The most famous carnival barker of American musical culture is Billy Bigelow of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.  Harold Hill is the lovable con man of  Meredith Wilson's The Music Man.  Donald Trump is Billy Bigelow and Harold Hill rolled into one big schoolyard bully without any redeeming grace. There are probably hundreds of articles circulating in the blogosphere that describe Donald Trump as a carnival barker, because that is exactly what he is.  He shouts, insults, is not at all specific about how he will deliver all the things he promises, and has no interest in propriety.  He revels in impropriety.  And whether by accident or training, he is very, very good at neuro-linguistic programming. NLP is "an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in California in...(Read Full Post)