subvert the will of the majority.
Now that the metastasis of big money corrupting government has become so blatant, the right wingers on the Supreme Court have had to resort to gutting campaign finance and voting rights laws, to in effect make bribery legal—if the the bribe is given before the "quo" instead of after it—and by their Citizen's United decision have legalized unlimited campaign dark money from PACS, $200,000+ speaking fees, etc.
Meanwhile, the job of conning ignorant voters has been taken over by the Republicans and their 24/7 divide and conquer tactics, e.g., their increasing monopoly ownership of major media outlets, e.g., Fox News, exploitation of divisive wedge issues, voter ignorance, prejudices, misdirected anger, etc., domination of the news cycle, political circuses, disingenuous lies, character assassination campaigns, phony outrage, etc.
Such that we ARE now ruled by an ignorant mob, and their leader Don the king of con.
199
..."to in effect make bribery legal—if the the bribe is given before the "quo" instead of after it—and by their Citizen's United decision have legalized unlimited campaign dark money from PACS, $200,000+ speaking fees, etc."
2
Shame on the conservatives on the Supreme Court!
5
Grifters and demagogues are alike in that they appeal to wishful thinking: grifters offer a fantasy of easy wealth, premised on magical innovation; demagogues offer a return to an imagined era of solidarity and comfort. Authentic freedom is a source of fear for many, who would rather have an authority figure dictate to them than take responsibility for both private actions and their contribution to a representative process. Critical thinking is abhorrent to a certain temperament, that now includes the chief executive.
121
Am in the middle of Carreyrou's excellent book---it is absolutely riveting. What strikes me about Holmes is that her paranoia, pathological lying, manipulative personality, and her absolute dismissal of people who questioned or disagreed with her or failed to demonstrate loyalty to her and Theranos seemed so familiar. I then realized that our equally self-absorbed President is cut from similar cloth. Both make grandiose statements, are masterful at the con game, and believe in their own self-importance. Not sure what will happen to Holmes, but in either case, both of these con-artists should get what they deserve for all of the people they have negatively impacted, their total disregard for others, and absence of compassion.
61
Google definition of sociopath and you will see these people well described there.
3
Birdygirl: The characteristics embodied by both holmes and trump are almost always found in people with bi-polar disorder and/or borderline personality disorder. I would classify holmes as trump has been classified as well: A malignant narcissist, and apparently, she, too, is a pathological liar. Tragically, people with these mental disturbances and personality disorders can fool/con/scam a lot of people. Hitler did, too.
2
Holmes got away with paying an insignificant fine, Don the Con will reap Billions
1
"Her board had George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, Jim Mattis and David Boies; Rupert Murdoch and Robert Kraft were investors." I'd forgetten about Holmes. That con could have been replaced by technology and I'm sure that's just what she was thinking. But it wasn't and she was caught. Too bad, assays on chips are showing lots of promise.
The people you mention, Murdoch and Kissinger at least, were cons too. Shultz? probably less so but I think he was on the board of Batelle while that tunnel under Boston was getting built. Cost overruns and collapsing roofs come to mind.
I'm sure they still have their little nest eggs to keep them warm. Others may have lost a lot but not as much as some in the Bernard Madoff scam. Why didn't they insist on seeing the Holme's prototype?
We'll see a lot more scammers if the climate (change and disruption) is part of the cause. Your good buddy Donald will see to it that disruption and upheaval follows in his wake.
You know what would put stop to these scams for now? Just people investing in each other, expressing the desire to fund workplaces that pay living wages, and a desire that everybody be treated the same with health care for all and a safety net for those who fall thru. I bet the investors would not only make money but rebuild society as well.
Look at the Donald; he's been getting-rich-quick for seventy years now and he still hasn't landed that big one yet since the big one now has the FBI attached to it.
79
Once you've achieved a certain level of respectability in this country, you can sit on as many boards as you like. You're essentially licensing your name for a hefty fee like a celebrity endorsing a product they've never used. If Henry Kissinger was better looking, he'd be selling lipstick.
1
"People who used to think the F.B.I. was good now think it’s terrible."
Americans, not all but many, have an all or nothing mentality.
Some idolized the FBI as always good and heroic, ignoring the many egregious acts the bureau committed through out its long history.
Others denigrated the FBI for being imperfect, ignoring the good acts the bureau committed.
The incapacity of so many Americans to understand complexity and to acknowledge that nothing is completely perfect and that nothing is completely imperfect is degrading the country. The withering hostility to logical reasoning and (at this point I hesitate to use the word) reality based facts will destroy the country and the earth as we know it. Cheer up though! The earth has several billion years to go and recreate itself again once the human species and most other species are destroyed by the greedy actions of the grifter politicians patrolling the halls of the worlds governments.
52
Until the texts from Agents Strok and Page came to light, I had a very high opinion of the FBI and it's leadership. Much less, now.
The Op-Ed piece on the Insect Apocalypse and Dowd's Grifters Gone Wild would seem not to have much in common. One based on the mysterious disappearance of insect species and the other about the rise of a klepto-culture.
The Insect Apocalypse lamented the loss of the "naturalist". The scientist who would go out and study the natural world. This scientists going extinct and being replaced by those more interested in the higher prestige fields and foregoing the study of the natural world around them and the tedium of data collection.
The story of our Grifter society is the same vain. A society that has become addicted to an insular technology. We no longer roam the natural world as it were, but are prisoners of the virtual. We no longer want the tedium of research, but just seek confirmation of what we already think.
As every scam artist from Ponzi to Madoff will tell you, the easiest victims of a scam are those that are within your group or agree with how you think.
29
Like perhaps too many folks who feel as I do, it's no longer no longer rewarding - or of any interest - to point to The Donald as the grifter who fooled a substantial minority of Americans who have always secretly, and not so secretly, admired criminals who get away with it, at least for a while. Dillinger. Bonnie & Clyde. Capone. Ollie North. Saint Ronnie.
What Drumpf did was to expose that element in our society for all to see. They voted for him in droves - albeit as a substantial minority - perhaps sympathizing with a miniscule minority of coal miners or steer workers or - who knows? - perhaps even dispossessed cowboys. One needed only to watch his paid-for "rallies" to get a feel for them.
