text: The Myth of Trump's Business Success | A Little Extra
  Men in search of a myth will usually find one if they work at it.
  Robert Silverberg, "… and the Moundbuilders Vanished from the Earth"
  As a student and teacher of US and World History, I have come across a great many beliefs about things that did or did not happen that are ultimately not substantiated by the historical record. In one of my favorite articles, "… and the Moundbuilders Vanished from the Earth", historian Robert Silverberg writes about how European settlers could not understand who had built the structures and inhabited the archaeological sites that they uncovered as they spread out across North America.
  They were particularly troubled by the fact that there were no people currently living in these locations and these descendants of Europeans assumed that the natives were not capable of having built civilizations as sophisticated as the ones that they were now unearthing. Although we know understand these were the ruins of civilizations built by indigenous peoples who had been killed off by the earlier spread of epidemic disease, Silverberg describes a wide variety of theories that were postulated and dismissed over a period of almost 200 years before historians finally settled on what is now widely understood to be not only the explanation most supported by the historical evidence but also the most logical explanation, one that seems like it should always have been the most obvious to anyone exploring the question.
  It is unclear whether voters will question this myth, but it seems obvious that they should. Hillary Clinton has made and will continue to make, claims about her experience and her record of achievement. Since much of her life has been spent in public service, she is being and will continue to be, held accountable for the documentation that she does and does not provide to substantiate her claims. Her single biggest problem right now hinges on her inability or unwillingness to document her claims with the evidence that she is legally required to disclose and her apparent efforts to keep this material from becoming public record.
  Yet, if a lack of transparency is the main argument against Clinton, Trump should certainly be held to the same standard. His campaign is premised on the notion that he is an accomplished businessman and that this success qualifies him for the presidency. We should at least expect him to document that he is, in fact, a successful businessman, something that he has never actually done.
  There are many legitimate reasons to be concerned about Hillary Clinton. Her efforts to withhold information from public scrutiny sits at the top of the list for many. Myths are created when people choose to believe things that are divorced from reality. For the most part, myths can be pretty harmless, as long as we recognize them as myths and do not willfully choose to act as if they were a reality.
  This year it is possible that we might just end up choosing a myth as president. This is not the same as mythologizing a historical figure. Historical figures don't make decisions and don't have anything more than symbolic power. The actual president has real power. Whatever problems our country might be facing, there is no rational basis for believing that they will be improved by blurring this distinction between myth and reality, no matter how much we might want to do so.