I was sent this article by a friend, but not via a link. So I looked up the first line to see who wrote it. I found it. Almost word for word in a book word m written by Maria Konnikova in "The Confidence Game."
From Google Search: The quote "The confidence game doesn't begin with a lie. It begins with a story" is from the book "The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It... Every Time" by Maria Konnikova; a psychologist and writer who explores the psychology behind deception and con artistry in the book.
Is it a coincidence that's how your piece starts out?
I asked my friend who wrote what she shared. She said it was from Substack and she'd posted it on fb. Led me to you.
What you wrote is BRILLIANT. SO spot-on for what we've experienced since 2015 under Trump's deadly cloud that it's spooky. It's the clarion call of the hour. We've GOT to get out from under this.
If what you say is true, credit should have been given where credit is due. An easy fix: "As psychologist Maria Konnikiva argues...etc" If this was one of my students, and it showed up as an unoriginal line, I would have dinged them. Still, an excellent article-- persuasive. My question is, why is there such a vacuum where identity should be?
Are you suggesting Greenberg should cite the Konnikova material if he uses quotes from that book? I agree that this post is an excellent correlation of Konnikova's work to the trump syndrome. But perhaps strengthened with credit where due?
Yes. That's my thought. The line is such a STRONG and UNIQUE one, it's hard to believe two different people thought of it, almost verbatim. If Substack comments allowed photos, I'd show the screenshot of what I found.
An established writer/ journalist should be well acquainted with attribution. The rest of the article was very good, but it's unsettling to think that it's not all original material. How much of it is Greenberg's? How much is gleaned from other sources (without attribution)?
Well said. But it only describes half the story. What happens when the con man and his associates operate with the full knowledge, and permission, of the forces that are supposed to hold them in check? Because every analysis and condemnation of Trump has to include the complicity and collusion of the Republican Party. The cultists don't, and maybe can't, know better. But the GOP Congress does. And they do nothing. No, not nothing--they make excuses, they look the other way, they help, they amplify the lies. And I haven't even mentioned the five corrupt traitors on the Supreme Court and the soulless, repellent Vance.
So the number one question is really two questions: How do we get rid of Trump? And what happens when we do?
Well. VANCE happens. Some have posited that's been the plan all along. With Vance's close ties to Peter Thiel (for all intents and purposes, Thiel is his pimp) and Thiel's even MORE radical ideas, we'd be even worse off. I'll have to dig up that exposé video I watched of him discussing his ideas. Horrifying.
[ here's a 'non-present-politics' look at the psycho-dynamics of 'Con'... in an entertaining pop-film medium... then 'you' apply 'your-Learning' to present political experiences of US] --- Dakota - 04/05/2025. … … … ….'House of Games' - JoeMantegna (1987) … - youTube - Oct.05, 2012 - 2:05min … … … ---- "I have seen so many films that were sleepwalking through the debris of old plots and second-hand ideas that it was a constant pleasure to watch House of Games." ---- Ebert declared it the best film of 1987 and later included it in 'TheGreatMovies.'. … … … ---- "After one of her patients threatens suicide, psychiatrist Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse) confronts the source of his anxieties, a downtown bookie named Mike (Joe Mantegna). Once she decides that Mike is not a serious threat, however, she herself becomes interested in his world of high-stakes gambling, and makes use of her skills at reading tells, becoming entrenched in his dealings. Things get dangerous, though, when Mike turns out not to be a bookie at all, but a con man." … … —— Release date: October 11, 1987 (USA) …Director: David Mamet. …Screenplay: David Mamet, Jonathan Katz … …Story by: David Mamet, Jonathan Katz. … …Awards: Best Screenplay Award · Distributed by: Orion Pictures. … … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAT7pA83cXY.
James, you’re right about one thing: there is a con game happening in America—but it’s not the one you think. It’s run by the permanent political class, corporate oligarchs, and global financiers who keep everyday Americans scrambling just to stay afloat.
Let’s break this down with hard data, not just elegant prose.
Who’s really fleecing the average American? Since 1978, CEO pay has skyrocketed over 1,300 percent, while the typical worker’s wages rose just 18 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The top 1 percent of Americans now hold more wealth than the entire middle class combined, based on Federal Reserve data. During the COVID lockdowns, U.S. billionaires increased their wealth by $2 trillion, even as Main Street businesses shuttered and families went bankrupt. That’s not populist paranoia. That’s a rigged system in black and white.
This is the real long con. And it didn’t start with Trump. It started decades ago under both parties, fueled by lobbyists, disastrous trade deals, and Wall Street schemes that hollowed out entire communities. You call Trump’s narrative a victim script, but many Americans were victims long before he ever ran for office—victims of NAFTA, endless foreign wars, and a housing crash engineered by big banks who never paid the price. Trump simply voiced what millions were already living: the system is stacked against them, and powerful interests profit off the wreckage.
