The apotheosis of the long con
By 
Remember Truth Social, the alternative to Twitter before Twitter became the alternative to Twitter?
Between posts about conspiracy theories and right-wing grievances was an unusual advertisement: a photo of former President Donald J. Trump holding a $1,000 bill made of gold, which he was apparently offering free to supporters.
But there were a few catches: The bill was not free, it was not made of gold, and it was not offered by Mr. Trump.
The ad appeared on Truth Social, the right-wing social network started by Mr. Trump in late 2021, one of many pitches from hucksters and fringe marketers dominating the ads on the site.
Ads from major brands are nonexistent on the site. Instead, the ads on Truth Social are for alternative medicine, diet pills, gun accessories and Trump-themed trinkets, according to an analysis of hundreds of ads on the social network by The New York Times.
While selling worthless trinkets and fake medicines to frightened old white people is very profitable for a few select scammers, it makes a site toxic to big advertisers, which means that Truth Social is never going to be anything but another of Donald Trump’s endless grifts (His contract with the site, which required him to post on it very occasionally, just expired.)
That the Republican party is morphing gradually into essentially nothing but an affinity fraud designed to rip off frightened old white people is one of those developments that will be extremely clear in historical retrospect, but remains at the moment literally inconceivable to almost all respectable public opinion.
Over time, the low-quality ads on Truth Social have irritated its own users, who have complained to Mr. Trump after repeatedly seeing the same disturbing images or after falling for misleading gimmicks.
“Can you not vet the ads on Truth?” asked one user in a post directed at Mr. Trump. “I’ve been scammed more than once.”
Donald Trump’s takeover of the Republican party will remain eternally mysterious, like the square root of a million.