In what can only be described as a crack in the simulation, an episode of the 1950s television western, Trackdown, has reemerged and is being shared on social media. It features a con man named Trump who tries to get townspeople to build a wall in order to protect themselves from the end of the world, .
Newsweek has confirmed that the 1958 television show is real. In an episode entitled, "The End of The World," a salesman named Walter Trump comes to a small town to convince its citizens to build a wall in order to prevent the coming apocalypse.
What the fresh hell. This is REAL. Filmed in 1958- about a conman who grifts a small town of suckers into building a wall. History not subtle enough for you? GUESS THE GRIFTER'S NAME
— Alex Hirsch (@_AlexHirsch) January 9, 2019
(And watch until the end) pic.twitter.com/6FA3p6KC00
"I bring you a message. A message few of you will be able to believe," Trump tells the townspeople, "a message of great importance. "A message I alone was able to read in the fires of the universe. But be not afraid my friends: I also bring you the means with which to save yourself."
The show's star, Texas ranger Hoby Gilman, doesn't buy what Trump is selling, but that doesn't stop the others. "I am the only one," Trump says. "Trust me. I can build a wall around your homes that nothing—nothing!—will penetrate." Walter Trump continues "You ask 'how do you build that wall?' You ask, and I'm here to tell you."
Gilman spends the episode trying to convince others that Trump is full of it, and that there's nothing to be afraid of. He goes to the local judge to get a warrant for Trump's arrest, and the judge believes him.
"When we were kids we were all afraid of the dark, then we grew up and we were not afraid anymore," the judge says of Trump. "But it's funny how a big lie can make us all kids again."
At the end of the episode, Gilman arrests Trump for fraud. A slide then flashes on the screen saying that the story had been adapted to television based on the real cases and stories of Texas rangers.
In 2019 reality, President Donald Trump has shut the government down for nearly three weeks over over $5 billion in funding for a wall along the U.S. southern border.
He made his argument to the American people during a Tuesday evening Oval Office address, warning that criminals and drugs would come through the border without his partial border wall and endanger America's children.
Trump's Democratic opponents have accused the president of fear mongering. The president is trying to "stoke fear and divert attention" from his own administration's troubles said Minority Senate Leader Chuck Schumer.
The majority of the wall would be built along the Texas border.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Nicole Goodkind is a political reporter with a focus on Congress. She previously worked as a reporter for Yahoo Finance, ... Read more
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