It was a sham, a scam and a con game from the beginning. But now I note that certain polls are showing that more and more Americans want Mr. Mueller to go away; for the FBI and the DOJ to be "exposed"; for the bureaucracy (a.k.a. the Deep State) to be "drained from the swamp"; for the single phrase "I Alone Can Do It" to be stitched onto a new gilded, diamond-encrusted flag flying above the People's House (that "dump").
I'm ancient, seventy-seven, and am watching my country being disassembled piece by piece by a dotard (thank you for that word if for nothing else, Kim Jong-Un) by a fool half a decade younger. There's a very good chance that the fool will not only outlive me, but may be occupying "The Dump" (not that far from "Drumpf" after I'm gone.
My poor country.
314
CP, I have a couple of years on you, and I totally agree: our poor country. You and I have never seen anything close to this in our time on this earth, and I have never been so frightened for this republic. Keep thinking of Ben Franklin’s words: a republic if you can keep it. I’m beginning to wonder.
27
C. P.
All Americans should back the President as he goes for the extremely important meeting with Kim Jong Un.
1
Sarah: I understand the sentiment and at any other time during my life I'd probably agree in principle. However, if you're suggesting that Trump should be backed simply because he's our chief executive, I don't hold with that. E.g., I looked on in horror as we stumbled into the invasion of Iraq, not backing President Bush and his cohorts at all. But if your remark is limited to the on-again off-again N. Korean/U.S. meeting, I can only say that I hope for the best, but I don't expect it with Trump as the American voice. It's not about patriotism. It's about realism.
1
How about this? Anyone other than a Trump family member or millionaire who believed Trump was going to make their lives better deserved the turnabout they got. The rest of us were able to recognize a con man when we saw one and are suffering daily for the easily-duped people's mistaken faith in a grifter.
60
Well, "out of the Skinner Box and into the Fire", eh. Hollywood, through the talented graces of Martin Scorcese produced a truly wonderful movie entitled "The Grifters", which starred John Cusack, Annette Benning, Angelica Huston, and Pat Hingle. The Message, as that communicated here: "Crime Does Not Pay." Currently, there are numerous scientists, reputedly, worrying about the noxious character of nuclear waste and the ramifications for the future of mankind. Ultimately, I suggest, the uneasy feeling produced by the nuclear travesty is the reason for a lot of what happens which sullies any positive characterization of mankind. The use of it was opposed by a Navy Admiral, Ernest J. King, who rightly thought that a saturation bombing of Japan would accomplish the same thing without large casualties. Without dwelling too much on personality, it would be a safe assumption that Madame knows exactly what she is talking about as regards the political arena. I mean, come on, 45% of the body politic gives Trump a thumbs up; doesn't that mean that a lot more than just his supporters are, well, victims of the grift, 25 carat gold, at that. We need disarmament, and we need it soon, lest government cease to govern and concentrate solely on building more WMDs. The system this society employs has built one who purports to govern. Pity.
12
The problem is not tech, it is not government, it is us: Humanity. Our variety and intelligence and range of behaviors have allowed us to adapt and spread around the globe. But that same variety is also our curse and our scourge. The reality is sociopaths live among us. Lots of them.
The Sociopaths among us may have been an advantage to humanity in some times and circumstances but they are a very dangerous scourge now. That is the challenge of the power of tech...that power is wielded not just by sociopaths, but exists in a system that is built on sociopathic behavior.
Our society must evolve to be resilient to the abuses of sociopaths while channeling their energy constructive contributions. Imaging the successes we could be having with, say, cancer cures if the mind power focused on it were cooperative rather than competitive. It is our sociopathic system that isolates advances and focuses them on making money at least as much as providing a cure. Explain that to an alien anthropologist. It is a sociopathic system.
18
Great comment ...
The trouble is that non-sociopaths are poorly equipped to deal with sociopaths. We don't comprehend their reality, and they know it, and use it to their advantage. We assume everyone has a core of conscience and empathy, because we do. At the deepest level, we cannot grasp their inner lives any more than we grasp the inner lives of crocodiles. And I am sure it is the same way for them about us. How can you imagine empathy and conscience if you've never had them?
Interestingly, you attribute the malign habits of sociopaths to the system of production which creates them, thus taking alienation one step further, and so making the impetus to cooperation that much less likely upon their return to active participation in society. In reply what should one say? Does it make sense to support a system which concentrates its efforts more on preserving an international outlaw state than on its own credible preservation, for which this concentration serves as the reason, the retardant function? Depending upon where the "alien anthropologist" hales from, say, southern Nevada or some illusory historical entity such as "Judea", those last two questions should do nicely by way of explanation. The answer to the second question would have to be "No.". Thus the setting of a course for "The Land of the Houynhnyms" or that of "the Brobdignagians" would have to be rejected as an exercise in futility as would some sort of triumphal return.
You could show trump's voters step by step how terrible he has been as president and they would nod and say "We know". And they will still support him. Everything trump does is for himself and to continue the con on America. But the day is coming when people will see what they are not seeing now. That's when the con will come crumbling down around trump.
29
I wish I could agree with you, but millions of Americans believe they're now part of a special group because they support Donald Trump. They think it makes them superior to people who are horrified by him. When someone tells you not to worry, because they understand Donald's language and you don't, you know they've fully bought into the cult. They think they've raised their status because they're Trumpsters, and they're not about to give it up no matter what this madman does.
1
Stan
I back the President as he goes to meet with Kim Jong Un.
This eruption of corruption could be a wake up call for our grand nation...we (thinking, principled Americans) need to clear the cesspool Trump et al have created, and insist upon honesty in our leaders. Character DOES matter. We need to fight back because our democracy depends upon it. Amen.
30
Any experienced Medical Laboratory Tech would know that Holmes claims, projections and promises were pure fantasy. Other than the usual snake oil, a large part of Her appeal was the " attractive" blue eyed, blonde, Young Female. I'd wager 90 Percent of her marks, um, investors, were Male.
Just saying.
43
My father was a quarryman. My mother cleaned other people's houses. They were good people who believed in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. We didn't have much but my siblings and I thought we were rich. Almost seventy years old now, I am not a wealthy man but I am healthy, comfortable and grateful. My children are good people and they are raising their children to be the same. What more could I ask for?
50
We could ask for a habitable world with governments striving towards decency and democracy to leave to your grandchildren.
4
What self-assured nonsense!
2
Robert O.
