Early in the 20th century, George C. Parker sold
the Brooklyn Bridge, Grant’s Tomb, the Statue of Liberty, Madison Square
Garden, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
He did this numerous times using fake documents and a fake office.
Bernie Madoff bilked investors out of over $65 billion in a decades-long Ponzi scheme through his investment firm.
Bernie hired his brother Peter, his niece Shana, and his sons Mark and
Andrew in various positions. He conned some of the best and brightest in the financial world. He promised lavish returns but simply deposited investor money in a bank account and provided phony statements while using the bank account to freely support his lavish lifestyle. Of the $65B lost, only $4B was returned.
In the accompanying graphic, I have also included Charles
Manson among these otherwise financially successful con men only because he “conned”
cult members into committing murder on his behalf. He targeted emotionally insecure social
outcasts and manipulated them with drugs, sex, and a quasi-religious combination
of Scientology and Transcendental Meditation.
Manson personifies the psychopathic individual with his extreme lack of
empathy and his ability to be charming, manipulative, and exploitative. All are requirements for a proper con.
This brings us to the final, perhaps the greatest con man of
them all, Donald J. Trump. "The Donald" would certainly try to convince you that he is the greatest of anything you
might mention. While he might be loathed to tell you, that he is a con man, this would be in keeping with another philosophical
observation. To quote the famous line
from The Usual Suspects Verbal Kint, aka Keyser Söze, “The greatest trick the
Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
Donald John Trump has perfected, with some alacrity, the ability
to grab the spotlight and demand attention.
He needs an audience. He often accomplishes
this simply with his outrageousness. He
could fill another book that might be titled Trumpism: The Art of the Buffoon. Just like many of the other “isms,” Trumpism
is not a complex or hard-to-understand construct. Know the man, understand the philosophy. At his core, Donald John Trump is the
essential con man. If you can comprehend
what motivates a man who exploits others by gaining their confidence, you begin
to understand The Donald.
George Parker sold a mile-long bridge and Donald Trump sold a miles-long wall of xenophobic hate. Bernie Madoff conned financial institutions before being caught and Donald Trump has conned the banking industry and others resulting in over 3,500 legal suits. When Trump pulled off his most outlandish con, the presidency of the United States, he had taken his bluster and grift to a new audience.
To call confidence schemers con “artists,” asks us to
acknowledge that some manner of talent is inherent in the individual. I would argue that, while this might be a
learned behavior or skill, to call it "art" is to degrade all other
skills and abilities that seek loftier goals.
Cheating others may be interesting to study or watch as a spectator,
perhaps in a movie like The Sting or Catch Me If You Can, but fraud victims
most often have a less tolerant viewpoint.
Con "artists" generally have dark psychological
defects that few would describe as talents beyond some measure of comparison
with others of the same devious mindset.
Among these are psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism where
manipulation of others to their detriment brings pleasure to the perpetrator. The exploitation of the gullible most often
involves an attack of the human frailty of the “mark.” Psychopathy is manifested by illogical emotional
responses, a lack of empathy, and poor behavioral controls that may predict
criminal behavior. Subtypes of
psychopathy may include narcissism, sadism, or simple antisocial behavior.
Since one of the traits peculiar to con artists was named after
him, a brief background on Niccolo Machiavelli might be helpful. He is also called the father of modern
political philosophy. He was a Florentine
diplomat who lived during the Italian Renaissance. His observations of history and personal
experiences led him to proclaim that politics has always involved deception,
treachery, and crime. Machiavelli wrote
Discourses on Livy which provided a foundation for modern Republicanism. While such
political realism may have been as accurate then as now, it is hardly something we should
aspire to or tolerate.
While true Republicanism as a political ideology has many
valid and worthwhile virtues, putting those ideas into practice is where Machiavelli’s
deception, treachery, and crime create our current problems. Civic virtue, rule of law, and self-governance
sound good but implementation can be difficult.
The World According to Trump, aka Trumpism, flourishes under
his predisposition to manipulation. While
Trump lacks any historical sense, he is a master manipulator. In the dark triad of psychological traits,
Trump scores the trifecta. His Machiavellian
manipulation coupled with his psychopathy and narcissistic personality disorder
make him a most evil politician.
In psychologist Dale Hartley’s book, Machiavellians: Gulling
the Rubes, he describes these master manipulators as hardwired to lie, cheat,
scheme, and betray. Hartley says that
these con artists are easy to identify by their persistent behavior where they
view all human interaction to be contests between winners and losers. If this winners and losers theme sounds
familiar you have obviously listened to at least one of Trump’s diatribes.
In the toolbox of the proficient con artist, you will find
another trait, charm. They can turn it
on by pushing your buttons to make you feel special. They also know those buttons to push that get
you angry and motivated to take action.
All they need to do is stir the anger and point you in a certain
direction to vent that anger. Create the
problem then identify a “solution” even if closer scrutiny would reveal better
options.
Donald Trump has been working the long con for years. His is not some carefully planned complex
scheme but an adaptation of a lifestyle that fulfills his narcissistic craving
for adulation and praise. He keeps score
on several fronts. The long con is all
about leverage. Profits decide winners
and losers in financial transactions.
There are also things like crowd sizes and items that can be measured to
tally the score. Even if you don’t have
the biggest or best of something, you can certainly tell people yours is the
best, then repeat the Big Lie with conviction enough times so they become
believers.
Con artists are very confident and cocky with an
overvaluation of self-worth. They are
arrogant and abusive when challenged. In
Trump’s case, he can also use his perceived wealth to garner trust. Many people will tell themselves that: he has all
that money so he must be good at what he does.
Trump’s displays of wealth and prosperity and his violent outrage at any
information that would degrade that perception, tell you just how much it
means to him. It was no accident that he began his successful presidential bid by descending a golden escalator with trophy wife number three. Create the illusion and the rest is simple.
 |
| Trump grasping the brass ring |
Trump is not some Bernie Madoff running a
decades-long Ponzi scheme. He isn’t that
clever. He is just a Machiavellian personality
who has worked his narcissism from a stint as a game show host to grab the Commander
in Chief’s ring from his perch atop his plastic horse on the US political carousel. The best cons leave the subjects still loving the perpetrator. To the con artist, the marks, suckers, stooges, mugs, rubes, or gulls (from the word gullible), deserved to be fleeced for their foolishness and greed.
Footnote: While this topic of con MEN seems a bit sexist, a number of women have been adept at this "trade," and perhaps we don't know their numbers because they are better at it than men. Big Bertha Heyman (5’ 4” and 245 lbs) conned men pretending to be a wealthy woman unable to access her fortune. Barbara Erni traveled Liechtenstein dressed lavishly with a large ornate trunk that she insisted be stored in the most secure room in the building. Her accomplice would climb out of the trunk, steal everything of value, and climb back into the trunk. Elizabeth Bigley, aka Cassie Chadwick, claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of billionaire industrialist Andrew Carnegie. She let it be known that he provided her with riches to keep quiet which tempted banks to offer her loans. The banks were duped out of an estimated $20M for their greed. In a variation of the Bigley scam, Therese Humbert claimed to be heir to the fortune of an imaginary millionaire who had but one condition, the money would be locked in a large safe until her younger sister could marry. A huge loan against the safe’s contents financed her lavish lifestyle until creditors demanded it be opened to find a brick and an English half-penny.