You mention tariffs that hurt farmers. Fair point. But you leave out why those tariffs were imposed in the first place. China manipulated its currency, ignored intellectual property rules, and undercut American manufacturers. Since 2001, we’ve lost over 3.7 million manufacturing jobs to China. Was Trump’s trade war messy? Sure. But at least he tried to rebalance a system that global elites were perfectly happy to keep one-sided.
Your concept of “accumulation by dispossession” is dead on. But it wasn’t Trump casinos doing the dispossessing. It was BlackRock and other asset giants buying up entire neighborhoods, turning Americans into permanent renters. It was Pfizer pocketing $100 billion in sales in 2022 while pushing endless boosters. It was Google and Facebook siphoning ad dollars that once kept local papers alive—destroying the very community conversations you claim to miss.
And let’s be honest, the Left plays the identity trap game too. Every issue becomes a tribal loyalty test on race, gender, or climate, policed by legacy media and corporate HR departments. Step out of line, and you’re canceled.
Where we actually agree is that values matter. But they’re hollow when the economy is rigged to serve only the top fraction of a percent. Truth matters, but it’s elusive when the media acts as a megaphone for the same corporations funding politicians. Community matters, but it can’t flourish when local businesses close under the weight of monopolies and global supply chains.
You’re absolutely right about the stakes. If we don’t wake up to the real con—big money capturing our institutions while deliberately dividing us—we don’t just lose our shirts. We lose the Republic.
Good piece! But what the hell were you thinking signing your name on something a bot patched together for you? Did you somehow think the seams wouldn't show in this patchwork of unattributed quotes by better thinkers?
This may be the clearest, most logical summation of the Trump trickery- and all that hangs in the balance as a result - that I have ever read! Thank you for posting this powerful piece! I sincerely hope that we Americans will choose to save ourselves from this man.
This is hands-down the best article I've read describing why Trump supporters can't seem to see the con. I've been saying since he was re-elected that the only people who can get us out of this mess are the same ones who got us into it. Thank you for articulating this more clearly than I can.
I was sent this article by a friend, but not via a link. So I looked up the first line to see who wrote it. I found it. Almost word for word in a book word m written by Maria Konnikova in "The Confidence Game."
From Google Search: The quote "The confidence game doesn't begin with a lie. It begins with a story" is from the book "The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It... Every Time" by Maria Konnikova; a psychologist and writer who explores the psychology behind deception and con artistry in the book.
Is it a coincidence that's how your piece starts out?
I asked my friend who wrote what she shared. She said it was from Substack and she'd posted it on fb. Led me to you.
What you wrote is BRILLIANT. SO spot-on for what we've experienced since 2015 under Trump's deadly cloud that it's spooky. It's the clarion call of the hour. We've GOT to get out from under this.
If what you say is true, credit should have been given where credit is due. An easy fix: "As psychologist Maria Konnikiva argues...etc" If this was one of my students, and it showed up as an unoriginal line, I would have dinged them. Still, an excellent article-- persuasive. My question is, why is there such a vacuum where identity should be?
That was my thought, too. I wanted to give the author a chance to respond. Has he? I haven't reviewed all the comments yet.
Are you suggesting Greenberg should cite the Konnikova material if he uses quotes from that book? I agree that this post is an excellent correlation of Konnikova's work to the trump syndrome. But perhaps strengthened with credit where due?
Yes. That's my thought. The line is such a STRONG and UNIQUE one, it's hard to believe two different people thought of it, almost verbatim. If Substack comments allowed photos, I'd show the screenshot of what I found.
An established writer/ journalist should be well acquainted with attribution. The rest of the article was very good, but it's unsettling to think that it's not all original material. How much of it is Greenberg's? How much is gleaned from other sources (without attribution)?
If you look at the post history here, this is clearly bot slop patched together by ChatGPT and put out on a schedule. Appalling.
You're saying "Greenberg" isn't really a writer, just a copy & paste bot? It's creepy to me how insidious and invasive they are.
Well said. But it only describes half the story. What happens when the con man and his associates operate with the full knowledge, and permission, of the forces that are supposed to hold them in check? Because every analysis and condemnation of Trump has to include the complicity and collusion of the Republican Party. The cultists don't, and maybe can't, know better. But the GOP Congress does. And they do nothing. No, not nothing--they make excuses, they look the other way, they help, they amplify the lies. And I haven't even mentioned the five corrupt traitors on the Supreme Court and the soulless, repellent Vance.
So the number one question is really two questions: How do we get rid of Trump? And what happens when we do?
Well. VANCE happens. Some have posited that's been the plan all along. With Vance's close ties to Peter Thiel (for all intents and purposes, Thiel is his pimp) and Thiel's even MORE radical ideas, we'd be even worse off. I'll have to dig up that exposé video I watched of him discussing his ideas. Horrifying.
I cross-posted this to my subscribers.
I will too. And I bought a paid subscription.
We already knew he is a con and nazi wannabe. But what gets me is why so many people fell for the lies and the con.
This is powerful.
