Category: Taxes

The 2026 Ohio Gubernatorial Race: Vivek Ramaswamy’s Commanding Position Against Amy Acton’s COVID Legacy and the Democrat Playbook 

As the dust settles on Ohio’s May 5, 2026, primary election, the stage is set for one of the most consequential gubernatorial contests in the state’s recent history. Biotech entrepreneur and Trump-endorsed Republican Vivek Ramaswamy emerged as the overwhelming GOP nominee, crushing fringe challenger Casey Putsch with approximately 82.5% of the vote (673,902 votes to Putsch’s 143,257). Ramaswamy swept every single county in Ohio, a remarkable show of unity across urban, suburban, and rural areas. On the Democratic side, former Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton secured the nomination unopposed, garnering around 742,000–760,000 votes in a low-energy primary. Overall voter turnout reached about 22.6% of registered voters, a modest uptick from recent midterm cycles. 

This matchup pits a dynamic, pro-growth outsider in Ramaswamy—backed by President Donald Trump and positioning Ohio as the nation’s top economic powerhouse—against Acton, whose public profile remains indelibly tied to the state’s aggressive COVID-19 response. As one conservative commentator noted in a recent podcast monologue, the race is far from the neck-and-neck horse race portrayed in some polling and media narratives. While recent surveys show a tight contest (with some giving Acton a slight edge or Ramaswamy a narrow lead), the ground game, Trump’s coattails, independent-voter outreach, and Acton’s historical liabilities suggest that Ramaswamy enters the general election with a structural advantage that could widen significantly by November 3, 2026. 

To fully appreciate this contest, we must delve into the candidates’ backgrounds, the primary results and their implications, the lingering economic scars from the pandemic era, comparative policy outcomes in neighboring states, and the broader political currents reshaping Ohio. This analysis expands on grassroots conservative perspectives—while incorporating verifiable data on turnout, economic metrics, investment challenges, and campaign tactics. Far from a replay of “yesteryear” Democrat strategies, this race highlights how progressive governance models have faltered in a post-Trump political landscape.

Candidate Profiles: Contrasting Visions for Ohio’s Future

Vivek Ramaswamy, a Cincinnati native and biotech billionaire, represents a fresh face in Ohio politics despite his national profile from the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Born to Indian immigrant parents, Ramaswamy built a successful pharmaceutical company (Roivant Sciences) before pivoting to public service. His Trump endorsement came early and emphatically, framing him as a “young, strong, and smart” leader committed to meritocracy, deregulation, and economic revival. Ramaswamy’s campaign emphasizes making Ohio the “#1 state” through pro-business policies, workforce upskilling, and attracting high-tech investment in sectors like semiconductors and biotechnology. He campaigns on the “high road,” avoiding personal attacks while highlighting policy contrasts. Critics from the far-right fringes—such as Putsch, dubbed the “car guy” for his automotive-themed online persona—have leveled baseless claims about Ramaswamy’s heritage or loyalty, echoing outdated nativist arguments. Ramaswamy has dismissed these as irrelevant, noting his personal integrity and fair play: his running mate, Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, bolsters legislative experience. 

In stark contrast stands Dr. Amy Acton, a physician from Youngstown with a compelling personal story of overcoming hardship in a steel mill family. She rose through public health ranks to become Ohio’s Health Director in 2019 under Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. Acton’s national visibility peaked during the early COVID-19 crisis, when she joined DeWine for daily briefings and advocated strict mitigation measures. These included Ohio’s first-in-the-nation school closures, stay-at-home orders (issued March 22, 2020), business shutdowns, and even the postponement of the state’s presidential primary. Supporters praised her as a calming, data-driven voice who “flattened the curve” and protected hospitals. However, detractors—including many business owners, parents, and conservatives—blame her policies for devastating economic and educational fallout, from mental health crises among youth to prolonged business closures. Acton resigned in June 2020 amid personal threats and protests, later serving briefly as a health advisor before entering the private sector and academia. Her 2026 campaign, with running mate and former Democratic Party chair David Pepper, focuses on “power back to the people,” affordability, and a critique of “billionaires and special interests.” Yet her record remains a focal point of Republican attacks, with Ramaswamy labeling her tenure an “abandonment of responsibility.” 

Acton’s campaign has leaned on traditional Democratic infrastructure, including legal support from figures like election attorney Mark Elias, who has been linked to aggressive tactics such as cease-and-desist letters targeting critics. Pepper, a vocal strategist, has served as an attack dog, pushing narratives that question Ramaswamy’s Ohio investment record or allege personal scandals (e.g., unsubstantiated claims of extramarital affairs, which can easily be dismissed as fabrications). These echo “yesteryear” playbook moves but risk backfiring in an era of heightened voter skepticism toward centralized government overreach. 

Primary Season: A Landslide for Ramaswamy, Unopposed for Acton

The May 5 primaries crystallized Republican enthusiasm. Ramaswamy’s 82.5% victory margin—far exceeding pre-primary polls showing him at 50-76%—demonstrated broad consolidation. He won 60-90%+ in nearly every county, from Democratic-leaning urban centers to deep-red rural areas, per county-by-county maps. Putsch, representing a self-described “radical right” element with fringe ideas (e.g., racial primacy in voting or extreme nativism), captured only 17.5% and never posed a serious threat. GOP insiders viewed him as illegitimate, akin to past primary spoilers. This sweep signals unified party backing, contrasting with historical GOP infighting (e.g., the 2016 Trump vs. Cruz/Rubio dynamics, in which critics eventually coalesced post-nomination). 

Acton’s uncontested path yielded solid but unremarkable Democratic turnout. Overall, the low primary participation (22.6%) underscores that the real battle begins now, targeting the 2-3% of independents and soft partisans who decide the general election. Ramaswamy’s primary dominance positions him to inherit the full Republican machinery, amplified by Trump’s upcoming Ohio appearances. 

