Russian collusion in the 2016 election (and beyond) is simply an old-fashioned whispering campaign writ large

Both require an unending supply of suckers. 

Clearly, America excels at producing this resource. 

Source:  Merriam Webster

Other coinages from the same year:

1. anti-Asian
2. asphalt jungle
3. buck passer
4. buddy system
5. fun and games
6. Ponzi scheme
7. smoke-filled room

And sometimes it goes beyond voting.

Washington Post, 10/19/2018

In recent days, a cadre of conservative House Republicans allied with Trump has been privately exchanging articles from right-wing outlets that fuel suspicion of Khashoggi, highlighting his association with the Muslim Brotherhood in his youth and raising conspiratorial questions about his work decades ago as an embedded reporter covering Osama bin Laden, according to four GOP officials involved in the discussions who were not authorized to speak publicly.

The general concept, though, has a long history in American politics.

Saturday Evening Post, 8/25/2012

In the 1796 election, John Adams suffered a blow when the Boston Independent Chronicle alleged that during the Revolution he had publicly supported Washington while surreptitiously attempting to have the General cashiered. In truth, it was Adams’s second cousin, Sam, who had sought Washington’s scalp. Adams’s opponent, Thomas Jefferson … was accused of being the son of a half-breed Indian and a mulatto father. Voters were warned that Jefferson’s election would result in a civil war and a national orgy of rape, incest, and adultery.

Related post:
GET ME REWRITE Gomer alert: It's absolutely awful for people without critical thinking skills.  (1/14/2019)