I sized him up as a modern P.T. Barnum selling tickets to a modern variation of the Feejee Mermaid, one of the panoply of Barnum's famous fakes that people decided were worth a bit of their money.”
-- David Cay Johnston (Introduction paragraph 5)

Importance: This is Johnston's first impression of Trump, shortly after their meeting in 1988. Johnston's reference to Barnum, a circus owner who was famous for convincing people to view fake wonders and freaks. The point is that Barnum sold his stories to people and most people bought in, even knowing they were going to be seeing fakes. Johnston's comparison indicates that he believes people can see through Trump to realize that he is selling people on his image, which is also a fake.

So assuming it was him – I don't think it was him, I never even heard about it. So it's really not fair to mention. I never happened … if there are no...
-- Donald Trump (Chapter 2, "Family Values" paragraph 5)