Bait-and-switch business models have been around since the beginning of time and are often referred to as Ponzi schemes these days. Their nefarious operating premises are easy to understand but hard to spot, until it is too late.
A 2008 example of the shocking simplicity yet devastating effects of a Ponzi scheme was the implosion of Bernie Madoff’s successful investment fund. His fraudulent business model was simple — overpromise and underdeliver. Day after day, he made unrealistic investment promises to wealthy individuals eager to chase a higher yield than the rest of the world could offer them. Madoff had no intention of actually investing their money. His scam ran like clockwork for 40 years solely based upon him telling his investors what they wanted to hear, when they wanted to hear it.
When the dust finally settled in 2009 inside a New York federal courtroom, Madoff was convicted of fleecing some or the world’s wealthiest individuals to the tune of $65 billion.
History shows us several consistent hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme. For starters, they almost always are led by someone who is charismatic and street savvy but morally bankrupt. Secondly, their synthetic flywheel of success must get shinier every week to relieve the pressures of delivering on the previous week’s unmet promises. Lastly, the founding fraudster must be willing to schlep his bag of lies every day for eternity because the moment the lies stop, the house of cards collapses.
Starting to remind you of anyone?
Much like Madoff, President Donald Trump continues to make unrealistic promises that have the distinct feeling of being too good to be true. These populous-fueled promises offer quick fixes to serious domestic and foreign problems ranging from immigration, budget deficits, inflation and a peaceful end to two wars. As the days pass and the faux shiny objects stack up in the West Wing, it is starting to become apparent that Trump is writing checks he can’t actually cash.
With a majority of Trump’s domestic agenda now sitting in federal courthouses for obvious reasons and his unpatriotic embrace of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, it’s not hard to see why his polling numbers are starting to show some weakness. Not to mention, nothing is less expensive than it was in December, as promised. A Gallup poll taken last week shows Trump’s overall approval rating slipped to 45% since being sworn in Jan. 20. Specific issues like his handling of the economy is down to 42% and he has only 40% support for his handling of the war in Ukraine.
If I’m reading the tea leaves correctly, the next batch of polling numbers will continue to accelerate downward because the previously mentioned issues are still unresolved, and a few new ones have been added to the mix. Last week’s disastrous Oval Office encounter with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not only serve as a boat anchor to Trump in the polls but on the overall situation too. In a matter of minutes, 250 years’ worth of respected foreign diplomacy withered disgracefully away, and the best interest of the world was bypassed for the sole gratification of Trump.
Often, Trump’s hidden truths relate to money. The emerging realities of the cost-cutting efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency are falling dramatically short of the $2 trillion promise made on the campaign trail by Elon Musk. Furthermore, to appease the president at the expense of their constituents, the Republican-controlled Congress is advancing a Trump-approved budget plan that will actually increase our national debt by trillions of dollars instead of honoring one of his loudest campaign promises: reducing the debt.
Seeing a pattern here?
Just like the rest of the world’s successful fraudsters, Trump’s reliance on deception has marked every facet of his life. Bankruptcies mar his business life. Affairs and divorce mark his personal life. Conspiracy theories and unmet promises define his political life. Did Mexico ever pay for that wall?
All Ponzi schemes have one thing in common: they eventually fail.
Nobody can predict in advance how they will fail, but they always do. The 2008 financial crisis unraveled Madoff’s scam when his hoodwinked investors all needed their money at the same time. Let’s hope Trump’s Ponzi scheme of deception and calculated distraction fails at the ballot box and not on Wall Street, Main Street or the battlefield beforehand.
If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
Credit: Geoff Duncan
Credit: Geoff Duncan
An AJC contributor, Geoff Duncan served as Georgia’s lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2023. He is a former professional baseball player and the author of “GOP 2.0: How the 2020 Election Can Lead to a Better Way Forward for America’s Conservative Party.” He also is a contributor to CNN.
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