I’m not sure which part of America believed that at any time. I think at least some people watched this dumbass since about the 80s and thought the notion of him even knowing the rules of typical chess was slim to none.

But yeah, the low-info that thought the game show he was given meant he was a real bidnessman - they might have believed that. And of course, the “liberal media” kept telling everyone he was going to pivot into being “presidential” just about any minute now, so they were spinning something very much the same, and hell, some of them might have even believed their own bullshit, too. I think far too much of the Beltway media is into huffing each others’ farts and exclaiming how great they smell.