The votes are in, and here in my home state of South Carolina, Donald “Can’t Be Stumped” Trump won the day. Depending on political leanings, citizens might be celebrating with all their friends or crying quietly into their pillows, but either way, they have to accept the facts. Trump is looking less like a joke candidate and more like a GOP nominee with every passing day. People with a mind for history shouldn’t be surprised by this turn of events—Trump is just one in a long history of rich business owners dabbling in politics.

While he’s associated with travelling circuses today, P.T. Barnum was known at the time for his museum of wonders and humbugs. He was a showman extraordinaire who brought together every freak and fantasy, then sold them all for 25 cents a head. He had his circus rings, but in 1867 Barnum decided to toss his hat into the center ring of politics, Barnum ran for congress. He was quite the speaker, but his reputation preceded him. There was not an American alive who didn’t know about his famous hoaxes, and the idea that such a fraud would win was laughable. Humorists of the day parodied the idea of Barnum as a congressman using the position to try to advertise his show to all the white hairs in the government. It was a joke, a lark that a man like Barnum would be elected anything. They weren’t entirely wrong, given that he lost the race to his own third cousin, William Henry Barnum. However, he did serve four terms in the Connecticut Legislature and was the mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut. He did a good enough job there and is remembered fondly.

It takes a special kind of man to win the election for the other guy, but Ross Perot did just that—twice. In 1992 and 1996, he lost the Republican vote and decided to run third party, splitting the normal Republican voters. Clinton had a solid base, whereas the Republican nominees (George H.W. Bush in 1992, Bob Dole in 1996) only got part of what they normally would have. Perot broke the base in both Clinton elections and handed the presidency over without a fight.

Henry Ford’s automobile changed the world—and he hated that more than anything. Ford was a man of simple tastes, who liked farms and plain women. He hated drinking and felt that money was a curse that corrupted all the people who had it, himself excluded of course. He believed he knew what was best for the world, and what was best for the world was small town Americana. To prove it (and to make more money), Ford bought up land in the Amazon rain forest to use as a rubber farm and forced his workers to live like Americans in a town he named Fordlandia in 1928. Unfortunately, Ford’s American dream failed almost immediately. The workers hated American food and living situations. They were made to work in the tropical noon sun with no care for the way people typically did things in the Amazon. They revolted first over their hatred of hamburgers, but abandoned the place over their poor treatment in 1934.

So what does this tell us about Trump? He’s a showman, but that didn’t help Barnum all that much. He’s a Republican, but if he doesn’t make the cut, he could end up doing the party more harm than good and helping another Clinton take office. Most of all, he’s got visions for the country, but what will happen to the citizens of Trumplandia?