[ here's a 'non-present-politics' look at the psycho-dynamics of 'Con'... in an entertaining pop-film medium... then 'you' apply 'your-Learning' to present political experiences of US] --- Dakota - 04/05/2025. … … … ….'House of Games' - JoeMantegna (1987) … - youTube - Oct.05, 2012 - 2:05min … … … ---- "I have seen so many films that were sleepwalking through the debris of old plots and second-hand ideas that it was a constant pleasure to watch House of Games." ---- Ebert declared it the best film of 1987 and later included it in 'TheGreatMovies.'. … … … ---- "After one of her patients threatens suicide, psychiatrist Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse) confronts the source of his anxieties, a downtown bookie named Mike (Joe Mantegna). Once she decides that Mike is not a serious threat, however, she herself becomes interested in his world of high-stakes gambling, and makes use of her skills at reading tells, becoming entrenched in his dealings. Things get dangerous, though, when Mike turns out not to be a bookie at all, but a con man." … … —— Release date: October 11, 1987 (USA) …Director: David Mamet. …Screenplay: David Mamet, Jonathan Katz … …Story by: David Mamet, Jonathan Katz. … …Awards: Best Screenplay Award · Distributed by: Orion Pictures. … … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAT7pA83cXY.
James, you’re right about one thing: there is a con game happening in America—but it’s not the one you think. It’s run by the permanent political class, corporate oligarchs, and global financiers who keep everyday Americans scrambling just to stay afloat.
Let’s break this down with hard data, not just elegant prose.
Who’s really fleecing the average American? Since 1978, CEO pay has skyrocketed over 1,300 percent, while the typical worker’s wages rose just 18 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The top 1 percent of Americans now hold more wealth than the entire middle class combined, based on Federal Reserve data. During the COVID lockdowns, U.S. billionaires increased their wealth by $2 trillion, even as Main Street businesses shuttered and families went bankrupt. That’s not populist paranoia. That’s a rigged system in black and white.
This is the real long con. And it didn’t start with Trump. It started decades ago under both parties, fueled by lobbyists, disastrous trade deals, and Wall Street schemes that hollowed out entire communities. You call Trump’s narrative a victim script, but many Americans were victims long before he ever ran for office—victims of NAFTA, endless foreign wars, and a housing crash engineered by big banks who never paid the price. Trump simply voiced what millions were already living: the system is stacked against them, and powerful interests profit off the wreckage.
You mention tariffs that hurt farmers. Fair point. But you leave out why those tariffs were imposed in the first place. China manipulated its currency, ignored intellectual property rules, and undercut American manufacturers. Since 2001, we’ve lost over 3.7 million manufacturing jobs to China. Was Trump’s trade war messy? Sure. But at least he tried to rebalance a system that global elites were perfectly happy to keep one-sided.
Your concept of “accumulation by dispossession” is dead on. But it wasn’t Trump casinos doing the dispossessing. It was BlackRock and other asset giants buying up entire neighborhoods, turning Americans into permanent renters. It was Pfizer pocketing $100 billion in sales in 2022 while pushing endless boosters. It was Google and Facebook siphoning ad dollars that once kept local papers alive—destroying the very community conversations you claim to miss.
And let’s be honest, the Left plays the identity trap game too. Every issue becomes a tribal loyalty test on race, gender, or climate, policed by legacy media and corporate HR departments. Step out of line, and you’re canceled.
Where we actually agree is that values matter. But they’re hollow when the economy is rigged to serve only the top fraction of a percent. Truth matters, but it’s elusive when the media acts as a megaphone for the same corporations funding politicians. Community matters, but it can’t flourish when local businesses close under the weight of monopolies and global supply chains.
You’re absolutely right about the stakes. If we don’t wake up to the real con—big money capturing our institutions while deliberately dividing us—we don’t just lose our shirts. We lose the Republic.
The truth is not hate speech.
yes— I received this yesterday from a lifelong member of the Republican Party who has just become an independent
and it is good that it’s making its way around social media stripped of any credits
being passed back-and-forth naked
the following discourse is proof of that…
instead of agreeing or disagreeing with the message -we started to shoot the messenger
distract us with detractions and we become disunified and powerless
Maga will win
and we WILL lose our republic
if we keep this up
Good piece! But what the hell were you thinking signing your name on something a bot patched together for you? Did you somehow think the seams wouldn't show in this patchwork of unattributed quotes by better thinkers?
This may be the clearest, most logical summation of the Trump trickery- and all that hangs in the balance as a result - that I have ever read! Thank you for posting this powerful piece! I sincerely hope that we Americans will choose to save ourselves from this man.
James mistakes eloquence for evidence — and like every petty illusionist, he hopes you will not notice the trapdoor beneath his stage.
https://thequillandmusket.substack.com/p/the-mark-always-thinks-he-is-the?r=4xypjp
Thank you.
This is hands-down the best article I've read describing why Trump supporters can't seem to see the con. I've been saying since he was re-elected that the only people who can get us out of this mess are the same ones who got us into it. Thank you for articulating this more clearly than I can.
A superbly clear take on what’s happening.