In the Art of the Deal, Donald Trump’s get rich quick guide, he explains how to seduce the customer. “People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular,” he wrote. “I call it truthful hyperbole.”

At the presidential debate on Monday night, roughly 100m Americans will be exposed to Mr Trump’s magical thinking. The US can be great again by electing the best dealmaker in the world. Some will see it as a con trick. Others will be willingly gullible. A worryingly large share will care little about his truthfulness either way. Since all politicians lie, Mr Trump could hardly be worse than Hillary Clinton.

That, in purest form, is today’s voter breakdown — a world apart from the founding fathers’ informed citizenry. In the hunt for the mother of all deals, Mr Trump has two key partners. The first is the media. Conservatives believe the conventional media suffers from deep liberal bias. Most journalists probably are on the left by their measure.