I didn't know he had a blog and a following as a pundit. I enjoyed this piece. Sounds just like a genuine "Wall Street" voice, the kind I am used to hearing.

What he says about New Yorkers knowing Trump was a grifter all along and thinking that the rest of the country understood that too rings very true to me. I would also add this to it: I think most New Yorkers didn't know the extent and outrageousness of the grifting, though. Because once you've see he's a royal jerk, you no longer pay attention, why bother? Sure, once in a while, one might wonder: why is he still getting attention?

But it's that self-centered flaw of New Yorker's to think: well, it can't be a majority that doesn't see it. That's inherent in the whole article, most of the "who knew?" points he is making.

It's this part especially. He says it well and it's very de Tocqueville:

Americans Are Charmingly (and occasionally Dangerously) Naïve: We are very willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. This is especially true outside of the bigger cities where people liked a blunt message and were willing to give an unconventional approach a shot.

Why didn’t the “Elites” in NYC & DC take Trump seriously? It was not what you heard – not their Ivy League educations or wealth or their life in a bubble. If you live or work in the NYC area, you know people who either worked for Trump, you have heard the horror stories, have been stiffed by him, sued him (or was sued by him), or invested in his projects.[iv] His Real Estate frauds were legendary.  Trump scams and frauds were so numerous, it was hard to keep up with them – not just the bankruptcies and failed casinos, it was also everything else he slapped his name on for a fee. Trump University, Trump Airlines, Trump magazine, even his book was not written by him.[v] EVERYONE HERE KNEW he was a grifter; it was simply assumed to be obvious to the rest of the country.

A related anecdotal. I remember back a couple years after The Art of the Deal was a best seller. And one would see stuff in the business news debunking the myth, but just glance at the headline and not read it because: it was already very clear without reading the book that he was a p.r. bullshit master, so why bother? And then a brother in the Midwest who was working with grade schoolers told me that Trump is very popular with little kids, they adore him. I went: no way! you've got to be kidding me! he's just an ass! really? what a strange thing!