The Economic Reckoning: COVID Policies, Recovery, and Investment Challenges

Central to the race is Acton’s COVID legacy and its economic toll. Ohio’s early lockdowns contributed to sharp job losses—hundreds of thousands in spring 2020—with uneven recovery. While statewide GDP rebounded (Ohio’s 2023 GDP was around $884 billion, according to BEA data), sectors such as hospitality, retail, and education lagged. Critics argue Acton’s orders exacerbated long-term damage: prolonged school closures harmed student outcomes, and business restrictions drove some enterprises to relocate. Ramaswamy has tied this to Ohio’s failure to recover fully, positioning his administration to reverse it through deregulation and investment incentives. 

Ohio’s business climate has improved—ranked No. 7 nationally and No. 1 in the Midwest in the 2026 Chief Executive CEO survey—but faces headwinds. The high-profile Intel semiconductor plant in New Albany (announced in 2022 with up to $20-100 billion promised) exemplifies stalled momentum: construction delays pushed first production from 2025/2026 to 2030-2031, with Intel investing $5+ billion by early 2026 but citing market and financial caution. Opponents blame pandemic-era policies and regulatory uncertainty; supporters note national chip shortages and the federal CHIPS Act. Regardless, such delays highlight the risk of capital flight if Ohio appears unstable. 

Comparisons to neighboring states underscore the stakes. Indiana, a right-to-work state since 2012, has often outperformed Ohio in manufacturing retention and unemployment (recently ~3.3% vs. Ohio’s ~4.1-4.2%). Studies on right-to-work show mixed but generally positive effects on job growth in competitive sectors. Michigan (post-right-to-work repeal) and Pennsylvania (swing state with union influence) have seen volatile recoveries, with Michigan’s auto sector still grappling with post-COVID supply chains. Kentucky, under GOP leadership but with its own challenges (e.g., successor dynamics under former Gov. Beshear), attracts some investment but lags in high-tech draws. Ohio, lacking right-to-work status despite past attempts (e.g., failed 2011 SB5), relies on tax incentives and workforce development—but Acton’s era amplified perceptions of anti-business hostility. Post-pandemic GDP growth has been comparable across the region (Ohio ~2.1% in recent years), yet Ohio’s unemployment edged higher in some BLS snapshots, and narratives of a business exodus persist. Ramaswamy’s platform—aligning with a potential Trump administration—promises to lure dollars from Indiana, Michigan, and beyond by emphasizing economic viability over lockdowns. 

Unions add another layer. Traditionally Democratic strongholds (teachers, public sector) have shifted toward Trump-era populism on trade and energy. Acton’s ties to labor risk alienating moderates if framed as favoring centralized mandates over job creation. Ramaswamy’s pro-worker, anti-regulation stance could peel independents.

Campaign Tactics, Polling Realities, and Broader Ohio Politics

Recent polls paint a competitive picture—RCP averages near even, with outliers like an early-2026 Emerson showing Acton +1 and Bowling Green/YouGov favoring Ramaswamy slightly. Yet intuition will hold: horse-race media and ad buyers inflate closeness for engagement. Ramaswamy’s primary sweep, Trump rallies, and Acton’s baggage (framed as “COVID queen” by the GOP) suggest momentum. Early attacks—scandals, investment critiques—have already been deployed, leaving Democrats vulnerable to “October surprise” fatigue. Elias-style legal maneuvers and Pepper’s opposition research risk overreach, mirroring past Democratic missteps in red-leaning Ohio. 

Ohio’s political map favors Republicans in gubernatorial races—no Democrat has won since 2006. Trump carried the state handily in 2016, 2020, and 2024. Ramaswamy inherits this, plus Senate and House majorities for swift policy wins. Acton represents a “propped-up Biden figure”: big government, unions, and progressive holdouts hoping to stall MAGA momentum. But as unions court Trump and independents prioritize pocketbooks, her path narrows.

Outlook: Boots on the Ground and a Call to Action

The general election will hinge on turnout and independents. Ramaswamy’s personal appeal—honest, non-combative—contrasts with Acton’s defensive posture. As the monologue urges, do not take victory for granted: vote in November, rally behind the nominee. With Trump stumping and economic contrasts sharpening, Ramaswamy could pull away decisively. Ohio’s recovery from pandemic policies, Intel’s fate, and regional competition will define the narrative.

In sum, this race transcends personalities. It tests whether Ohio embraces pro-growth conservatism or reverts to centralized experimentation. Data favors the former; history and momentum reinforce it. As voters weigh track records, Ramaswamy’s vision aligns with a thriving Ohio, while Acton’s invites scrutiny of past costs. The coming months promise clarity—and opportunity, along with a lot of political drama.  Amy Acton will have a hard time surviving the intensity that is headed her way.

Footnotes

1.  AP projections and primary results, May 2026.

2.  Ramaswamy’s victory speech and Acton’s coverage of the criticism.

3.  BLS unemployment data (Feb/Mar 2026 snapshots).

4.  BEA GDP by state reports.

5.  Chief Executive 2026 Best States for Business survey.

6.  Ballotpedia and NYT poll aggregates.

(Additional citations drawn from campaign filings, historical COVID orders via Ohio Dept. of Health archives, and economic impact studies.)

Bibliography (Selected for Further Reading)

•  Associated Press. “Ohio Primary Election Results 2026.” May 6, 2026.

•  Ballotpedia. “2026 Ohio Gubernatorial Election.”

•  Bureau of Labor Statistics. “State Employment and Unemployment Summary.” 2026 releases.

•  Bureau of Economic Analysis. “GDP by State.” Annual updates through 2025/2026.

•  Chief Executive Magazine. “Best & Worst States for Business 2026.” April 2026.

•  NBC News / 10TV. Primary results coverage, May 2026.

•  New York Times. “Ohio Governor Election Polls 2026.”

•  Ohio Secretary of State. Official primary turnout and county results.

•  RealClearPolling. “2026 Ohio Governor: Ramaswamy vs. Acton.”

•  Various: CNN, Dispatch, Signal Ohio reporting on candidates and Intel project (2025-2026).