What more you could ask for, and what more you DESERVE is this: To be represented by people in your government who have your best interests at heart, and your children's, and your grandchildren's...and do not want to disenfranchise, harm, and fool you and your family so that THEY can put more money into THEIR pockets and the pockets of the very, VERY wealthy.
5
Here's a way to start:
Ban Big Pharma from advertising directly to consumers. Then, a lot of the flim-flam that goes with the equivalent of promises that this drug will let you eat chocolate and lose weight will be eliminated.
Remember when Trump was running for president there was a drug for "OIC"? Something called opiod induced constipation?
It was the equivalent of Big Pharma getting a flim-flam two-fer at the time the "forgotten man" opiod epidemic was making the news.
As a side benefit to stopping the flim-flam, prohibiting drug advertising to consumers would also lower health care costs.
38
Actually the big diet industry led by Weight Watchers is responsible for making those big promises that you can eat whatever you want on their plans and still lose weight. There is no bigger con game around than those that promise instant gratification through instant weight loss.
1
Friends in Europe -- have the outsider's clarity of view -- tell me the American experiment, and republic, are over now. Here inside the scream room, I'm not sure what's happening. Reality is lost.
68
Yes, I see it too. A system based on " the honor of gentlemen ", property and slave owners, is intrinsically flawed. It cannot withstand the onslaught of corruption that we are seeing now.
1
You convinced me. I am ending my existence on Facebook. I am part of the problem. If we all turned off and tuned out to social media, we would see a major shift in our dialogue. Civility might even have half a chance at surviving.
36
Long before Facebook, civility in our political discourse ended with the rise of Newt Gingrich and the lunatic Right, after the 1994 midterm elections (in President Bill Clinton's first term). The Internet did not yet become a household thing.
1
The Lanier part at the end was telling and I agree there is something very disturbing about social media and it reminds me of what my neighbor once said about how cars ruined the old Victorian neighborhood where we live. According to her and mind you this was going back 20 years ago and she was well into her 80’s....but she liked to mention to me that the neighborhood was a much friendlier place before cars took over. Before onset of the automobile people came and went through their front door with hellos and goodbyes but cars and garages changed all that and now everyone goes through the back door without a peep.
She had a point. Facebook sort of gives off a similar vibe that I think cars must have given her. I don’t think FB for instance makes us friendlier or more social. I think it’s more like malleable.
26
America is the land of hero worship. Our judgment is short-circuited in our urge to admire men and women in business, sports, politics, and film. Public indignation inevitably follows when our heroes fail to live up to our unreasonable expectations. There is a grim predictability in the way we deal fallen heroes; the way we degrade them for proving us naive. The fault is in us and in our culture for being so obsessed with heroic men and women.
31
The search for quick fixes and turn away from critical thinking are bound to create problems of their own.
Dissatisfaction with the federal government led to the Electoral College win of an outsider to governance - whose ineptitude, sleaziness and pathological lying bring down the prestige of the White House to unprecedented lows.
Trying something new with North Korea - breezily attempting to wing it, without a coherent vision or message from the White House - has made the stalemate that much more intractable and trust that much more elusive.
As for Harvey Weinstein, taking at face value the persona of a man who said the 'right things' and appeared with the 'right people' allowed a sexual predator to exploit scores of women.
Neither Trump nor Weinstein is bowed by the unraveling of their message. Both are smug as ever, too indecent to be ashamed.
They won't improve, but the rest of us can, if we are willing to take a hard look at how things got to where they are.
77
The Electoral College was yet another a concession to the southern states to join the union. They were OK with federalism as long as it was their own.
27
Mr. WEINSTEIN made stars out of a lot of aspiring actresses who otherwise would not have even merited a screen test, and they should be grateful to him. Now many have turned on him, punched down on him, and it seems quite unfair. Where would a mediocre comedienne like Rose McGowan, with those painted on eyebrows--she looks like Uncle Leo in an episode from SEINFELD-- be were it not for HW?Nothing wrong with giving a little to get a lot, in Mcgowan's, Judd's case among others, sleeping with a powerful man like HW in order to get a part in a film. Dowd, daughter of a Washington D.C.police chief, therefore born into privilege, never had to scrap to make a living, so she can morally preen, pretend to be above it all!Stop the proselytizing and return to your roots, Ms Dowd, which is to be funny and make us laugh. You have not been yourself since you left Henry Luce's Time magazine.Your vocation is humor, not lecturing us on what cads men can be, as if we did not already know."Autant revenir a la source,"and later for the anti Weinstein attacks. He is such an easy target, isn't he?
Excellent column. I shut down my Twitter and Facebook accounts around four years ago, and haven't missed them at all.
39
I took it a step further and sold my Facebook stock. I probably could have made a million or more, but I saw that Facebook was not the free platform that it advertised.
21
I’ve missed Facebook a little, but not enough to rejoin. Twitter, not at all.
18
What privilege, if only my generation could delete all social media and sell our Facebook stocks, even missing a cool extra million! So much boomer/lost generation privilege here.
4
As Robert Shaw (aka Doyle Lonegan) was once instructed to say -- and did -- "place it on Lucky Dan."
12
He didn't place it on Lucky Dan ... he bet Dan to win ... Had he put Lucky Dan to place, the Stingers would have told him they said place it on Dan, meaning to win. They wanted to be covered either way. That's why they used the term " place ".
The Right has spent decades attacking the idea of government doing good for our country. I wish Dowd would attack that falsehood.
Here's what Mario Cuomo said about what our government can and should do in 1984 at the Democratic convention.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We Democrats still have a dream. We still believe in this nation's future. And this is our answer to the question. This is our credo:
We believe in only the government we need, but we insist on all the government we need.
We believe in a government that is characterized by fairness and reasonableness, a reasonableness that goes beyond labels, that doesn't distort or promise to do things that we know we can't do.
We believe in a government strong enough to use words like "love" and "compassion" and smart enough to convert our noblest aspirations into practical realities.
We believe in encouraging the talented, but we believe that while survival of the fittest may be a good working description of the process of evolution, a government of humans should elevate itself to a higher order.
We -- Our -- Our government -- Our government should be able to rise to the level where it can fill the gaps that are left by chance or by a wisdom we don't fully understand. We would rather have laws written by the patron of this great city, the man called the "world's most sincere Democrat," St. Francis of Assisi, than laws written by Darwin.
