Let's skip the part where we joke about all politicians being con artists by another name and where we mention a recent US president, to get to the challenge itself:
There was no shortage of famous con artists throughout the 20th century--international adventurers with a gift of a gab and a keen eye for easy money, who took to heart P.T. Barnum's apocryphal quip that there's a sucker born every minute. Some of them were quite ambitious in their schemes, and a few even ventured into political power games. Your challenge is to get one to achieve high office, whether by electoral or undemocratic means, and preferably not get ousted right away.
Possible contenders include:
Boris Skossyreff (1896-1989), who briefly claimed the title of King of Andorra;
Victor Lustig (1890-1947), who sold the Eiffel Tower (twice);
Ignaz Trebitsh-Lincoln (1879-1943), who was at one point a British MP and at another a Buddhist abbot in China.
There was no shortage of famous con artists throughout the 20th century--international adventurers with a gift of a gab and a keen eye for easy money, who took to heart P.T. Barnum's apocryphal quip that there's a sucker born every minute. Some of them were quite ambitious in their schemes, and a few even ventured into political power games. Your challenge is to get one to achieve high office, whether by electoral or undemocratic means, and preferably not get ousted right away.
Possible contenders include:
Boris Skossyreff (1896-1989), who briefly claimed the title of King of Andorra;
Victor Lustig (1890-1947), who sold the Eiffel Tower (twice);
Ignaz Trebitsh-Lincoln (1879-1943), who was at one point a British MP and at another a Buddhist abbot in China.