Rich Hoffman

More about me

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

About the Author: Rich Hoffman

Rich Hoffman is an aerospace executive, political strategist, systems thinker, and independent researcher of ancient history, the paranormal, and the Dead Sea Scrolls tradition. His life in high‑stakes manufacturing, high‑level politics, and cross‑functional crisis management gives him a field‑tested understanding of power — both human and unseen.

He has advised candidates, executives, and public leaders, while conducting deep, hands‑on exploration of archaeological and supernatural hotspots across the world.

Hoffman writes with the credibility of a problem-solver, the curiosity of an archaeologist, and the courage of a frontline witness who has gone to very scary places and reported what lurked there. Hoffman has authored books including The Symposium of Justice, The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business, and Tail of the Dragon, often exploring themes of freedom, individual will, and societal structures through a lens influenced by philosophy (e.g., Nietzschean overman concepts) and current events.

Restoring Trust in American Elections: The Case for Reform in Light of Persistent 2020 Questions and the Path Forward

For millions of Americans, the 2020 presidential election left an indelible mark—not just because of its outcome, but because of the questions that have lingered ever since. Joe Biden received over 81 million votes, a record at the time, yet four years later, Kamala Harris garnered roughly 75 million in a similar political landscape with population growth and comparable partisan divides. This drop of more than 6 million votes, combined with Donald Trump’s increase from 74 million to around 77 million, has fueled widespread skepticism. Many see it not as natural voter shifts, but as evidence that 2020’s totals were artificially inflated through lax rules, mail-in ballot chaos, and vulnerabilities in electronic systems—especially under the cover of COVID-19 policies that expanded unmonitored voting.

These concerns are not fringe theories whispered in corners; they have driven national policy debates, legal actions, and now federal interventions. In late January 2026, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Fulton County’s election facility in Georgia, seizing hundreds of boxes containing 2020 ballots, tabulator tapes, electronic images, and voter rolls.<sup>1</sup> Fulton County, the epicenter of Georgia’s 11,779-vote margin favoring Biden, has long been a focal point for allegations of irregularities—misinterpreted surveillance video at State Farm Arena, disputed absentee ballot handling, and chain-of-custody questions. County officials promptly challenged the seizure in federal court, seeking the return of the materials and the unsealing of the warrant affidavit, arguing that it constituted overreach.<sup>2</sup> Yet for those convinced of fraud, this move signals accountability finally arriving under a Trump-led Justice Department.

We’ll examine these claims in the context of historical developments, empirical comparisons, and current developments. I would argue that, while courts and audits in 2020 found no widespread fraud sufficient to overturn the results, the system’s vulnerabilities—loose voter eligibility verification, the absence of universal ID requirements in key states, and reliance on potentially manipulable technology—created opportunities for abuse. And the authorities didn’t find fraud because they either didn’t want to look, or they deliberately looked in the wrong place to hide their complicity in the radicalism that did not want to honor voters in a self-governing government. Genuine self-governance requires secure elections in which every vote is verifiable, and every citizen’s voice counts equally. Reforms such as the Safeguard American Voters Eligibility (SAVE) Act offer a practical path forward, ensuring that only eligible citizens participate without disenfranchising legitimate voters.

A Brief History of Voting Technology and Fraud Concerns

America’s voting systems have always balanced innovation with risk. Paper ballots gave way to mechanical lever machines in the late 1800s to reduce intimidation and speed counting. Optical scanners emerged in the 1960s, followed by direct-recording electronic (DRE) machines in the 1990s. The 2000 Florida recount debacle led to the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, which pushed states toward more modern systems but also highlighted persistent issues: punch-card errors, hanging chads, and questions about machine accuracy.

By 2020, many jurisdictions used touchscreen DREs or ballot-marking devices with paper trails, while others relied on hand-marked paper ballots scanned optically. Critics point to shared origins with machines used in countries such as Venezuela and to concerns about the security of Dominion and ES&S systems. High-profile lawsuits against companies making fraud claims (e.g., Mike Lindell’s defamation losses) have chilled some discussion, but audits consistently show machines perform accurately when properly maintained and paper records are available for verification.<sup>3</sup>  The evidence is there in most cases with the paper backup to match the vote count.  However, this manual check often doesn’t occur, creating opportunities for discrepancies to affect results.

Fraud itself has historically been rare. The Heritage Foundation has tracked and documented cases since 1982, totaling approximately 1,500, which is insignificant relative to the billions of votes.<sup>4</sup> Yet rarity does not equal impossibility, especially in high-stakes, loosely regulated environments. The 2020 expansion of mail-in voting, drop boxes, and relaxed signature-matching requirements—often justified as a pandemic necessity—amplified risks in states without strict safeguards.

Fulton County in Focus: From 2020 Allegations to 2026 Federal Action

Georgia’s narrow 2020 margin made Fulton County a lightning rod. Biden’s considerable urban advantage there offset rural Trump’s strength statewide. Allegations included “suitcase” ballots retrieved from beneath tables (later explained as standard procedure), water main breaks that delayed counting, and discrepancies in absentee ballot processing. Multiple recounts, including a hand audit, confirmed results, and courts rejected challenges.<sup>5</sup>

Fast-forward to 2026: The FBI’s seizure of roughly 700 boxes has reignited debate. Agents sought physical ballots, scanner tapes, digital images, and voter rolls from 2020.<sup>6</sup> Body camera footage shows tense interactions, with county staff expressing confusion over the warrant.<sup>7</sup> Fulton leaders, including Chair Robb Pitts, received warnings of potential arrests and filed for return of materials, citing state sovereignty and lack of transparency.<sup>8</sup>

Proponents view this as evidence that emerging issues—chain-of-custody breaches, unauthorized votes, or tampering — could surface. Critics call it political retribution, noting Trump’s repeated claims and the administration’s push to “nationalize” elections in Democratic areas.<sup>9</sup> Regardless, the action underscores why many demand reforms: if doubts persist after years of scrutiny, prevention through stricter rules is essential.