107
Yes Big Guy. Mario the statesmen did say that and more. The party then gave us HRC and Prince Andrew which assisted in propelling us to the mess we are experiencing today.
1
Sorry BigGuy. Here's a blast from the past that helped give rise to the "government is the enemy" theme. It's from Judge Steven Roth's (a Nixon appointee) desegregation order for public schools in the Detroit Metro area. Fortunately the SC stepped in and save suburban schools, but not Detroit's, from the ruin of Judge Roth's decision:
“Of kindergarten children who’ go to school half days, Judge Roth in his findings said, 'Transportation of kindergarten children for upwards of 45 minutes, one way, does not appear unreasonable, harmful, or unsafe in any way. In the absence of some compelling justification, which does not yet appear, kindergarten children should be included in the final plan of desegregation.' "
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/15/archives/mass-busing-is-ordered-for-d...
We could go a little earlier an revisit LBJ's grifter comments in the 1964 presidential election. Something about not sending US boys to do the job Asian boys should be doing.
There's a whole lot of scamming , and not much wisdom, that went on there. Keep that in mind when you sing the praises of your Democratic Party or "racial liberalism".
1
Everything in our lives is moneytized. It is the object of everything we do! Of course it encourages the lowest common denominator. It is just a brand without a product or service. In your face and ever present. Why do we need Alexa to keep a list for us. Write a list for god's sake. Everything must not be off the cuff. THINK! Evaluate. Ask for details.
59
Great picture of Elizabeth Holms in her Rasputin costume. Theranos however is one for the books and anyone with half-a-brain could figure out the silly game based on her operating premise. A drop of blood is 50% cellular matter and the other half is analytical matter notwithstanding the 50% water. Also, a drop of blood had a tendency to fly into the air secondary to electrostatic conditions. Humans also have too much blood and venipuncture classically takes slightly too much blood but not really. The premise was bogus. The patent trail paints a detail picture of failure after failure as the chronology, one to the next, is endlessly fixing problems because the blood volumes were too small or whole blood in small volumes uses horrible methods for analysis. In the latest system there is a centrifuge to spin blood (but in these volumes you must dilute with water to get analytical volumes and corresponding error). They even have a patent of correction algorithms thinking math might solve analytical error. You did not see big diagnostic companies fall for the ruse and the investors might have had a light bulb go off. There were people like me that predicted years ago that this company needed to go to jail. Trump is obviously a big problem but Theranos was robbing people left and right even thought they should have known better. The setbacks caused by this young girl is terrible. The patents are garbage because the blood volume is too small.
26
The Theranos story is appalling on many levels, but particularly because the life and health of patients depend on accuracy of test results. Holmes should be prosecuted for reckless endangerment of those who put trust in the results of her fraudulent techniques.
36
Baroque music always has a contrapuntal line that restates the leading or forward theme; so Mo is catching up, replaying what the rest of us, except the deniers, already know!
But Mo, it's not anchored in tech. It is firmly embedded in greed and bunce, easy living; paying in installments for the right to deny a spanking and one night stand that a woman did in indifference in Vegas where it can't seem to stay. Of course, the $130K is an honor payment, we are told to believe, to protect the family from a story of something that conflates circumstances that never happened!
But spies are real! And wire taps! And a line of bizarre, clandestine district meetings in weird global and domestic destinations where corporate rainmakers and oligarchs threw millions at the portal doors for access on real estate, energy, and drug policy, and saving companies actually spying on the US.
Truth was reversed! The good guys are blamed and the guy who won the election is a victim of a boar hunt tracking his grunts and burrowing in the mud for pearls from China while sticking a tusk in one of America's grand successes--a real abuse of power.
Meanwhile, who's hunting for the lost/missing, and maybe trafficked 1500 kids? Children torn from their mothers seeking asylum, put in internment camps, an action not seen since World War II. Where are their thoughts and prayers? Their bodies?
190
Quite a story about Elizabeth Holmes from Stanford. She was perfectly positioned to steal money- good looking, articulate, and Stanford, the destination of some of our wealthiest families' children. Those of us who went to Cal are more hardheaded.
It takes two to pull off a con, but the best conpeople- like Holmes- you never see coming. More troubling is our President, who anyone with street smarts can spot as a fraud in about 20 seconds. That's why Manhattan- a rare redoubt of cynical intelligence- voted for Hillary 4 to 1.
Holmes, Weinstein, and Trump are teaching us something very important. America has become a nation of suckers, with a new one being born every second, not every minute, as in WC Field's day.
There are two reasons for our dangerous descent into stupidity: The first is that Americans are overwhelmed with thousands of advertisements every day. Subconsciously, we now believe that this is one of our life functions, and we should reward the best con artists by giving them money and control.
The second reason is more troubling. We become wise by reading books and spending time in nature, as well as choosing quality companions. None of these activities is widespread these days, making us easy pickings for not just advertisements but dangerous fascists. There is no easy solution here. It might take a grand crisis to wake us up, probably runaway climate change. Then, of course, it will be too late. Oh well. A better species will replace us.
472
Mike Roddy of Altameda, Cal. wrote, "We become wise by reading books and spending time in nature, as well as choosing quality companions. "
This is the wisest, most profound comment I have encountered in these pages all year. I would respectfully only add only wisdom, which Barbara Tuchman defined as "the exercise of judgment acting upon experience," also comes from listening attentively to truly great music, i.e., the classical masterpieces -- and, if at all possible, by also playing at least a smattering of them.
60
Thanks for your thoughts, SR, I am touched by them. I also like Tuchman- and great jazz from Coltrane and Dolphy.
A bull's-eye Mr Roddy. Gold indeed!
Both the problems you cite have been seen as detrimentally decisive factors in a society's decline since at least 1864, the year in which John Ruskin delivered a lecture in Bradford which he subsequently published with the title "Traffic." In it he spoke to his audience of primitive entrepreneurs (primitive compared with the current crop) about how they worshipped Britannia of the Market-place or The Goddess of Getting on.
The mills that had made his audience so wealthy that they were about to build a new Wool Exchange either fell down long ago or have been turned into blocks of flats. The Exchange itself how houses boutiques selling things that nobody needs but everyone thinks they have to have.
Find a copy of any collection of JR's greatest speeches and check out "Traffic." You'll be glad you did.
