Michael Beschloss Profile picture
PRESIDENTS OF WAR, 9 other books. @NBCNews Presidential Historian. @PBS contributor. Born Chicago. My Threads link is https://t.co/9r7VWCiF7W

Jun 28, 2021, 6 tweets

Plot summary of “Trackdown: The End of the World” (CBS, May 1958): “Walter Trump, a confidence man…tells the people a cosmic storm will hit the town and he is the only one who can save them."

In “Trackdown: the End of the World” (CBS, 1958), the con man “Walter Trump” tells a crowd, “I am the only one! Trust me! I can build a wall around your homes that nothing will penetrate!"

In “Trackdown: The End of the World” (CBS, 1958), when someone asks the sheriff how long he will let “this con man” called "Walter Trump" walk around town, “Trump" threatens, “Be careful son, I can sue you!”

At the end of “Trackdown: The End of the World” (CBS, 1958), sheriff arrives to arrest con man “Walter Trump” for grand theft. “Trump” offers bribe to go free. Narrator says there's “no hope” for the townspeople until they realize that everything “Trump” told them was “a lie."

“Trumpery” is defined by Oxford English Dictionary as “showy but worthless” and “delusive or shallow."

Lawrence Dobkin, who played con man “Walter Trump” in “Trackdown: The End of the World” (CBS, 1958), later went on to provide narration for Disney’s “Hall of Presidents” in 1970s:

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