Donald Trump pretends to deliver pizza to New York firefighters — watch how the grift works (video)

Fox News praised the exhausted, trial-riddled ex-president yesterday for "delivering" pizza to the New York City Fire Department. "Donald Trump delivers pizza to New York City firefighters … after day in court," said the faux news headline, applauding the four-times indicted conman for his grand and selfless photo-op, er, gesture.

But as it turns out, it was all just a magic trick, or MAGA act, as it were — the pizza had actually arrived at the fire department 30 minutes before Trump arrived in his limo — delivered by guys who were not Donald Trump. Confused? Here's a step-by-step reveal in a video (see below) that shows how the grift works, along with a timeline, posted by MeidasTouch:

5:35 pm: two pizzas are delivered to the fire department (not by Trump)
5:41 pm: six more pizzas are delivered to the fire department (not by Trump)
5:54 pm: a Trump henchman comes over and sets aside two pizzas
5:57 pm: a henchman walks down the street holding two cold pizza boxes as Trump's limo makes its way to the curb
5:58 pm: Trump steps out of his limo and awkwardly holds the two cold pizza boxes
6:01 pm: Trump sets the pizza back down on the table from where it came from
6:10 pm: Trump does a fist bump into the air, making sure the camera light is on, before leaving the premises.

And that is how the simple but effective MAGA pizza scam works — no smoke or mirrors needed with this crowd.

For a behind-the-curtain peek at one of Trump's more much more lucrative grifts, see this oldie but goody: Colbert explains how How Trump duped $250M from his supporters