Blog With No Name

     This would be a great midsummer holiday to stop people from skipping work to have outdoor sex.

     Phones would be answered again on warm afternoons and the word "nooner" would be consigned to the round file of history.

     If the civilized world leads the way, perhaps the United States will follow.

Ask me anything.

Very timely, considering current US presidential campaign.  

Much has been made of the similarity between Donald Trump and a carnival barker. By pundits and the White House, no less.

But his prospects have never been analyzed an actual carnie.

I’m here to remedy that oversight.

I became a carnie at the age of 17, thanks to a friend whose dad owned a traveling show.

A shy member of Mensa with a facility for lower math, I was the last kid you’d think could bamboozle marks. But I did well, graduating from to lowly Duck Pond to the “Flat Store”--the pinnacle of carnie cons in the space of a summer. I made marks out of many drunk farmers and, in my best/worst hour, a high-ranking government attorney.

I have closely followed Mr. Trump juggernaut of a campaign. Here’s why, from a carnie perspective, he’s guaranteed to come out of this as a winner:

*A carnie doesn’t care whether he wins nice or ugly. He’ll do whatever it takes, no matter how base the appeal, to achieve the desired outcome.

*A carnie is skilled at playing upon a mark’s emotions, particularly greed. Fear is also easily induced.

*A carnie sees everyone as potential mark, down to the American electorate.

*A carnie knows that low income rural whites are the low-hanging fruit of marks. Racial hubris + poor education makes them easy to turn. And poorly educated whites are among those whose incomes are declining; leaving them afraid, angry and looking for scapegoats.

*The campaign has given Mr. Trump a burgeoning mailing list of acolytes, who, even if he doesn’t inherit the Oval Office, will keep filling his coffers for years to come. And, for a carnie, more money is always a win.

 Here's a link to an NPR podcast about the book: How a teen math whiz became a top carnival hustler.

Harrowing read with extensive quotes from the letters of British soldiers.