"High-minded elites like to scornfully say that Trump voters fell for his scam because they were ignorant and racist. But the high-minded elites fell for Holmes’s scam, even the fake deep authoritative voice she put on. Her board had George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, Jim Mattis and David Boies; Rupert Murdoch and Robert Kraft were investors."
I'm not a high-minded elite, but I largely agree with the characterization Trump voters--some of them, at least. And I'd never heard of Elizabeth Holmes until this column, the foundation of which seems to be deeply contrived.
Trump didn't scam the people who voted for him. He appealed to their worst instincts and they were only too happy to comply. After 18 months of lies, incompetence, and dog whistles from this president, they're still happy.
There are clever scammers who scam clever people, and there are bald-face liars who successfully tap into the darkest of human impulses. To me, they seem like two different animals.
407
Wow, NA, is it hard, being so much smarter than those in the Midwest? Who, BTW MoDo, avoid weirdos like E. Holmes like the plague.
/eyes rolling/
Who mentioned the Midwest, Bing Ding Ow? Trump voters are everywhere. You may have avoided Elizabeth Holmes, but you embraced someone who is worse.
21
I know the people in the Midwest who voted for Trump are a lot richer than people think, but they are not part of the Silicon Valley investor crowd, so they wouldn’t have had much chance of meeting Holmes.
Ms Dowd gives a great column. Almost everyone wants and is looking for something easy, without thinking. On a platter no work.
The con is on and is thriving. Repeating fakery over and over again, seemingly to a non-thinking population makes falsehoods valid and viral. Grifters love that, they've repeated their messages so often that they even almost believe it. What better way to it than the internet, instant uptake visual crack and addictive as much. No thinking there no rumination as you would get with old media. If you don't have the sense or care or the ability to rationalize its hard or impossible to find truth. Trumpster loves his Twitter and Twitter loves the Trumpster.
25
The boilerplate at the end ("follow me on twitter and facebook") was especially jarring.
The article makes a clear case that we should have nothing to do with those channels, and then it invites us to go to them.
I know this text was probably inserted automatically, but it does make one think. Is there any way to break out from these ubiquitous channels?
304
" Is there any way to break out from these ubiquitous channels?"
Sure, just don't sign up for them. I, for one, refuse to use Facebook or Twitter. My mother and sister in the U.S. have both sent me "invitations" to join their Facebook page (or whatever the proper terminology is) and I just say "Nope, if you want to get in touch with me, then give me a call or send an email." It's that simple.
31
I agree. I’m not on any of these. Anything I need to do I can do with “old fashioned” email. Either individually or in specific group emails that I have in my contacts list. Now, with current revelations I don’t regret my decision one bit!
1
The "democratization of knowledge " plays a large part in all of this, as social media "facts" are accepted uncritically. Holmes got a pass from the media as her appealing narrative got more coverage and was "authenticated" almost tautologically - this despite the fact that the physico-chemical properties of small droplets were known to make her "vision" scientifically unlikely. You could always find a "citation" somewhere suggesting Holmes wasn't a fraud, plus she was able to gull journalists from Forbes and elsewhere with her "charisma," journalists who as you note wanted to support her narrative. Likewise we see comments here posted as "facts," not "opinions," in order to support a particular viewpoint, as well as the predominant rationalization that whenever someone does something bad, it is mitigated by the fact Trump is worse. Pure illogic. The sad part is that unless the print media can abandon its political bias, there will be few authentic sources of news left for those of us who actually seek facts.
15
The first time I signed up for Facebook I found it very confusing. I know it's not supposed to be, I know it was made to be user-friendly but I found the page layout overwhelming and confusing and i made a big mistake. On my very first post, I thought I was speaking only to one friend. I had said something I really wouldn't want out into 'the world'. He wrote back right away and say, "Do you know you made this so anybody can see it?" Yikes! I deleted the post and deleted my Facebook account. I wonder if I could get an award for being the quickest to realize I wanted nothing to do with Facebook!?
Our privacy is gone. And we did it to our own selves. We allowed our freedoms to be taken away by corporations who use us and con us and lie to us and by our president who does the same, along with all his henchmen.
What to believe in now? Now that we live in Trumplandia? I don't know. How sad is that?
63
Marvel Comics was prescient because in the 1930’s with the Superman hero and the Bizzaro character they previewed how worlds collide.
This column captures in our own time how a U.S. president can drive people nuts with his counterintuitive decisions while the grifters Dowd refers to reflect the indifference that a sizeable part of the American people have to gun violence, sexual harassment of women, alternative reality and constant lies.
We’re not going to find a superhero. The American people will have to step up at election time starting in November and continue to finish part of the job in 2020.
107
Minor correction: Superman is a DC Comics property, not Marvel.
2
Except it was DC (comics).
3
Good comment but comic book nerds around the world are wincing about the Superman/Marvel Comics thing. Superman may be the last son of Krypton but he is the first son of DC.
2
Mo, why was the public ready for this spiel:
" Trump voters allowed themselves to believe they had a successful billionaire who knew the art of the deal when he only knew the art of the con. They bought his seductive campaign narrative, that the system was rigged and corrupt and only he could fix it. After winning by warning voters they were being suckered, he’s made them all suckers. "
The most unbelievable scam and heist had been pulled off by Banksters in '08, and we all screwed up by letting Obama and DOJ not prosecute - by letting ' the agenda ' take precedence over ensuring justice.
This was a replay of the same mistake in pardoning Nixon.
Except 2008 was on a global scale, and we all were treated to the chutzpah of 1/10%-ers who were recapitalized courtesy of Jane and Joe Sixpack's U.S. Treasury, which was capped off by a 'capital strike' unless the ultra-wealthy got their taxes slashed:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-s-mcelvaine/capital-strike_b_96540...
as bragged by John Boehner in his Sept. 2011 NYC speech.
Today, with the Head Grifter ensconced and the GOP'ers having cut their own taxes as well as his, instead of ever facing voters again to bask in their just rewards, GOP'ers are stampeding the exits - after the looting, with their pensions and tax cuts intact.
It's logical to ask whether Trumpistan voters have decided to just let it all burn.
139
Letting the banks off the hook has historical precedent. We didn’t hang the leaders of the Confederacy after the civil war. Instead, we let their states back into the Union and those leaders remained to run for Governor and Senate and House.
