last three paragraphs:
***
Trump and Giuliani were not desperate enough to believe her crazy theories.
There is no excuse for her gullibility — but it would not be a surprise if she had been fed ludicrous ideas in a crude psy-op by anti-Trumpers that was successful beyond their wildest dreams.
The moral of the story for everyone is to maintain your New York cynicism, which Trump and Giuliani have in spades.
It wouldn't surprise me if that was exactly what happened. We need to measure three time and then cut.