Newt Gingrich’s victory in South Carolina turned on an almost comically broad deception, an inversion of the truth in which the insider whose personal wealth and political experience are entirely creations of Washington becomes the anti-establishment candidate. That it worked speaks poorly of voters who let themselves be manipulated by the lowest form of campaigning, appealing to their anger and prejudices.

Speaking on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Mr. Gingrich said he was the only one in the race who understands the level of anger at the “national establishment.” He feels no need to actually define this establishment; it’s simply a blob of elitist others who are trying to tell real Americans “what they’re allowed to think, what they’re allowed to say.” It is clear, though, that both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are in it, as are Wall Street, all bureaucrats and most emphatically the national media.

Mr. Gingrich is clearly hoping that if he keeps the volume up high on his sputtering and raving at this nebulous group, it will drown out his lifetime membership in it. For years, he was a lobbyist for Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage company, making more than $1.6 million over eight years. He also cashed in on his influence by selling access to health-care companies and insurers, bringing in $37 million over eight years.

But all of this was ignored in South Carolina, where he won by a commanding margin through exploitation of racial resentment and hatred of the news media. South Carolina has moved sharply rightward since Mr. Obama arrived on the national scene, and Mr. Gingrich had the best sense of the blind, destructive anger at the president. He repeatedly called Mr. Obama “the greatest food-stamp president in American history,” and lectured a black questioner at a debate about the amount of federal handouts to blacks, suggesting their work ethic was questionable.