The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced "American" has to be a right winger. A true wacko, of either right or left, would not discredit his own politics by acting like such an idiot, but he could easily pretend to be someone he's not and thereby try to make his opponents appear to be foolish and cowardly. Are you still with me here?

Likewise, an anonymous troll who posted something like "Hillary is an Asshole", without either identifying himself or gleefuly listing the reasons he thought that way, would be almost certainly a lefty. So far, I don't think we have any lefty trolls, but there is no reason why we might not get some. After all, there's no reason lefties can't be assholes too.

Our other resident troll, "Ima Leftleaner" , operates the same way, but does it so openly and obviously (and clumsily) that there is no question that s(he) is a righty. Poor Ima wields sarcasm like bludgeon, not a scalpel, but at least doesn't make the attempt to hide it, so s(he) at least scores some points for honesty.

A troll with brains and style would do it differently, he too would pretend to be of the opposite persuasion of his true beliefs, but his arguments would be eloquent, logical, and passionate. They would be so persuasive and so well crafted that his real targets, the people who opposed his true hidden agenda, would cheer him on in total agreement.

However, hidden deep in his posts would be tiny hidden flaws, errors deliberately placed so those clever enough to spot them would find them and expose him for a glib fool, thereby discrediting the position he was pretending to support and devastating its partisans.

So play the black propaganda game if you must, trolls, but at least try to do it with some panache and wit. If you can.