Vote Total Discrepancies: What the Numbers Really Tell Us

The stark contrast between 2020 and 2024 Democratic performance is central to skepticism. Biden’s 81.3 million votes dwarfed Obama’s 2012 total (65.9 million) and Harris’s ~75 million. In states with loose rules—no voter ID, universal mail ballots, minimal verification—Democrat margins often aligned with these patterns.

Turnout in 2020 hit 66.6%, driven by pandemic expansions and polarization. By 2024, fatigue, reduced mail voting, and demographic shifts (e.g., Harris underperforming among nonwhite voters) explain much of the decline.<sup>10</sup> Yet the gap—over 6 million fewer Democrat votes despite population growth—raises legitimate questions about 2020 inflation.

Comparisons with prior elections indicate that Democrats gained ~15 million votes from Obama to Biden, then lost most of them back to Harris. If electronic flipping, non-citizen voting, or dead voters on the rolls contributed even modestly, the numbers could align more closely with a natural ~55-60 million Democratic base in clean elections. States with strict ID and in-person emphasis showed more stable patterns.

The SAVE Act: A Common-Sense Safeguard

Introduced as H.R. 22 in the 119th Congress, the SAVE Act requires documentary proof of citizenship (passport, birth certificate, naturalization papers) for federal voter registration, ending reliance on sworn statements.<sup>11</sup> The House passed it in April 2025; it remains stalled in the Senate amid opposition from groups like the League of Women Voters and Brennan Center, who argue it could disenfranchise millions lacking easy access to documents.<sup>12</sup>

Supporters counter that non-citizen voting, though rare, occurs in lax systems and that proof requirements mirror those for passport or employment verification. Recent efforts urge Senate action before the 2026 midterm elections.<sup>13</sup> For Ohio—already requiring non-strict photo ID—the Act could complement existing rules without significant disruption, ensuring federal elections reflect citizens only.

Voter ID and Security: Protecting Access While Closing Loopholes

Thirty-six states require some voter ID; 23 mandate strict photo ID. Ohio’s non-strict system permits alternatives such as utility bills. Evidence indicates that ID laws deter negligible fraud but can slightly suppress turnout among low-income or minority voters.<sup>14</sup> Free IDs, expanded provisional ballots, and affidavits mitigate this.

States without strict ID requirements (e.g., California) have not documented widespread fraud, yet critics argue that loose rules enable abuse. A balanced approach—universal ID with accommodations—enhances security without barriers.

Electronic Systems, Audits, and Accountability

Machines face hacking fears, but paper trails and post-election audits (risk-limiting or full) verify accuracy. Cases such as Tina Peters’ ruthless conviction for unauthorized access highlight the risks of not having proper security in all elections with federal consequences.  To that point, all indications point to Arizona where Kari Lake should be the governor if election security had been properly utilized.<sup>15</sup> Robust audits, not bans, address concerns.

Conclusion: Toward a More Accountable Republic

The 2020 election exposed vulnerabilities that eroded trust. Courts dismissed widespread fraud claims, but anomalies and lax regulations raise doubts. The Fulton seizure may reveal more—or reaffirm prior findings—but prevention is preferable to reaction.

The SAVE Act, voter ID mandates, and improved audits offer solutions. Ohio legislators and federal counterparts can lead by prioritizing citizenship verification and transparency. Secure elections ensure the government reflects the people, not manipulation. Restoring faith requires action now—before doubts harden into division, which I would argue has already occurred.  Stealing elections by any means is a serious crime and we need to understand who has done what, and what impact that has had on a free republic for which the people rule over themselves.   And without secure elections, that just can’t happen.  And it must happen.  Which is why the SAVE Act is absolutely necessary.

Footnotes

1.  CBS News, “Body camera footage captures confusion as FBI agents seize election records in Fulton County,” 2026.

2.  PBS News, “Fulton County asks court to return 2020 election documents seized by the FBI,” Feb. 2026.

3.  Various court rulings and audits (e.g., Georgia hand recount).

4.  Heritage Foundation Election Fraud Database.

5.  Georgia Secretary of State audits and court dismissals.

6.  Reuters, “Georgia’s Fulton County challenges seizure of election records,” Feb. 2026.

7.  GPB News, “Footage released of FBI search and seizure,” Feb. 2026.

8.  The Guardian, “Fulton County leader says he was warned he faced arrest,” Feb. 2026.

9.  Brennan Center analysis, Feb. 2026.

10.  Election turnout data from U.S. Census and AP analyses.

11.  Congress.gov, H.R.22 – SAVE Act.

12.  League of Women Voters and Brennan Center statements.

13.  Rep. Bean press release, Feb. 2026.

14.  NCSL Voter ID overview.

15.  Heritage Foundation case summaries.

Bibliography for Further Reading

•  Congress.gov: H.R.22 – SAVE Act (119th Congress).

•  Brennan Center for Justice: Reports on voter ID and SAVE Act impacts.

•  Heritage Foundation: Election Fraud Database and related analyses.

•  CBS News, PBS News, The New York Times, Reuters: Coverage of the 2026 Fulton County FBI seizure.

•  Georgia Public Broadcasting and Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Local reporting on Fulton developments.

•  National Conference of State Legislatures: Voter ID laws by state.

•  U.S. Election Assistance Commission: Voting system guidelines and audits.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Butler County Commissioner Cindy Carpenter Runs Willingly Into a Buzz-saw: Nothing says “vote for me” like giving the public the finger

The Butler County 2026 primary election is shaping up to be one of the most consequential political battles in recent memory. For years, local politics have simmered under the surface, but now, with Cindy Carpenter’s long tenure as commissioner under scrutiny, the stakes couldn’t be higher. This isn’t just another election—it’s a referendum on leadership, accountability, and the future direction of Butler County. And when it mattered most, how did Cindy Carpenter present herself? Well, she flipped off everyone in a wild, out-of-control tirade that could have easily been avoided, showing the world that what people say about her behind closed doors is actually true. When everyone was out of the room at the Level 27 apartment complex at Miami University, we saw on camera what Cindy Carpenter thinks of people who disagree with her. [1]



As the Journal-News reported, witnesses described the scene as ‘shocking and unbecoming of an elected official,’ noting that Carpenter was visibly angry and used gestures that ‘crossed the line of professionalism.’ [1] One resident quoted in the article said, ‘We expect leaders to solve problems, not escalate them.’ These words echo what many voters already feel: that Carpenter’s behavior reflects a deeper problem of temperament and judgment.

