“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
—widely attributed to H. L. Mencken

As a businessman, Donald Trump consistently operated in bad faith—not simply aiming to win every deal, but often seeking to humiliate or cheat his way to advantage. At the core of his strategy was a clear assumption: the people he dealt with were gullible or unintelligent. Time and again, that assumption paid off, just as Mencken cynically predicted.

When Trump turned to politics, he brought the same mindset with him. He treated his supporters as marks—lying freely, trafficking in conspiracy theories, and stoking fear and resentment. Rather than appeal to the better angels of our nature, he has relentlessly played to our worst instincts.

And once again, it worked. It got him where he is today.