14
R Law. Best comment I have seen in awhile. The crime of the century was letting the Banksters go free. The govt will seize property for a lot less. This cried out for RICO prosecutions. I guess when you buy the political class you can commit crimes at will
33
There is also historical precedent that we did hang Nazis. Neither your example or mine are relevant to the bankster heist.
The criminal sociopaths should have been prosecuted and jailed. Their ill gotten gains should have been confiscated.
The greatest financial theft in history remains unpunished. It pays to be rich.
Even sincere people propose things that have been known to be impossible by people with a good understanding of the relevant facts. It happens frequently in endeavors based upon knowledge of the natural world who have good ideas reviewed by experts before devoting resources to them. It’s pretty easy for a confidently acting and amiable person to sell impossible proposals to rich people who trust in them and have no means to confirm what they think is not mistaken. People need to learn never to trust their instincts nor to discount them when anything important is at stake. There are never ending numbers of people and groups of people who will exploit people who fail to confirm what is reliable before giving them what they want.
7
Casual Observer,
Please clarify:
<< People need to learn never to trust their instincts nor to discount them when anything important is at stake. >>
At least clarify your own thinking. Through this statement, you contradict yourself.
as the foremost authority on religion, george carlin once said, "If you can get people to believe in god, you can get them to believe in anything." americans may be turning away from traditional religions, but most are still looking for some spiritual connection to help them make sense of the universe. since there is no spiritual guide or organizing force to the universe other than the physical constants that constrain its chaotic behavior people looking for that will remain vulnerable to the con artists that find a way to manipulate their desire for cosmic connection.
30
The elite thrive on the con-artists in government, media, business, education. They cast a blind eye unless a really bright light shines on the baddest actors, hoping the attention will soon lessen.
But as constant investigation on many platforms outs more and more of these snakes, the so-called non-college educated middle class has become hyper aware of the con that has never benefitted them. So they are now putting forth their own flimflammers, like Trump, to at least try to game the system in their favor.
9
The Information Age in the form of Facebook et al is built on the premise that people will always want something for nothing. It is one of life's truisms like the inevitability of death and taxes. It is a great starting point for a business model but why are we so surprised when we find out nothing is free. Bottom line - human nature is not to be trusted.
16
The Grifter-In-Chief has mesmerized his supporters and opponents with scandals and outrages that most have lost sight of the Greatest Con In The History Of The World.
The Greatest Con was created by Russian oligarchs connected to organized crime who made vast fortunes grabbing state assets in energy, metals and banking, making Putin of the world's most wealthy through kickbacks. Laundered money flowed everywhere, including the suddenly all cash Trump Empire.
Team Trump wanted in. That's why we learn daily about new Russians connected to Trump Jr, Michael Cohen, Manafort, Flynn, Broidy, Prince and other central players on Team Trump.
The motive for the Russians was sanctions relief. From his actions during the campaign, from forcing a change in the GOP Platform to messages about tearing up sanctions to LOTS of meetings with Russians during the transition and then lying about them, it was clear The Donald team was at the sanction relief table to play.
But then Congress, facing overwhelming evidence of Trump's desire to roll back sanctions on his oligarch pals, passed Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act in Aug 2017 419-3 in the House and 98-2 in the Senate.
Team Trump complained, haggled and delayed but finally sanctioned everyone in the Russian Oligarch phone book, freezing billions of their assets.
The GOP Congress refuses to acknowledge why they needed a sanctions bill to stop Trump, when there is no US interest served by sanctions relief.
45
Pop quiz:
1. What was Michael Flynn, cultivated Russian asset and NSA, messaging about on the Inauguration Dais?
2. What was one of Trump's top priorities in his first week in office?
3. What was the Trump Team message going out to Russian officials in meetings during the transition, cautioning against over reaction to the escalating Obama Administration response to election interference?
4. What would represent a treasonous exchange by the Trump Administration for interference in a US election by a hostile foreign power?
Answers: Russian Sanctions Relief
24
Civilizational inflection points are interesting. They’re interesting because we don’t yet know what will emerge from all the chaos when we’re done, for a time, with transforming ourselves from one thing into another. We’re clearly living through a very complex inflection point now. It’s far larger than Trump, who is merely catalyst and accelerant; and can be said to have been elected to summon just that transformation.
Trump is a part of it, Elizabeth Holmes is a part of it, Harvey Weinstein is a part of it, Pope Francis is a part of it, John McCain will be a part of it for a while longer, the people trying to stop abortion and seeking to diminish the black vote by inelegant subterfuge are a part of it, the tree-huggers and the unchained, potted liberati generally all are parts of it; and every one of us is a part of it, as well. And absolutely nobody knows where it all will go.
But, after we’ve become what we labor in our conflicted ways to become, we’ll still have the buildings.
Trump either will exalt us as that catalyst for change, as people push back against his Philistine nature and manner, or he will diminish us because when he’s gone we’ll still be trying to figure out WHO and WHAT we want to be for a time: but we’ll still have the buildings he built around the world, we’ll almost certainly have an energized economy creating real jobs that don’t merely involve flipping burgers, fairer bilateral trade agreements, and a marginally more stable world.
That ain’t hay.
6
Consider Elizabeth Holmes (of Theranos) for a moment, beyond the two-dimensional drubbing she gets from Maureen; and by extension Travis Kalanick (of Uber), Martin Shkreli (of Retrophin), and so many others. Holmes claimed a technology that sparked investment by competitors to compete with her company legitimately, and we keep the advances those other companies developed. Kalanick basically created the ride-sharing revolution that is sweeping the world, but Uber will be less carnivorously managed by others in future and ride-sharing has revolutionized how we think of personal transportation. Shkreli, apart from his securities shenanigans that bought him a stint in stir, also was so outrageous in his drug-price manipulations that many efforts now are being undertaken to rein in the costs of drugs in America.
We pay a price for advances, among them needing to tolerate some pretty disagreeable people; but we get to keep the advances, generated either directly or indirectly. And we may not see the advances if not for the disagreeable people.
Instead of kvetching about how dismal things seem as a mere observer, recognize that we’re living through an immense inflection point of American and human civilizational change; that we need our catalysts and accelerants; and find a way to participate in assuring that what YOU believe should serve as frameworks that govern our lives survive the clash of interests and viewpoints – and even the disagreeable people.