Cindy Carpenter has held her seat for a long time, and with that longevity comes a confident expectation of stability and integrity. Unfortunately, recent events have cast a long shadow over her reputation. For years, whispers of her being a ‘RINO’—Republican In Name Only—have circulated among grassroots conservatives. Those whispers turned into shouts last year when she was caught openly campaigning for a Democrat in Middletown. For a commissioner in a county that prides itself on conservative values, this was more than a lapse in judgment—it was a betrayal of trust. At the time, she was the endorsed Republican commissioner, and she showed tremendous disrespect for that endorsement. As one Journal-News editorial put it, ‘Carpenter’s actions raise serious questions about her loyalty to the party and her constituents.’ [2]

Cindy Carpenter, at her best



But if that weren’t enough, another controversy erupted that speaks volumes about character and temperament. A video surfaced from a security camera at an apartment complex where a family member of Carpenter—reported as her daughter by some, her granddaughter by others—was facing eviction for unpaid rent. Instead of handling the matter privately and with grace, Carpenter was caught on camera engaging in a heated argument and flipping off someone during the dispute. This isn’t the behavior of a seasoned leader; it’s the optics of chaos, entitlement, and poor judgment. When you’re an incumbent fighting to keep your seat, the last thing you want is to look like an overbearing parent abusing influence to protect a relative. [3]

Michael Ryan, one of Carpenter’s challengers, issued a press release shortly after the incident, stating: ‘The people of Butler County deserve leaders who act with dignity and respect, even in difficult situations. What we saw on that video does not reflect those values.’ [4] Ryan’s statement went further, pledging to ‘restore trust and transparency in county government’ and to ‘end the cycle of favoritism and dysfunction.’ These are not just campaign slogans—they are commitments grounded in a vision for better governance.

Ryan’s involvement in the Spooky Nook Sports Complex development showcased his ability to think big and deliver results. In his press release, he reminded voters of that success: ‘When others said it couldn’t be done, we brought stakeholders together and made it happen. That’s the kind of leadership Butler County needs.’ [4]



Contrast that with Roger Reynolds, another challenger in this race. While Reynolds may present himself as a viable alternative, his baggage is well-documented. From ethical questions to controversies that have dogged his career, Reynolds represents the kind of old-guard politics that Butler County needs to move beyond. Supporting Reynolds would be a step backward—a return to the same entrenched interests that have stifled progress for years. As Michael Moser commented in a recent interview, ‘We cannot afford to recycle the same problems under a different name.’ [5]

This primary isn’t just about personalities; it’s about the future of Butler County. Will voters choose a path of renewal and accountability, or will they cling to incumbency and compromise? Carpenter’s recent behavior suggests a leader out of touch with her constituents’ values and expectations. Ryan, on the other hand, embodies the principles of transparency, collaboration, and forward momentum.

Michael Ryan and his wife, Amanda. A fresh start without the baggage for Butler County


As we approach May 2026, the choice is very clear. Butler County deserves leadership that reflects its best qualities—not the worst impulses of entitlement and political expediency. Cindy Carpenter’s controversies aren’t just unfortunate—they’re disqualifying. Michael Ryan offers a better way forward, and for those who care about the integrity and prosperity of this community, the time to act is now.  And this isn’t just an opportunity to talk about Michael Ryan, or to re-assess the Roger Reynolds case, but Cindy should have known better.  The impaired judgment alone should be enough to eliminate her from the job now, without even waiting for the primary to be over.  When you walk into an apartment complex and communicate with people who work with students at a college or university, and you end up turning the whole room against you, which is clearly the case when she finally did leave, which was seen on camera, it’s a lack of skill thing more than any other attribute.  Whether or not Cindy Carpenter abused her authority, depending on who’s telling the story, what we did see was what she does when nobody is looking.  Being in a public place and giving the finger to employees of a business in anger is irrational at best.  We need people who build relationships, not those who can turn entire groups of people against them.  Dealing with this apartment payment issue with cash in hand should have been easy, and for anybody who does business at a high level, she should have had much better command of the situation.  But instead, she only confirmed what all her critics have said about her and showed why politicians can be so dangerous.  On the one hand, they put on a happy face, but when they think no one is looking, they flip people off when they fail to convince them to listen to reason.  A good negotiator never does something like this.  They should be, at a high level of politics, skilled in negotiations.  Because Cindy has been caught on camera doing really dumb things as a politician many times, I am excited to have someone like Michael Ryan running for a commissioner seat.  When we talk about the need for fresh, new faces in government, it’s because of failures like Cindy Carpenter that we make the statement.  And there is only one person to blame; this isn’t dirty politics or a gotcha to harm Cindy out of some sense of unfairness.  She walked into this buzzsaw, willingly on her own accord.  And she wasn’t even smart enough to be careful in a public place full of cameras.  So when we talk about these offices and who should be in them, no matter who is voting, I think we can all agree, that we need someone in an important office that doesn’t give young people the finger at a very public apartment complex when trying to resolve a family members back payment on rent, all events that could have been handled, much, much, better.

