There is a debate whether circus showman P.T. Barnum ever said “there is a sucker born every minute.”

Regardless, it is clear that a lot of people fall for smooth talking pitchmen. That is evident from the line the California High-Speed Rail Authority folks doled out after the Trump Administration, to no one’s surprise, yanked $4 billion in federal funding from the 17 year-old project.

They claim real progress has been made in getting high-speed rail up and running between Los Angeles and San Francisco as was promised in 2008 to do so by 2020 for $35 billion.

Now the price tag has zoomed past $135 billion with 119 miles projected to be operable from Bakersfield to Merced by 2033.

But that’s not the real line that treats the public as if they were suckers plunking down cash to see a three-headed lady. In this case, the three-headed lady exhibit is the high-speed rail project.

Californians have spent $15 billion so far via hidden greenhouse taxes at the gas pump as well as bonds guaranteed by the state’s general fund using sales tax and such.

The line that treats every California as if they are suckers was the assertion that by the end of this month state officials expect investors to express interest in pouring private capital into the vanity project for a smattering of upper middle class travelers.

Californians were told in 2008 if they approved $9.9 billion in general obligation bonds, private sector investors would be tripping over each to write checks for the rest.

To think they would do so now when it is clear the money spigot — even if Gov. Gavin “Sue” Newsom is successful with litigation to get the $4 billion previously committed — from the federal government is going to be turned off for a number of years.

The worst part is everyone is framing this as a Trump versus Newsom squabble.

Add to the fact Newsom is trying to punch his ticket to the White House with an arrival date of Jan. 20, 2029, and its guaranteed the best course of action regarding the high-speed rail project in relation to California realities won’t happen.

Since the inception of the high-speed rail project in 1996, the world of business travel has changed significantly in California. Zoom meetings, teleconferencing, and such are no longer exceptions to the rule. The two mighty financial centers the high-speed rail would connect in San Francisco and Los Angeles aren’t exactly expanding in terms of office space and employment numbers.

Leisure travel as a large part of the passenger pie for high-speed rail has always been a lark at best.

The hardcore passenger market that drives the world’s more successful high-speed rail projects in China, Japan, and elsewhere are commuters.

There are not a lot of people who commute between San Francisco and LA. But there are a ton that do so from the interior of California that grows year after year as the affordable housing solution for the two coastal metro areas.

It is also clear once the 119-mile segment between Bakersfield and Merced is up and running by 2033 – if that – the nation will probably be preparing to celebrate its 300th anniversary before the high-speed rail system ever reaches San Francisco or Los Angeles. It is why if Newsom were a statesman first and a politician second, he’d shift focus from litigation to rethinking.

No one in their right mind should argue the state needs to walk away from 17 years of prep and environmental work and $15 billion so far in construction and land acquisition.

The rethink would maximize what is now being put in place and what next could be done in the most cost effective way to get the most people off of the freeways going to and from jobs.

That would involve implementing the ACE Forward plan first and foremost. Essentially, it connects ACE with high-speed rail in Merced to reach San Jose, Sacramento,  and even San Francisco with one transfer.

To reduce travel time, the plan calls for a series of tunnels in the Altamont to straighten out tracks so trains can travel between the San Joaquin Valley and Tri-Valley. That will allow trains currently traveling as slow as 20 to 25 mph to go almost 100 mph.

It would also, in some places between Merced and Manteca, require the need to have more double tracking.

ACE Forward was seen by some as a way to get the LA to SF travel connection up and running while work was done on the problematic and expensive segment under the Pacheco Pass and to cross the San Andreas Fault to go from Merced to San Jose and then San Francisco.

With a transfer from ACE tracks in the Livermore-Pleasanton area or to Valley Link eventually in Lathrop, the connection could be made sooner than a lot later.

Such a move doesn’t preclude somehow ultimately completing the original fantasy. But it does make sure what has been invested doesn’t go to waste. And it also provides a functional commuter rail system integrated with the state’s rail network.

The original game plan was flawed. The decision to go ahead with the section that would meet the least resistance and therefore the state could spend money on physical work to keep the project going, was ill-conceived at best and reckless at worst.

Newsom would do everyone a favor, including himself and his presidential aspirations, if he put on the brakes and rethought high-speed rail.

It’s a hallmark of leadership; making sure your pride doesn’t blind you.

It would show his ability to make lemonade out of the proverbial lemon.

And to be honest, that is what California needs now more than ever.

—  This column is the opinion of Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Courier or 209 Multimedia. He may be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com