9
@Richard: The "real jobs" that are being created under this president are of the same sort that were created under the previous one. Steel production? Coal mining? Manufacturing? Not so much. Lots of burger-flipping still going on in the Rust Belt. Fairer bi-lateral trade agreements: Where? With whom? China, for one, is still eating our lunch, and our erstwhile allies in Europe, Canada and Mexico feel abandoned.
As for Trump's magnificent and enduring works of architecture, one of them recently lost a tenant possibly due to the absence of a sprinkler system. I'm still waiting for the landlord to express his regrets or even to identify that tenant by name.
266
stu:
Where you get your information is beyond me. The online boards are exploding with demand for high-paying jobs in my own field of expertise, which is information technology -- from entry-level programmers right up CIOs, and everything in-between. At the same time, there's enormous demand for welders, plumbers, construction specialists, all manner of middle-class jobs. AND the burger-flipper jobs are in demand, as well. The Times itself has reported that the demand is across the board and Krugman wonders how additional promised growth will be fueled when our so-called "unemployment rate" now is below 5% for the first time in ages.
As competition for skills and bodies continues to heat up during this vigorous expansion, wages across the board will go up, and since there are so many more middle-class and working-class jobs than upper-class jobs, income inequality should narrow. That large number of people who had given up, many of them in their fifties and older, will re-enter the work-force to fuel the expansion at wages that compel them to go back to work and to satisfy the demand for their skills and experience.
You just can't stand the idea of America succeeding if it also means that Trump succeeds, an emblematic sentiment in this forum and one that I find reprehensible.
Ms. Dowd, you left out Boss Tweed on your list of ne'er do wells. Tweed and this president have quite a lot in common. Both men were and are con men with nothing but contempt for their own supporters. Tweed's involvement in bribes and scandals eventually came to light and brought about his downfall. Tweed fattened up on New York City's taxpayers during his reign, bilking them out of millions of dollars.
The parallel between Tweed's political operation and the president's is eerily similar and frightening. Kenneth D. Ackerman writes, "The Tweed ring at its height was an engineering marvel, strong and solid, strategically deployed to control key power points: the courts, the legislature, the treasury and the ballot box. Its frauds had a grandeur of scale and an elegance of structure: money-laundering, profit sharing and organization."
That assessment can very easily be applied to the 45th president. Grifters run wild because their victims never realize that their pockets are being picked by those in whom they place their blind trust.
57
Yup, and look what happened to Tweed.
2
I do wonder why Ms. Dowd didn't call out djt for being the con man he is before election 2016? Surely she was savvy enough to recognize it. But, bashing Hillary with her poison pen was just so much more fun.
The Oval Office is no place for a malignant narcissist to parlay profits from his great political con.
1128
Trouble is, we had two cons running. btw, I voted for the con who lost, but feel no sympathy for her. My sympathies are with the nation and the safety of the world.
5
Wrong -- she "worked over" BOTH .. and let voters decide.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/opinion/sunday/an-open-letter-from-mr...
That is, instead of insulting 50% of voters, which HRC and the (D) did an excellent job of.
Reality -- hard work .. and required in a free society.
1
And the NYT is no place for a pundit-coddler of powerful men.
4
Yeah, we're all fools and dupes, except for Maureen Dowd who's spent the better (?) part of a lifetime cautioning us about the Clintons. How does Hillary look now, Maureen? The good citizens of Ireland have just voted down their nation's medieval ban on women's reproductive rights. At the same time, this country's fool-me-forever electorate voted into office a misogynist and wannabe Christian fundamentalist who would, for purely political reasons, appoint a sufficient number of right-wing Supreme Court justices to put our abortion laws on a par with those of the most intolerant Muslim theocracies. Was all of that Clinton-hate worth it, Ms. Dowd?
1636
stu freeman, I think Ms Clinton should have won and I agree that she was by far the most qualified candidate; however, I question the wisdom of making-believe that hers would have been a successful presidency.
She would have had to defeat well-funded, deeply entrenched, massively unethical opposition coming from sources both inside and outside the US.
Trump and his domestic and foreign enablers chose to align with the GOP because its office-holders, politicians, donors and voters would, they knew, be very easily duped.
Vote!
134
Stu. How does HRC look now ? Still terrible. If the Dems did not coronate her right now we would have President Sanders and our current mess could have been avoided. Seems like the Dems are set to replay the same mistakes.
49
No Patrick, we wouldn't have had a President Sanders. Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary and she won because more people voted for her than voted for Bernie Sanders. No matter how often this fact is overlooked, voters chose Clinton.
6
What is especially disturbing about Trump's lies is that they are becoming the norm on a cumulative, daily basis. Yes, social media undermines independent thinking and easily permits manipulation and has given Trump false voice that he would not easily obtain without twitter. Let us hope that the checks and balances in our Constitution can be salvaged if the Democrats win a majority in the House. Perhaps they can be restored completely if Republicans in the Senate realize that they will be on the wrong side of near and long term history if they continue to permit Trump to violate the Constitution in multiple ways.
98
Trump is as all-American as rancid apple pie, just another poster child for the de facto twin mottoes of the USA: Might Makes Right, and Greed Is Good.
The golden thread that links all these charlatans together is that while they might get charged and convicted due to public outcries so loud that even corrupt prosecutors can't ignore them, few ever see the inside of a jail cell.
Billionaire Elizabeth Holmes, despite perpetrating one of the biggest frauds in history, to date has only had to pay a $500,000 fine, return shares, and promise not to lead another public company for a decade. Poor little rich girl, huh?
Trump has enjoyed a whole lifetime of slaps on the wrist because, essentially, he is just like one of those too big to fail banks for whom financial settlements are the cost of doing business. Fines become just another tax write-off. a nifty way to suck more money from regular people.
.
Usually it's only when plutocrats and celebrities begin failing to provide nice returns on the investments of their fellow rich people that the "justice" system suddenly develops a moral compass and takes a brief break from prosecuting low-level, mainly black and poor, offenders.
It's certainly no accident that the current CEO to worker pay ratio is 275 to 1, while United Way reports that more than a third of US citizens don't earn enough money to meet their basic needs.
This goes way beyond Silicon Valley and Hollywood and D.C. It's capitalism on steroids that's run amok.
