John Barron, John Miller – and Einar Korsnes
By Frank Benjamin Horn Hartvedt
The United States’ 47th President, Donald John Trump, says many strange things, a good deal of good things, and some malicious things. His rant about the death penalty is sad. Why did he win the presidential election in 2016 – and again in 2024? Probably, in part, because many Americans want a little bit of excitement and action in their daily lives. From a serious person, yes. But also from an almost unruly maverick.
The brilliant Murray Rothbard once made an important point regarding H. L. Mencken. You can actually be serious, professional, and principled while simultaneously being an «unserious» wit or «prankster.» Donald John Trump is an interesting figure in that context.
I remember one of the first things I noticed about him many years ago was his enormous «Howard Roarkian» absorption in his own work and ambitions – which was manifested, among other things, by having a number of potent newspaper portraits of himself hanging in his Manhattan office. Framed, naturally. I had the same thing in C. Sundts gate in downtown Bergen. I wasn’t an entrepreneur like Trump, but rather a sports leader primarily driven by some ideals I assume you’ve caught on to. I was proud of the activity I and my co-workers had created and the massive participation connected to it, and the newspaper articles on the office wall with the good IFS stories were an inspiration every day.
I agree with Rothbard. You can be a serious and ambitious and almost perfectionistic person and still allow yourself some mischief and refreshing antics – without deserving the label of unserious or even nihilist. If you’re going to be a politician in our time, I promise you that people want men and women who are ready to let loose a little.
But this isn’t the only similarity I have with the juggernaut from the USA.
Have you heard of John Barron and John Miller? Well, they don’t exist. Not the ones I’m talking about here, anyway. For years in the ’80s, Trump used the pseudonym «John Barron» for PR purposes. If he or his company was under the microscope of various actors, and a tough frontman was needed – someone who could deliver messages without the statements being directly tied to him – Trump sent in – not Donald John – but just John. John Barron. Who was introduced to the media as Trump’s spokesperson. The phone calls were numerous in the ’80s.
But that’s not all. In the ’90s, when «John Barron» had seen his best days, Trump apparently invented a new man he could «send in.» The wordsmith «John Miller.» Shortly after the break-up with his wife, Ivana Trump, a magazine wanted a statement from Donald John about the rumors surrounding new women in his life. But that was out of the question. Because Trump had other plans. At that time in his life, he possibly thought, «I can’t possibly sit here in the Manhattan office and heap praise on myself, and assure the world that I’m a good man, that I treated Ivana excellently, and that my new flame Marla will be treated like a queen.» Therefore, he got the «publicist» John Miller to say it – all of it. As well as stating he was extremely attractive. Physically – and otherwise. I can’t remember laughing as much as I did just now when I re-read this.
But I have to say it: Trump is a junior-league player compared to Frank Benjamin Horn Hartvedt from Åsane in Bergen. Not that I’ve «sent in» non-existent men to promote myself or the activity I’ve led. But I have «sent in.» Many. Non-existent potent men.
«Einar Korsnes» is the only one who became somewhat famous when Aftenposten ran a sensational feature – with a splashy top story on aftenposten.no for a whole morning and a large silhouette of Einar in the print paper – that IFS had engaged in something as extremely serious as «name cheating.» Tomas M. Lind, Gisle Hansen, Oddvar Mathisen, and Ståle Hansen, among others, never received any press coverage.
I agree with Rothbard. You can be a serious and ambitious and almost perfectionistic person and still allow yourself some mischief and refreshing antics – without deserving the label of unserious or even nihilist. If you’re going to be a politician in our time, I promise you that people want men and women who are ready to let loose a little. «John» in the USA is living proof.
PS: Okay, it’s totally fine that Aftenposten wrote about my alter ego Einar (I loved the silhouette, by the way). It was a poor judgment by yours truly to let an innocent use of a pseudonym unravel a few times by letting irritation slip out in phone calls, but come on, it wasn’t a tsunami that had struck Norway that morning. Just as little as it was a bank robbery that had happened in the alleyways of downtown Bergen.
Source: The Washington Post
(This article was published on frankbenjaminhartvedt.no in 2025)