Been going on for decades.
Yes, but the average Trad knew that.
Trump was taking the deception to a new level -- playing the Patriot, pretending to be at war with the Deep State, giving a wink and a nod to the Q "patriot" movement (suggesting to many that it was real). And doing things to back it all up: he brought America back (quite a bit) economically, he was more pro-life (talking about actions, not talk) than any president after 1973, he placed several (alleged) conservatives on the Supreme court. And the hundreds of Federal judges he appointed! All of that tended to give credence to the Q movement, which suggested that a group of good guys was actively working on a plan, ATTEMPTING to turn things around, to wrest control from the Deep State.
I knew the movement, if real, was more or less doomed -- but I was watching with rapt interest. It certainly seemed as though the bad guys were taking massive hits to their timeline, receiving massive setbacks. I thought Trump was AT LEAST buying more time for America. I was actually interested in "politics" again for the first time since I grew up.