Candidate Con

"Trouble. Oh, we got trouble,
Right here in River City."

   Say something loud enough, long enough, to enough people, and eventually some will begin to believe it. Then you can build on that base of sham and bigotry, adding those who may not be sure of the message, but go along with what they perceive as the wisdom of the crowd and the candidate, and soon you have a political movement.
   The True Believers gather around the candidate, who tells them what they want to hear, regardless of fact or reality.
   He preaches the Great Truth to the local choir of True Believers, who embrace his message of Trouble and his vow to make things great again. As if things are not great now, but the master salesman can fix it.
   "The Music Man" is the story of a master salesman -- really a con artist -- who tells the people of River City that there's Trouble, Trouble, Trouble, and persuades them that he can solve all their problems. 
   The fast-talking salesman-con artist insists he has the solution, to make things great again, since the coming of a new element that has drugged and robbed the countryside of its greatness. He plays on the fears and suspicions of people who are eager to blame someone for their problems, even those they didn't know they had.
   But where's the evidence that River City is no longer great? The Music Man -- salesman/con artist -- blames it on pool. Not billiards, a fine, upstanding game, the salesman notes,  but on the new game, pool. The reality, however, is that pool is largely a variation on the older, more traditional game of billiards. But because it's new, people can be persuaded that the new is to blame for whatever trouble there might be in River City. If, in fact, there is any trouble at all, and what troubles do exist have little or nothing to do with the newcomer.
  
   Similarly, there is a master salesman today running for high office who insists there is trouble, trouble, trouble. He blames newcomers for it, and promises that if people join his band, all their troubles will be ended.
   The reality in River City, however, was that there was very little trouble, and what little there was could not be blamed on a newcomer game. In addition, the salesman/con artist knew nothing about music.
   In America today, there are problems, of course. There always are. But the economy is growing, the unemployment rate is down, and more jobs are becoming available. So where's the trouble? According to the leading candidate, it's the newcomers, the immigrants who are somehow different. Just as billiards is different from pool.
   People often act on belief, but not always on reality. A master salesman/candidate/con artist  cultivates preconceived beliefs to bank his billiard moves and score voter points to win the game. Except there's more at stake than just winning.
   Meanwhile, we've got trouble. That starts with T and that stands for ...