"The immunity decision gives him license to steal": Donald Trump's history of fraud remains a threat

Donald Trump is a fraud and a con artist, argues Joe Conason .

Conason 's new book traces the long marriage between right-wing politics and con artistry.

Trump is no anomaly in this history, Conason says, but the natural result of decades of snake oil salesmen bamboozling the Republican base for political gain and profit.

He says he's a hugely dishonest person who can't be trusted with the presidency.

Richard Viguerie was the great direct mail fundraiser of the right and pioneered techniques for inducing people to send their money to right-wing causes.

He says the prosperity gospel is such an illustration of how fraud is integrated into the religious right.

A lot of the appeals that are used in these scams are designed to appeal to bigotry, he says.

If he gets out of prison, he will go right back to these scams and cons. That's what they do. The first Trump administration was full of crooks, These are people who are going to loot the government.

At the same time, they would like to cut every program that helps working people and working families. This would be like living in a country run by gangsters..