863
Let's not forget that no one has been held accountable for the biggest crimes of the 21st century (so far): the invasions and perpetual wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
383
Thanks for stating clearly what’s happening,never mind this tale of classic American grifting. No one wants to state that American capitalism is killing us.
116
Excellent comment. Please keep it up.
11
"After winning by warning voters they were being suckered, he’s made them all suckers."
Well, Maureen, given the hold Donald Trump has on his base, apparently they like being suckers. So what do you think about that?
I"m not sure where you're going with this column, quite frankly. You talk about grifters gone wild, but there's always been a relatively stable number of con artists, to match the number of people eager to be conned.
If they've increased in number, I'd say it's because rarely have you had such a prominent one at the top of government, combined with an unprecedented number of decades when education was disparaged, underfunded, and simply not "fashionable."
The weakening of educational standards lies at the feet of the Republican party that really did it's damnest to weaken it, perhaps thinking it was easier to maintain control over its voters.
The lack of critical thinking and research skills is killing our nation. For a con to work, you must have a willing believer.
Improve education--or at the very least, elevate it in status, make it cool to be discerning, research-oriented, and skeptical--and you should see the number of grifters decline.
At least, that's what I hope you intended to say with this otherwise dreary expose' on cons, and the people who love them.
729
We can start by getting rid of public school dollars that are used to finance quasi private charter schools.
108
Our incredible technologically based interconnectedness HAS seemed to increase the proportion of easily conned, easily duped marks.
Barnum said a sucker is born every minute, but in an internet/social media world in which critical thinking and civic education is treated as just one more lobbying interest in competition with the others, it may be more like one each second.
24
Hear, hear, Christine!
15
Conning the dupes makes the world go ‘round. We're always ready to believe flattering nonsense if it’s spoken with verve and nerve. People like Harvey Weinstein are master manipulators. He had sway over young starlets because he knew he had something they needed. (Some say that he forced them to perform oral sex, although I’m wondering how much voltage it would have taken to make me give in.)
It was bad enough when religion was the primary purveyor of pointless pomp, aimed at the young and able to bend the little twigs until people were twisted out of shape, and common sense and reason were unrecognizable.
Now the Internet is our newest existential threat, and no amount of regulation or good intentions can undo what has already been done. It reaches everyone, all the time. It can hijack baby monitors or unlock your “smart” doors. It’s where we get news, entertainment and self-help. It feeds our need to stay in touch. We’re suckers for it, because getting information used to be difficult. We’re genetically programmed to pick up every drop of news that we can find.
Now it’s fed to us with a firehose, and we can’t turn it off or turn away. It lets sociopaths and narcissists into our living rooms, flattering us and fattening us up with their cons, then plucking us when we’re ripe.
The fact that vinyl LPs never died gives me hope. Maybe we can live without being connected to everything, all the time.
369
Sadly Harvey Weinstein’s georgous wife was not good enough for Harvey and it deeply saddens me She did not know anything about his criminal behavior .
My heart goes to her and all the women’s career he destroyed because they said NO.
22
"Vinyl LP's"?
3
The first word that popped into my mind while reading your excellent synopsis of the Internet was "Matrix".
5
"“We don’t believe in government,” he says. “A lot of people are pissed at media. They don’t like education. People who used to think the F.B.I. was good now think it’s terrible."
When you learn the history of policing in America, from before the FBI was established, it is very difficult to reach any other conclusion. The FBI is terrible. Police are terrible. ICE is horrendous.
Tech, in these hypercapitalist times, is no different than any other sector or institution. Extraction is now the main endeavour in and out of government. How to make impossible sums of money on the backs of entire nations is the national obsession.
I keep dreaming that, after Trump, we'll scrap everything and, if not start over, give absolutely everything a very close look. Sadly, I don't see the kind of leadership rising to what will be a monumental overhaul job, from the very theory of equality we operate under, and onward. https://wp.me/p2KJ3H-1vV
---
https://www.rimaregas.com/2018/05/24/what-e-pluribus-unum-doesnt-mean-on...
15
@Rima: We're certainly not going to get anywhere if progressive politicians go out there campaigning with slogans like "The FBI is terrible. The police are terrible." People in law enforcement are much like the rest of us- some are decent, upstanding and effective while some clearly aren't. Most go about carrying out the law as written, whether or not with a certain degree of disgust or resignation. Taring all members of any profession (even politicians, even Republican politicians!) with the same brush ends up leaving you isolated and rejected.
95
Stu,
Nancy Pelosi emailed her caucus in late summer 2016, urging them not to promote Black Lives Matter policy proposals. Hillary Clinton kicked out BLM several times during the primary. She even went on a Black radio show in September, right after two horrific police shootings, and said "maybe I should talk to white people." She never did.
ICE, at this time, is behaving like a bunch of white supremacist thugs.
Police brutality hasn't stopped. The killings and tasings go on. The latest, of a basketball player, was just in the NYT. What punishment did those cops get? Vaca without pay.
At what point do we get to a point where we make truth, reconciliation, and reparations a priority of any kind?
The first step to truth is admitting that law enforcement is a serious problem. Please, take the time to read the white supremacy section. It should scare you.
As for painting cops with a wide brush... Until a good number of them rise up and stop voting in thugs to represent them in police unions, they're all the same to me.
https://www.rimaregas.com/2017/02/02/democrats-in-disarray-demagoguery-i...
1
@ Rima;
Trump is so bad it obscures the tepid quality of Nancy & Hillary and what a drag they are on progressivism.
We are embedded in Law and Ordure.
I don't remember who said it (I believe in attribution), but he said, of Facebook,
"If you are not paying for the product, you ARE the product."
245
If your information is current, it's currency.
1
We’ve a nudnick POTUS to begin
A parlous time we live in,
A longwinded bore
Threatens nuclear war
And obsessed with marital sin.
A mauler, a grabber, abuser,
A do whatever you chooser
Non-thinker, non-reader,
A spoiled-children breeder
An every trick-in-the-book user.
Despoiler of our Mother Earth,
Distorter of Obama’s birth,
No on the job learner
A to-Putin turner,
A buffoon who’s devoid of mirth.
482
Oh Larry, this is just so wonderful!
Thank you!
For me "nudnik" is not harsh enough for Trump though, I would call him a paskudnik!
Warmest regards, Wendy
15
Larry Eisenberg: I think this is your best one yet!!!!! PERFECT!
15
outstanding!
15