In the following months, as Trump’s propaganda campaign settled over the United States, it achieved its intended purpose. We were confused and disoriented. Few understood what had hit us. Why was Trump lying so much? Had the man no shame? Some of the lies were even about things that were easily refuted by evidence. But why, then, did so many people seem to believe him? Trump was dismissed as a fool by many, but he had mastered something no one else had ever succeeded in: the application of Russian-inspired disinformation tactics to US politics.17