References:
[1] Journal-News, ‘Video Shows Cindy Carpenter in Heated Exchange at Apartment Complex,’ 2025.
[2] Journal-News Editorial, ‘Carpenter’s Campaign Misstep Raises Questions,’ 2024.
[3] Security Footage Report, Level 27 Apartments, Miami University, 2025.
[4] Michael Ryan Campaign Press Release, ‘Restoring Trust in Butler County,’ 2025.
[5] Interview with Michael Moser, Butler County GOP Leadership Forum, 2025.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Apoorva Ramasway is a Really Good Person: One of the big reasons to support Vivek Ramaswamy for governor of Ohio

There was never any question about supporting Vivek Ramaswamy for Governor of the State of Ohio.  But after meeting with him at his launch ceremony in West Chester, Ohio, I feel even better about it.  Of course, he is a great talent that can speak the peel off an orange.  But so can a lot of con artists.  The question everyone always wants to know about these kinds of things is how can they know they can trust him?  What makes a person trustworthy, even if they have the gift of gab?  After all, there are a lot of salespeople out there who can sell you just about anything who aren’t worth 2 cents as people.  So what makes Vivek Ramaswamy a good person, good enough to be made Governor of the State of Ohio?  Well, I have a proven tactic that I use to qualify people, especially adult people, that has worked for me over the years: I measure a person’s worth based on what kind of spouse they have.  They can sell pretty words to the public all day, but if they partner with a terrible person as a spouse, you should always question the person’s validity.  As a general rule, good people tend to attract other good people.  And bad, toxic people tend to do the same.  You don’t often find a toxic person choosing to be married to a high-quality person.  They are attached to them for a reason.  So judging a person based on the worth of their spouse is quite good as an accurate measurement, and I am thrilled to say that Vivek Ramaswamy’s wife is top-class and a very good person. Upon meeting Apoorva Ramaswamy, I found that I liked Vivek even more.  They are a nice couple who work well together in ways that are bigger than the jobs they do in life.

I don’t mind saying it, and there are certainly more that I can think of, but at this Vivek Ramaswamy event were some very good friends of mine who were part of setting up everything in the background.  And we are friends for a reason that goes beyond political considerations.  I know a lot of people, but I put more trust in these people for a lot of reasons, most of which start with their spouses.  For instance, when people ask me, “How can you trust George Lang?  He’s a RINO establishment figure.”  I can say to them that I can trust him in ways I wouldn’t trust other people, largely because of what I know him that is different from other people, especially people in a decisive Senate role.  Why George?  He has a wonderful wife in Debbie, who is just as solid as a person can get.  They are a good couple, and they are at an age where they travel a lot, and the fruits of a lot of hard work are emerging, and they are living a good life.  They work well together, and things were not always as good as they are now.  I remember when the political left was trying to throw George in jail just for knowing John Boehner.  Even in the toughest of times, Debbie has always been loyal to George, and as a couple, they are always trying to do the right thing, and I have come to know both of them pretty well over the years in ways that far exceed politics.  If George Lang had never been a senator and never was again, he and his wife would still be friends with me and my wife.  They are good people to know.

And why do I like her so much? People always ask me about Nancy Nix.  Well, what’s not to like?  She is as good as they get.  She comes across as a good person as a politician due to her many sincere desires for the world to be a better place, and I have come to know her over the years as a person with profound convictions toward biblical goodness.  But I’ll say that her husband Bob Leshnak is perfect for her.  Sometimes, it takes a while to find people who can work with them instead of against them.  When you are a person like Nancy who is naturally attractive and has a very outward projecting personality, you can attract a lot of bar flies.  But as a naturally good person from a good family, she knows how to sort through all that to find a great spouse in Bob.  He is good for her and doesn’t work against her, and they just come out as a good couple when you talk to them in any setting.  How can people be expected to manage your government financially or ethically if they can’t manage their own homes?  I could say that I know Fran DeWine a bit, enough to see that she makes the current governor of Ohio a far better person than he would otherwise be.  They are childhood sweethearts, which makes him a person that can at least be brought to reason because he has managed a long marriage to a good person.  I have met Melania Trump on several occasions and always said she is the key to why President Trump has become the kind of good person he is at this stage.  Spouses say a lot about the people we know, publicly. 

At Vivek’s West Chester event, I got to talk to him in great detail, but that wasn’t new.  I could also walk around with his wife and talk to her one-on-one.  And I found it interesting that she had a good relationship with Representative Jennifer Gross, who is too Tea Party for many people.  It says a lot about Apoorva in a good way and about Vivek with the doors closed.  Apoorva was a very classy woman, full of life and spirit, and I kept thinking she would be an ideal First Lady of Ohio.  She comes across well in all the right ways.  But what is most apparent is that she and Vivek are a power couple that feeds off each other.  We’re not talking about a couple of people climbing through social power to achieve a status through won elections.  These people are personally good and want to share that with others in a leadership way.  This is a much different set of standards than the traditional power couple that only share their desire for public power, and once that is not in their lives through a lost election or bad financial times, their relationship breaks apart.  Spouses aren’t helping each other if they plot divorce behind their spouses’ backs and are always jealous of the other people in their lives because they are insecure in the foundations of their relationship.  When you meet people who have people in their lives that they are building families with and who are willing to walk through all the fires of life together, you can know that there are unique qualities you can trust in them as public servants.  And that is undoubtedly the case for Vivek Ramaswamy and his wife, Apoorva.  They will still be a good couple once the days of politics are done, a few decades from now.  They will be defined by what they do together rather than what they convince people to give them in the form of trust and social management.  They are good because they are good, and they work together, which is the best trait of all.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Controlling Demons to Try to Destroy the Trump Administration: The Lesser Key of Solomon

Among many things, I am an expert on the occult, not a practitioner.  Long before the established religions we have today, there was a cult of planet worshippers who sought the help of supernatural aid frequently, and they had sacrificial cultures designed to appease them.  I don’t even pray to God for myself, let alone conduct magic ceremonies.  I see those types of people as weak and diabolical.  I have written a lot about the evil of Aleister Crowley and Jack Parsons, one of the founders of NASA, and they believed in the help of supernatural aid to help them accomplish their desired tasks, and they were often successful.  When you study the Bible, there is a lot of communication with spirits, angels, and demons to help with earthly desires, so we should not assume that all that desire went away. Instead, I would say that the desire to have relationships with entities outside our terrestrial boundaries is as intense as ever.  If you’ve ever been to the Denver International Airport, you will start to get a good sense of it, and as is predictable, Democrat politics has festered into that specific area purposefully.  Like with Aleister Crowley and the Denver Airport, Masonic lodges are part of the story, and of course, with them, we are talking about their reverence for the ancient builders of King Solomon’s Temple, and specifically Hiram Aboff, of Tyre, who was said to be the architect of the famous temple.  And this is where I think we have to think about these supernatural entities when we ask the question about why so many evil things are happening now against the Trump administration, such as terrorist attacks, airplane accidents, and political upheaval.  To understand all those motivations, I think you can look to a simple book such as The Lesser Key of Solomon and remind yourself that many thousands of people turn to books like that in an attempt to conduct the armies of darkness against the forces of good and that many are putting curses on the Trump administration as we speak, to stop him.

