By Brian Howey
For much of the 19th century, Phineas Taylor Barnum delighted and confounded patrons on two continents with a circus and a freak show filled with amazing characters. The phrase, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” is often attributed to Barnum, though some speculate it was actually uttered by David Hannum. It is an apt description of Barnum and his customers.
On Tuesday night, fresh off victories in Michigan and Mississippi, Donald Trum
p added to the profanity, to the authoritarian nature of his campaign, and to the racial-coded aspects with an unprecedented display of pure hucksterism.
It capped a week where Trump flip-flopped on torture, whether his national security team even existed, and his penchant for making his crowds take an oath of allegiance, the optics of which had some comparing him to a Nuremberg rally. We witnessed Hoosier supporters forcibly remove a black woman from his rally in Louisville. It came after 2012 nominee Mitt Romney tried to derail the Trump circus, calling him a “fraud” and a “phony.” Trump responded by suggesting that Romney would have performed an obscene act made famous by the Clinton administration.
Trump’s victory speech at Trump National Golf Club Jupiter in Florida was a stunning piece of narcissism. It is a place of luxury where 95 percent of the blue-collared, angry, white Americans voting for Trump will never get a chance to plant a flip-flop, let alone sink a putt. Trump was in his element and it was all about him and his products. In a speech worthy of a K-Tel commercial, Trump cited his array of business successes: Trump vodka, Trump steaks, Trump water, Trump magazine. I could not find a count of how many times he used the word “I” or “me.”
Or, as Mr. Barnum would say, “I believe hugely in advertising and blowing my own trumpet, beating the gongs, drums, etc., to attract attention to a show; but I never believed that any amount of advertising or energy would make a spurious article permanently successful.”
Trump explained, “Mitt got up and he really shouldn’t have done it. It wasn’t very becoming. He talked about the water company. Well there’s the water company.” Trump then pointed at a table offstage. “I mean, we sell water. And it’s very successful. I have very successful companies. I filed with the Federal Elections [Commission] 100 pages, almost 100 pages, that many of the press have gone down and seen and they were all very, very impressed. I built a great, great company. I have very low debt, I have assets like this, owned 100 percent by me with no debt.”
Or as Mr. Barnum once put it, “Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public.”
Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer watched as the networks stayed transfixed even as Hillary Clinton spoke, observing on Fox News, “I don’t think I’ve seen such a stream of disconnected ideas since I quit psychiatry 30 years ago.”
Trump then played an attack TV ad aimed at him that featured dozens of “bleeped” cuss words from an array of his speeches. The 30-second spot by the American Future Fund Political Action is running in Florida ahead of the crucial March 15 primary.
Because this is a family newspaper, I won’t use the direct quotes with little dashes. But he uses words that include human posteriors (or a stubborn, barnyard animal), bovine scatology, a term often used to describe a kitten, and another describing a family member that an overwhelming number of Americans hold in high reverance.
And Trump pronounced it all good as he continued to scoop up evangelical support.
Mr. Barnum once observed, “Never cater to the baser instincts of humanity, strive as I have always done to elevate the moral tone of amusements, and always remember that the children have ever been our best patrons.”
At one point during his infomercial, Trump said, “Advertising is not as important as competence.”
Last Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Mika Brzezinski asked if Trump had formed a national security advisory committee, something that former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers had been urging contenders to do for more than a year now during this, the age of ISIS terror.
Trump responded, “Yes, there is a team.” He then quickly reversed himself, saying, “There’s not a team. I’m going to be forming a team. I’ve met with far more than three people, and I’ll be forming a team at the appropriate time.”
Mr. Barnum once said, “You know I had rather be laughed at than not to be noticed at all.”
So it’s been a stunning week in American politics. Unless Gov. John Kasich can defeat Trump in his home state of Ohio on March 15 or Marco “Bambi” Rubio can salvage his home state of Florida (CNN/ORC has Trump leading Rubio 40-24 percent there), Donald Trump will be well on his way to the Republican presidential nomination.
Or, as Mr. Barnum once said, “Never give a sucker an even break.”
— The columnist is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at howeypolitics.com. Find him on Facebook and Twitter @hwypol.