At least Trump put a front to care about the "forgotten man", he at least knew that the political landscape of the world was changing and adopted to it accordingly while Hillary would rather call potential voters "deplorable" and designate a cartoon frog as a hate symbol. When you retrospectively look at the how the two parties campaigned, it's not that difficult to see why Trump won. If he doesn't achieve much during the next 4 years he can just say give more time to fix it, unless as you mention a Democratic leader who's charismatic enough to at least give him a serious run for his money in 2020 which, to be honest, I don't see at the moment. I mean, this could change, but topping Trump's ego is no mean feat.
And who's to say he won't actually achieve at least some of his campaign promises, however low the chances are? As I said, let's give him a proper chance before making judgments about whether or not he "conned" America.
All that might be true, but he has ear a bit too close to white nationalists for comfort. But yeah, I am eager to see how the relationship between the President and Congress will unfold for the next four years.