This is a very ancient practice passed down over a very long period of time

Speaking of curses, just because someone intends harm on you, even from the spirit world, doesn’t mean they will succeed.  Take me, for example. I am speaking to you after four decades of ill intentions cast upon me by almost every malicious character you can imagine.  So, there are always countermeasures.  And I have studied the world’s occult practices to understand the enemy’s weapons.  But I would never use them myself.  To me, asking for help from anybody or anything is weak.  I don’t even ask for directions to a gas station from GPS.  So witchcraft or practicing magic is off the table.  I see them as just as foolish as ancient practices of demonic appeasement with human sacrifice.  But with all that said, my daughters were traveling recently and found themselves in Salem, Massachusetts, which is covered with reverence for witches and all those who think Harry Potter sorcery are a good idea.  They were in an excellent bookstore filled with books on the occult, so they took a picture and sent me an extensive sampling, asking if I wanted any of them while they were there.  I spotted one that I have had my eye on for a long time: The Lesser Key of Solomon, edited by Joseph H. Peterson.  I have read different versions of that book, allegedly written by King Solomon himself and transferred through time to the present through oral traditions and esoteric references.  So they picked it up for me, and it is quite an interesting book, to say the least.

I am working on a line of thought that I have on the Kofun tombs of Japan and how they connect to the empire of King Solomon.  These tombs are all over Osaka. I have seen them by the hundreds, and I think Solomon’s influence ended there at the Pacific Ocean along the Silk Road in ways that nobody has adequately studied or understood.  In Japan, they communicate with good and evil spirits all the time, on just about every street corner, and they call these spirits kami.  In Islam, they call them jinn.  In Western cultures, we call them angels and demons.  In Japan, it always amazes me how people openly seek to appease these spirits and help them in some way or another with incense and prayer.  So I think The Lesser Key of Solomon is one of the reasons that they built all those kofun tombs in the shape of a keyhole, as a way to lock away the people buried there from the evil menace of a hostile spirit world that might harass them in death.  You might recall, dear reader, that the story goes from the Apocrypha text removed from the Bible called The Testament of Solomon, for which The Lesser Key is an extension, that King Solomon was given by God a ring that could seal away demons and actually employed them to his wishes.  It’s an old take on the Arabian Nights stories of the Genie.  The story goes that Solomon captured all these demons to help him build King Solomon’s temple which is why Master Masons and people were so inclined to seek The Lesser Key of Solomon so that they could also command spirits like King Solomon did to build the temple and conduct his business of an empire that extended far away from ancient Israel.  That’s how Aleister Crowley and many like him from the occult practitioner sciences that predate the Hebrew people by many thousands of years get involved in all this demon worship by trying to command spirits as Solomon did for the perpetuation of some terrestrial cause. 

The critical point to remember here is not the conduct of morality attached to discussions like this but understanding the intent.  There are many people in the world, especially practicing Democrats, who seek supernatural aid to help them achieve some political cause.  And the demon world is hectic trying to grant their requests.  And I can assure everyone that all over Washington D.C., wannabe witches, and occult practitioners are trying to put a curse on everything that the Trump administration tries to touch.  So when we see all the crazy stuff in the news and wonder why so many people are doing so many bad things, it’s not always the CIA conducting some coup attempt or the FBI trying to do the same to keep Kash Patel from becoming their boss.  It goes even deeper than that to why people think what they do and how those thoughts pop into their minds.  To deal with this occult menace, we have to admit that it exists in the first place, which many are reluctant to do.  But when I see the kind of news stories that have been common since Trump was elected, I see occult attempts to stop the political tide that so many desire.  But many scandalous characters are seeking the aid of the spirit world to overthrow our political order with a lot of personal investment.  And I think it will get much worse. Yet that doesn’t mean that all these evil intentions will be successful.  All it does mean is that we must look at where the problems are and see the threats for what they truly are.  And not illusively of their origins.  And fight those fights at the doorstep of the enemy. 

What amazes me about all these images is that they look so much like Indian art, crop circles, and ancient mound construction

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

The Greatest Sin of All: God does not want low ambition, weak, people, he wants Heaven on Earth and warriors to defend it

The greatest sin of all mankind, I think, is choosing to be a loser and a meek participant in the world around you.  This was a topic of conversation during dinner recently. It was a Christmas gathering of brilliant and religious people. Of course, the topic of Trump came up and why God had picked him out of all people to save the world.  Because what is happening is nothing short of revolutionary, and there is a science to it. If you read the Bible carefully and free yourself of the many human interpretations of it that necessitate worldly politics in convincing people to be sheep and to flock to the shepherds of government for the global control of mass social movements, you’ll see that there is more to our usual thoughts on the matter.  I argue often, and I did at that dinner for a lengthy diatribe about biblical understanding that my take on God is that he wants and despises meek losers who grovel at a sacrificial monument and strive to cover their nakedness.  Of course, that point of view gets a lot of looks and even provokes anger.  Sometimes, a lot of anger.  But that wouldn’t make any of it any less accurate, and I explained why God picked Trump to save the world.  And it had nothing to do with being a good boy who followed the Ten Commandments, went to church every Sunday, and obeyed all the church rules of worship to earthly terrestrial figures.  No, it is because Donald Trump, the current President, and who has been for many years now psychologically dared to be something that few in the history of the world have had the guts to be, and that is to rise to the greatness of Heaven that God always intended for the humans he created.  And because Trump dared to rise above the station of humanity and its meekness, he has been rewarded in many ways and put in place to do all the great things we are now seeing. 

