The famous American president Abraham Lincoln is credited with the wonderful saying, "you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time".
I thought of this quote as I read the umpteenth "fightback" interview with Deputy President Paul Mashatile in the wake of News24's explosive revelations into the billionaire lifestyle of our kept second-in-charge.
You have to give it to Mashatile's spin doctors, of which there are many, inside and outside of government (including former journalists who have sold their souls to the highest bidder); they have kept the phones of the country's top editors and political journalists warm.
They have certainly succeeded in getting Mashatile into the headlines in response to every News24 revelation (of which there are many to come) with a one-word defence: CONSPIRACY!
Their strategy has been simple: portray News24's comprehensive investigation as part of a political conspiracy to prevent Mashatile from toppling President Cyril Ramaphosa and don't respond to any of the factual revelations or get into a debate about the details.
They believe they can "change the narrative" (the favourite saying of South Africa's chattering classes) by simply repeating the conspiracy theory over and over again: Mashatile is being "targeted" as part of a "political campaign" to hinder his political ambitions.
This strategy is, of course, not new.
Former president Jacob Zuma perfected the art of victimhood by using the National Prosecuting Authority's corruption charges against him as a rallying tool to become ANC president in 2007.
Zuma convinced the majority of ANC delegates at the party's 2007 Polokwane conference the charges against him were engineered by his nemesis, Thabo Mbeki, and, by extension, the Scorpions to prevent him from becoming president.
Although it was a load of balderdash - some of Zuma's staunchest supporters of that tragic episode have since begged forgiveness for their sins - it got Zuma the political office he wanted.
Former US president Donald Trump is using the exact same playbook in his attempt to be re-elected next year.
He will use both his criminal trials (and more may be coming) to campaign against the so-called "establishment" that wants to prevent him from returning to the White House.
For these strategies to succeed, Mashatile and Trump assume a level of stupidity from the electorate to mindlessly buy into simple conspiracy theories rather than following the truth.
Neither wants to engage with the facts of the allegations against them because this may weaken their hands. And it's much easier to claim you are a victim.
In the case of Mashatile, this won't be that easy.
South Africa is still recovering from the lost decade of state capture under Zuma and the Guptas.
The damage wreaked upon the country by Zuma and his accolades is still raw, and as I write this column, the country is on tenterhooks to see what will happen if Zuma returns to prison.
The Zondo Commission has unearthed the depravity of Zuma's scheme to capture the state through his family, friends and captured allies in key government departments and agencies. The majority of South Africans, I believe, have no appetite to go there again.
And so, the very real and deeply concerning questions against Mashatile will remain.
There is no political conspiracy against the deputy president, and he knows it.
"He had it coming" is the common refrain from many people around him, who have warned him for decades about his lavish lifestyle and those funding it.
It is simply not okay for the country's deputy president to be hanging around one of the main characters from the state capture period in Edwin Sodi.
Here is the scary part; his relationship with the likes of Sodi had become so normalised Mashatile was shocked when News24 dared to question him about this potential threat to national security.
The Mashatile story has so many déjà vu moments to the beginning years of Zuma's unravelling.
When Zuma's relationship with Schabir Shaik was first exposed, it was portrayed as an innocent friendship between comrades. There was no way Zuma could afford the lifestyle he was living.
Of course, all critical reporting by the brave journalists who brought the scandal to light was glibly dismissed as part of a "conspiracy" at the time.
Today, we know there was never a conspiracy against Zuma.
Even after Shaik was convicted of bribing Zuma, the ANC still defended its deputy president against the indefensible. The governing party's ability to ignore the truth has cost it and the country dearly.
Will the party make the same mistake with Mashatile? Or will it interrogate the deputy president about his sources of cash that enables him to live like a king?
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