George Graham

“The Donald” is a Perfect Fit for the Romney Carnival

How do you sell snake oil? How do you take a sucker’s money with shell games and card tricks? How do you get the hicks to try their hand at games of chance they can never win? You stage a carnival, of course.

It’s an American tradition based on the belief that “a sucker is born every minute.”

The rubes have been buying snake oil and exclaiming over bearded ladies and two-headed dragons for generations. 

And the beat goes on…

Today we have the Mitt Romney campaign, with its forked tongue and sleight-of-hand.  Step right up ladies and gentlemen, and be amazed.

Here we have the latest inVodoo economics, where we can make the deficit vanish by reducing tax revenue and splurging on bombs and bullets. Watch the Magnificent Mitt occupy two and more opposing positions at the same time.  The quickness of the hand deceives the eye, folks. Just believe and buy our magical elixir. Trust us: It will cure the nation’s ills this time, even though you saw how disastrously it worked the last time you tried it.

Trust us: If you give all your money to the rich they will give you jobs in return. Even if it hasn’t worked so far, it’s going to work some day. We promise you.

You say it’s a tough sell? You say once bitten, twice shy? You say it would take a specially gifted huckster to make America’s voters believe one more time?

So why is anyone surprised that Mitt has called on Donald Trump to be his ring master?

Conservative commentator George Will describes Trump as a “bloviating ignoramus,” and that’s a compliment. “The Donald” is not just a pompous, know-nothing braggart. He is worse.

He is living proof that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. He is a mountebank who sells hot air to  hicks. He is the bearded lady, the two-headed dragon and the three-card dealer rolled into one.

And he is always in the news, for better or for worse.

Who else would you expect to be selling Romney’s bag of tricks?

Who else would be so brash as to repeat the ridiculous lie that President Obama was born in Kenya – a lie that has been disproven over and over again, a lie that most right wing crazies backed away from long ago?

Trump knows it’s a lie, but he knows that if he keeps reiterating it, eventually a shadow of doubt could seep into the public consciousness.

Romney is no slouch when it comes to lying, either. He spreads the most egregious misinformation with the confident calm of a snake oil salesman.

They’re a dynamic duo, that’s for sure.

Will American voters be pigeons – again?

Stay tuned.

About the author

gwgraeme

I am a Jamaican-born writer who has lived and worked in Canada and the United States. I live in Lakeland, Florida with my wife, Sandra, our three cats and two dogs. I like to play golf and enjoy our garden, even though it's a lot of work. Since retiring from newspaper reporting I've written a few books. I also write a monthly column for Jamaicans.com