Conned by you-know-Q

            "The fact is we won the election. We won it big."

            Believe that? Then believe this: On Inauguration Day, with members of Congress, former presidents and spouses assembled and Joe Biden about to be sworn in, Donald Trump arose from the sandstone, had all executed, and took survivors for sno-cones.

            Or: Refusing to concede -- as he vowed he would never do – Trump stood his ground and pardoned all the goons who bravely risked all that broken glass to ransack the Capitol.

            Since none of these things happened, not A, B or C, it means that QAnon, which expected the executions, and the Proud Boys, who expected the pardons, can join the rest of us who know we were conned by you-know-Q.

            Those who still don't believe they were conned will say that Donald Trump never pretended to be Q, the messiah of a sect of people whose brains had turned to bat guano.

            No, Trump just patronized and profited from the believers, which is what con men do. Or what's a Jim Jones for?

            Listen to the dis-delusioned, as the BBC reported in these online comments from QAnon believers:

            "It is done and we were played."

            "I want to throw up. I'm so sick of the disinformation and false hope."

            Another word for that is "lies."

            Listen to Proud Boys' morning-after-inauguration online confessions courtesy of the New York Times.

            Trump's response to the assault on the Capitol was "very weak and flaccid," and he proved he was "not the same guy that ran in 2015."

            Good point. The tough guy didn't even accompany his precious mob on its march to the Capitol as he said he would.

            "Trump will go down as a total failure," said another of the Boys in the flock.

            "Total" is a strong word. Let's say he's been a success in harvesting dollars for his purposes.

            Back in 2016 I remember a guy saying he'd vote for the man because Trump could finance his own campaign.

            I wonder what the guy said when it was revealed that Trump is $421 million in debt, or that Trump has been shaking down supporters for funds ostensibly to support his challenge to the 2020 results.

            The fine print on the appeal for the $495 million raised is that only a sliver of the money went to the election challenge. The lion's share goes to a PAC formed by Trump to do mostly what he wishes.

            Yep. It was all a con – like "drain the swamp." Trump not only made Washington a greater haven for influence peddlers, he helped pump dollars into his properties.

            And look at one of his last actions as president: Revoking the five-year ban on lobbying by administration staffers he had established at the start of his presidency, along with a lifetime prohibition on their lobbying for foreign governments.

            The last thing Trump wanted was clean or ethical government. He wanted power, allegiance and the riches attendant.

            Trump, naturally, talks about returning as America's savior in 2024. If he's lost QAnon and the Proud Boys, however, that's starting out in a hole.

            Trump's disgraceful fall sadly calls into question the future of QAnon, described by one news report as intent on crushing a massive ring run by Satan-worshipping Democrats "devoted to the abduction, trafficking, torture, sexual abuse and cannibalization of children."

            Combatting this seems like a modest cause for a former president.

            Recall that O.J. Simpson vowed to search the ends of the earth to find the killer of his former wife and her friend. Maybe on some Florida tee box, he and Trump can compare strategies.

            Longtime newspaperman John Young lives in Colorado. Email: jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.