The adage, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” is attributed to the legendary 19th century entrepreneur and showman, P.T. Barnum. Historians tell us there’s no evidence that he ever said it or wrote it. But he is credited with many other quotes which reflect the duplicity of some of our most prominent political figures.

Barnum was born in Connecticut in 1810 with humble beginnings and a driving desire to make money. With ambitious and brilliant marketing combined with some unethical business practices he achieved his goals of fame and fortune. He insisted that there are various trades and occupations which “need only notoriety to insure success,” concluding that there was no harm, no foul as long as at the end of the day customers got their money’s worth.

In his book Barnum writes, “I had long fancied that I could succeed if I could only get hold of a public exhibition.”

Barnum’s first big break came with Joyce Heth, a blind, paralyzed former slave who an acquaintance paraded around as the 161 year old former nurse of George Washington. Barnum borrowed money to “rent” Ms. Heth and went on tour with her. To counter criticism of this practice of using an enslaved woman for tidy profit, he would invent stories such as that she wasn’t a real person, but simply a “curiously constructed automation,” A Barnum quote: “you can fool most of the people most of the time.”

In 1841 Barnum became proprietor of New York’s American Museum. Over 4,000 visitors per day paid 25 cents to browse “interesting curiosities” of the commingled fake and the real. These included live animals and hoaxes like the so-called Feejee Mermaid, a preserved monkey’s head sewn onto the preserved tail of a fish. A Barnum quote: “The bigger the humbug, the better they like it.”

With his fame Barnum delved into politics, serving several terms in the Connecticut legislature and a stint as Mayor of Bridgeport. This brings us to a present day politician finding the Barnum strategy useful, encapsulated in the Barnum quote, “There is no such thing as bad publicity.”

Unlike Barnum, Donald Trump was born into tremendous wealth and handed a bundle of money while he was very young. Born to wealth and inheriting money doesn’t make one a successful businessman, even while striving mightily to pose as one. With unsuccessful, failed investments Trump declared bankruptcy numerous times, always bailed out by those with various motives.

So how does a dismal business record make a failed businessman successful? Use the P.T. Barnum strategy of creating your own reality and sell it to the public. Another Barnum quote: “Without publicity, a terrible thing happens; nothing.”

Make sure that “terrible thing” doesn’t happen. Write a book entitled “The Art of the Deal,” and host a television show posing as a razor sharp, tough businessman who loves to fire hapless saps who can’t meet Trump’s exacting standards. Anyone paying attention knows that Trump never closed a deal in which he didn’t hold the power. He likely never even served on a committee in which he had to deal with the give and take of equals, let alone employment in which he had to report to a superior. Trump made maximum use of Barnum’s quote: “People love to be fooled, the bigger the humbug, the better they like it.”

Chief among those loving to be fooled and taking the bait are the media clones and nitwits who love a great story. Trump is all too willing to accommodate them. He ingeniously, if dishonestly, took advantage of the anger and frustration of those left behind by the nation’s economy, and portrayed himself as their champion.

Create your own reality, and sell it. Use the strategy of “divide and conquer,” channeling anger toward American institutions, government workers, and immigrants. This, along with unparalleled mastery of the media, was sufficient to garner enough votes to win the Electoral College and the presidency in 2016, becoming the world’s most powerful man.

During his first term, responsible political appointees restrained Trump’s worst instincts. But his Republican congress, along with wealthy donors and corporate supporters, loved his signature legislation, tax cuts for corporations and the ultra-wealthy, that increased the inequality of wealth and power between them and everyone else.

No doubt it was his incompetence in dealing with the Pandemic and resulting economic chaos that led to his defeat of 2020. But even during that interim he remained the world’s dominant figure, denying that he really lost to “Sleepy Joe.” Denying the election and fomenting an insurrection complete with gallows built to hang the outgoing Vice President would keep him dominating the headlines. How much more dramatic than, “Congratulations, Joe; see you again in four years.” How quaint would that have been — no screaming headlines there. Barnum’s philosophy once again: Without publicity, nothing happens.

His mastery of the media and continuing control of his Republicans enabled him to turn the insurrectionists into “patriots” deserving reparations. Create your own reality — I won the election of 2020, my economy was the greatest in history, inflation is 100 percent Joe Biden’s fault, those classified documents at Mar-a-Lago are mine, I had no affair with that gorgeous porn star — and sell it to the public.

Meanwhile, operatives smarter than Trump conducted plans to get him re-elected and consolidate power by appointing friendly judges, weaponizing the Dept. of Justice, buying up major media outlets, all to use the government to enrich himself, his children, and billionaire donors, and to punish his enemies.

Only Trump, with his ability to play the media like a fiddle could get away with transgressions that would tank any other politician. And only Trump, with his hold on his voters, could maintain power over longstanding powerful senators like Mitch McConnell who understood Trump’s game but knuckled under to him in the end.

Texas Senator John Cornyn is a popular longstanding hard core Republican conservative having a 99 percent record supporting Trump legislation, is respected by his adversaries in the Senate, and is a very successful fundraiser to boot. Only Trump could end a popular Trump loyalist Texan’s career with the snap of his fingers by endorsing a man of Ken Paxton’s ilk over the popular Cornyn.

Louisiana Senator Cassidy is a physician, presumably in good standing with his profession. He knows that RFK Jr. is an anti-vaxer and totally unfit to lead the HHS Department. But ever since he did the right thing by voting to convict Trump during the second impeachment, Cassidy did all he could to cozy up to Trump. After RFK Jr. told Cassidy what he wanted to hear, the M.D. provided the key vote to affirm Trump’s unfit nominee to lead the nation’s once-reputable heath agency.

Another Barnum quote: “The common man, no matter how sharp and tough, actually enjoys having the wool pulled over his eyes, and makes it easier for the puller.” Cassidy is not a “common man,” and is smart enough to have earned the M.D. degree. But he thought it to his advantage to be “fooled” by RFK Jr. Ultimately, he was fooled by Trump as well, who ended Cassidy’s political career by endorsing Cassidy’s opponent.

On a recent “Meet the Press,” show Oklahoma Senator Langford twisted himself into knots proclaiming that the JCPOA under Obama was terrible; while Trump’s ostensible “deal” with Iran is superior, wonderful. Langford’s IQ is certainly above room temperature and he knows the difference between a legitimate deal that took years to make and Trump’s MOU, two pieces of paper listing topics to be discussed later. But better to be fooled by Trump than suffer the fate of Cornyn and Cassidy.

So Trump and Barnum had in common mastery of the media to gain fame and fortune. Unlike Trump, Barnum in later life became a philanthropist and an abolitionist, opposing slavery. Some historians question Barnum’s sincerity with this. But unlike Trump, Barnum backed up his claim with real money, including building a hospital. This, in contrast to Trump’s destruction of hospitals, particularly in rural areas that have supported him.

Whether it’s union workers voting for the anti-union Trump, rural Trump voters losing rural hospitals and their own health care, or “smart” politicians letting themselves get stabbed in the back by Trump, it is well to recall another quote, this one by Mark Twain. “It is easier to fool a man than to convince him he has been fooled.”

— John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears monthly in the Monroe Times.