P.T.’s Maxims

“There’s a sucker born every minute.” P.T. Barnum

P.T.’s maxim holds true in MAGA Land. The Internet features advertisements for Trump Bucks part of the Trump Rebate Banking System. The ads claim that by investing in the TRB for short, Trump will reward their loyalty by making them rich. When he is elected, he will unveil a new monetary system that will turn these certificates and coins into legal tender worth far more than the purchase price. Invest in a TRB membership card “issued by Donald Trump,” the ads from Patriots Dynasty, Patriots Future and USA Patriots claim, and the purchaser who spent, say, $99.99 on a Diamond Trump Bucks Bill will be able to cash it in for $10,000 at major banks or at retailers like Walmart, Costco and Home Depot.

A 100 : 1 payout is great, but you can’t afford to wait when the wolf is at the door. Trump Bucks holders were really disappointed when they attempted to deposit their certificates or coins at a bank or to cash them in at Walmart. One 75-year-old Alabama grandmother was sure that Trump was going to make her rich. The grandmother, who describes herself as a “real patriot,” invested $1,500 in Trump Bucks. “When I went to the bank, they said dozens of people have been coming in to cash these checks and they have nothing to do with it”.

A 77 year old Florida woman suffered the same fate when she attempted to cash in her Trump coins. Her daughter said, “At the bank, she even admitted she got scammed. But then giant boxes arrived at the house full of Trump checks and other stuff that she bought for $500 and that would supposedly be worth $6 million one day. We tell her she’s getting scammed all over again and she said, ‘Just wait, Trump will make all the patriots rich.”

“No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.” P.T. Barnum.

If P.T. were alive today, he would add a corollary “Or underestimating their gullibility either.”

By Ed Dufton