On today’s show, host Esty Dinur speaks with journalist Joe Conason about grift, Trump University, and what Conason says is the moral decay of conservatism. In Conason’s new book, The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism, he traces the long line of con artists leading up to the rise of Trump within the GOP. 

Conason points to the Australian physician, Frederick C. Schwarz, who founded the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade, Robert Welch and the John Birch Society, Richard Viguerie and direct mail campaigns, and Jerry Falwell as key figures in the run-up to Trump. He says that Trump practices the same deception as conservative religious leaders preaching the prosperity gospel.

Conason also discusses how grifters profit off people’s fear and attack institutions like public education. Today we’re seeing some of the same themes and tactics that were used during the communist scare. From his mentors like Roy Cohn, Trump learned to position himself as the victim of a liberal conspiracy, says Conason. But Cohn learned this trick from Senator Joseph McCarthy’s philosophy of impunity. 

Joe Conason is an American journalist and commentator. He is editor-in-chief of The National Memo, a daily political newsletter, and a senior fellow at Type Media Center. His articles have appeared in many publications around the world, including The New Republic, The Nation, The Guardian, Salon, and The American Prospect. He was executive editor of The New York Observer and a staff writer at The Village Voice. Two of his previous books, The Hunting of the President and Big Lies, were New York Times bestsellers.

Image courtesy of St. Martin’s Press.

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