The Duke and the Dauphin

Mark Twain on Convicting a Conman (Or Two)

Do you remember the Duke and the Dauphin?

It’s in Huckleberry Finn. You read that, right? In High School? The Great American Novel? About the two guys fleeing down the Mississippi River on a raft? There’s Huck, a decent kid running away from his troubles, and Jim, a slave who is really running away from his troubles.

Check the CliffNotes or ChatGPT for the details. But I always remembered the chapters about the Duke and the Dauphin. Huck and Jim meet these men along the river. Despite their rags, they claim to be mighty European royals, the latter the true King of France. It takes awhile for Huck to realize they aren’t really royalty, just conmen. They move from village to village along the river, spinning fantastic tales about their royal status, while scamming money out of gullible hicks and average American idiots.

At one point they claim to be famous actors, sell out an entire theater for three nights in advance, and then simply abscond with the money. Critically, Twain shows that the townspeople take part in their own fleecing. The opening night crowd knows they have been scammed, but won’t admit it to the rest of the town. Instead they build up the performance. The second night, same story. These mediocre conformists don’t want to be ridiculed for having been scammed, so they pretend to have loved the show. By the time they plot their revenge for night three, the cynical Duke is counting his money on the raft with Huck and Jim.

Sound familiar? Conmen today need the same thing—a credulous audience, Americans who eagerly participate in self-delusion. I’m talking about politics, obviously, and our great Conman in Chief. But smaller cons happen in politics all the time, and business, and religion.

Donal J. Trump was convicted today on all charges. The Duke and the Dauphine are finally caught, tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. Let’s hope we learn to be wary of the con, the way Huck did.