The Shill, the Barker, and the Patsy

Read Time:6 Minute, 6 Second

by Bill Formby

Some of us are old enough to remember the old time carnivals, not the circus, but the honest to goodness carnivals. They were all a some rural areas had for entertainment. They would whisk into an area just outside of town and by the next day they were set up and ready to go. Some had clowns and thrill rides and lots of blinking lights blinking and loud and lively organ music playing.

It would be the one or two events of the year for these folks and the whole town would turn out for a couple of days. Most all of them had games of chance and some there were, as they called it, skill although only the foolish every believed they were going to win anything worth what they paid to try their hand. Others had natural wonders of the world such as two headed goats, bearded women, alleged strong men, conjoined twins and other oddities for people to pay admission to see. Both had in common “barkers” and “shills.”

Read: Trump’s Secret Knowledge

Barkers were the ones on mega phones or in loud voices urging people to “step right up and see” the eighth wonder of the world” which can only be seen here, or step right up and win the giant Teddy Bear for your girl, wife, child. The shills were the ones taking the money and working the crowds inside the tents telling them the strange, unbelievable tale of how this actual Mermaid had been captured, or they were the ones urging you to just throw two balls and knock the cats down to be a winner. He would demonstrate just how easy it was.

This was not the Wizard of Oz, the man behind the curtain. No, they were out front telling you how great it was and how easy it was to see unbelievable things or win unbelievable prizes. What you did not see was the makeup on the Mermaid, or the step the guy put his foot on that always held one of the crates in place, not to mention that there was not a prize up there that cost them more than the price of admission. Just so you young folks out there don’t feel left out, this same practice goes on today. Try watching “professional wrestling” with their hype and their amazing good stunt people who put on the act for you.

You see the same thing with advertisers on television or at booths at the mall. “Gonna give you the deal of a lifetime.” Yeah, just like the emails from Nigeria and our best example, politicians. Yet somehow, people will immediately become suspect of a carnival or a Nigerian offering you everything, but never use that suspicious mind when it comes to politicians. Why? The politician has the same thing to gain, actually more, than the traditional scam artist. They get money plus big time perks. Top that off with the fact that if their spiel is good enough they can end up with a healthy retirement. Who could ask for more.

Read: Trump’s Brain Was Likely Stolen By Bannon and Given To Trump

Let’s start with our new president. Give the man his due, he is a hustler and a pretty damn good one at that. In business he had failures after failures but was still able to get people to give him money for real estate ventures. He finally hit on a good one and conned people into believing that, with his name on it, it would make more money.

After a bit of his high living and publicity he was right, but that didn’t mean he was a good business manager. But by living the lifestyle he did people were sure that he had the Midas Touch. They actually did not know the truth which was, when Trump’s biggest venture in Atlantic City went down the tubes the bankers let him walk because they were hoping he could sell off some of his failures and they could recoup some of his money. That was the choice instead of literally forcing him into bankruptcy. The fact that a couple of thousand workers and tradesmen got screwed over the deal did not matter. Trump was the barker and the shill. The workers were the patsies.

He kept himself viable by challenging the nationality of President Barack Obama even though he was doing it on borrowed money with over 3,000 lawsuits against him. The Trump University scheme he was the Barker and the salespeople the shills and the “students” the patsies. You see in Donald Trump’s mind only he counts as a person, everyone else are means to an end. So, once again he decided to upgrade himself to president.

Read: 1984 the Movie and Donald Trump

Here is Trump as the barker and others are the shills. Donald trump does not set policy, he tweets something and then lets his shills explain it to people. The fact that he does not know, nor does he care whether it is illegal, or unconstitutional does not matter. Who gets hurt does not matter either. I am sure the the thousand of employees and tradesmen felt fortunate at the time to be working for Trump’s casino in Atlantic City, but, like them, his voters are soon beginning to realize he was a barker with shills that were selling them a phony show.

The barker raves about about how good he was and how good it was going to be. He was going to have the best insurance and it was going to be cheaper and take care of everybody, except when people are looking at what the Congress is proposing, and that he said looked good to him, it is not what he said.

He barked about the jobs he was going to save except we found out that the Ford jobs he said would be saved were never going to be lost anyway. Ford never planned to move those jobs. Then after some really sweet incentives from the State of Ohio, Carrier decided to not move its plant to Mexico. It was reported that a ten-million dollar tax incentive saved a thousand jobs. He recently announced that ExxonMobil was starting up a 20 million dollar plant in Louisiana which has been being built for the last four years. It is all an illusion.

Meanwhile, back at the D.C. ranch Trump is gutting the State Department of its most senior foreign diplomats, those that actually know what they are doing, to strip money from the budget. This is a process, at the urging of the real president, Steve Bannon, to take away from the department those that keep this country out of wars through diplomacy. His Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, who, according to Rachel Maddow, he had never met before, has no deputy and they have stopped State Department briefings with the press. Donald Trump is still acting as the barker and Sean Spicer and a few other minions are being used as shills to explain away his asinine tweets while everything else goes on behind the curtain.

So, what we have is nothing more than a good old fashion carnival running the government with a barker and shills. Guess who are the patsies?

About Post Author

Bill Formby

Bill Formby, aka William A. Formby, PhD, aka Lazersedge is a former Marine and a former police officer. He is a retired University Educator who considers himself a moderate pragmatic progressive liberal, meaning that he thinks practically liberal, acts practically liberal, and he is not going to change in the near future. But, if he does he will be sure to let you know.
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7 years ago

I don’t think he’s really all that good as a barker. A shill yes, but a barker pretends to be the boss, and he ain’t.

Bill Formby
Reply to  Timmy Mahoney
7 years ago

In a sensemble that is true Timmy, but he thinks he is the boss.

7 years ago

But there are so many patsy’s. Why are there so damn many?

Bill Formby
Reply to  Rachael
7 years ago

Rachael, so many are from lower educated backgrounds who want to believe in magical solutions to solve problems. Look at the number of people who play the lottery or the number of people who believe that praying to a never seen God will solve their problems.

Queen Bee
7 years ago

Good article. Well described.

Bill Formby
Reply to  Queen Bee
7 years ago

Thank you, Queen Bee.

Admin
7 years ago

…and yet millions still attend his show; millions of patsys, every day, worshipping the barker’s charms.

Bill Formby
Reply to  Professor Mike
7 years ago

They never learn Mike, they never learn.

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