Comment by I_Am_Nous

Perhaps they can individually con themselves into power, but this is the largest issue I see with a grand conspiracy as they would have to essentially con the surrounding con artists into continuing the conspiracy, and those con artists would have to con any future con artists into continuing the con as they are voted out of office, resign, or die while holding office. It seems implausible that such a con would be started, continue until now, and continue in the future as more and more of the original con artists are no longer involved to keep the con going.