When God asked for Adam in the Garden, he couldn’t find him because his first man hid in the woods to cover his nakedness. God asked him why.  “How do you know you’re naked, Adam? Who told you thus?”  After some coaxing, Adam blamed it on Eve, his woman, and revealed that the lowly serpent had tricked them into eating from the knowledge of good and evil.  And that they were no longer qualified to reside in the Heavenly garden, and the cherubim cast them out and prevented them from returning.  The same cherubim  atop the Ark of the Covenant kept ordinary people from gazing into it to read the Ten Commandments for themselves.  The use of fear to keep ordinary people from seeing reality is a common theme in the Bible, and it’s not for God as if the rules were intended to be followed, but that they were designed to provoke in humanity a lofty disposition toward the preservation of Heaven on Earth as God created it.  These problems would arise again throughout the Bible but would most culminate in what I consider to be the two biggest sins noted in the Bible: the failures of King David and his son, King Solomon.  Even after all that God did to forgive them and prop them up with riches and power on earth, they both fell short because of their insecurity with women and did not live up to the lofty goals God intended for them.  Israel would never rise again to its former glory because God punished his chosen people for their meekness, the greatest sin that there is.

In King David’s condition, it was when he plotted to kill the husband of a woman he was watching bath, and he wanted her for herself, Bathsheba.  David had many wives and could have had any woman he wanted.  But he wanted this one who was married to a military man whom David had control over.  So David plotted his death to marry the woman, and all kinds of problems arose because of this scheme.  God wasn’t happy and decided that David wasn’t qualified to build a temple on earth to represent Heaven’s presence, so he left it to David’s son, Solomon.  King Solomon had wisdom, women, and wealth; God put it all at his feet.  But Solomon found maintaining all his wives difficult, and he built temples for their crazy gods, too.  And it upset God, Yahweh, so much so that God told Solomon that his kingdom would end with his death and be split in two by his sons.  And that Israel would never recover, which it never has.  But the sin was not so much in following God’s instructions, just as Moses had to be pushed into doing his great deed of freeing the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt only to stagger in front of the giants of Canaan because they doubted that God would give them a victory over such a terrible foe.  So they were punished with 40 years in the wilderness for doubting in themselves that God would grant them protection.  For that doubt, they were punished.  So, we see the trend in the Bible that God expects his chosen people to rise above and push forward and not fail to meekness. 

When Jesus said upon the cross, “My god, my God, why have you forsaken me,” many interpret that as the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy.  But it’s just another abandonment of God of those he put his hand on who fell short in life and did not rise to the occasion and stand against the tide of evil.  It was the meek who interpreted the act as a sacrifice to wash away the sins of humanity, when in truth, God was always God, and he wanted to defeat his foes in the world who were trying to destroy his concepts of Heaven on Earth and that humans would be his direct representatives in this dimensional reality.  And yes, of course, I get a lot of nasty looks when I say this, and I certainly did at that dinner.  That kind of talk rocks the foundation of everything people want to believe about their relationship with God.  But with Trump, he didn’t back down and surrender his ego to meekness.  And no matter how much the world persecuted him, he kept fighting and never surrendered himself to the naked truth of existence.  Trump didn’t hide behind a tree.  It might have taken him three wives to figure it out, but he learned not to look out the window and plot the death of other women’s husbands.  There are better things to do.  And he didn’t let a woman distract him from the pursuit of building Heaven on Earth.  Through his companies, Trump has tried to develop his idea of Heaven in all his buildings and golf courses with an elevated sense of human accomplishment.  And when an assassin’s bullet missed as it did in July of 2024, God spared Trump by the literal grace of God.  When Trump was put before his version of Pontius Pilate, he didn’t say, “You have said so, that I am the son of God, the Messiah.”  Instead, Trump said, “Yeah, so what of it? I’m your president, and I’m coming for you next.”  And finally, God had someone who wouldn’t hide his nakedness in the Garden.  And wouldn’t blame women for his shortcomings.  And he endeavored to elevate himself above the standard, meek and weak, and to lead others to their lofty exploits.  And to the way I look at things, God was finally happy with someone who dared to trust that God had his back and would behave with divine understanding.  And would not hesitate to attack the Land of Canaan, filled with ancient giants that far outnumbered them.  Trump gets it, and God is happy about it.  And that happiness we are all feeling after this 2024 election.  That’s what I said anyway, and all my dinner guests got up and left and refused to speak to me for the heresy.  But deep down inside, they all know I’m right.  So I paid the check and went back to my books.  Truth isn’t what we want it to be; it is what it is.  In this case, it requires audaciousness, which God wants, to be seen.  Based on a straightforward reading of the biblical text, the greatest sin in the world is in striving to be a loser when God tried to inspire humans to greatness, to be representatives of Heaven on Earth.  And it takes a lot of courage to do so.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Why its Great that Elon Musk will be the World’s First Trillionaire: When the rich get richer, everything tends to get better

It had to happen

I personally love wealthy people; most of the people I know well are very rich, and any hatred of them comes from lazy people who have accepted too much Marxism in their lives.  There is freedom that comes from wealth that gives them something very valuable, and I have found that some of the best people in politics are wealthy people who do those jobs without needing to because they don’t use politics to give their names meaning.  They participate in politics because they want to help in some way or another.  However, not all wealthy people are out for the same things.  And given how many billionaires were being led behind George Soros to support progressive, globalist policies, they are a factor in politics that can quickly erode the self-management of a country that doesn’t have significant wealth to express their points of view through a vote.  The Trump people, not just his family, but also people like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have just been named to lead a branch of government called the Department of Government Efficiency, have a freedom most people don’t have because of their wealth that allows them to be objective on the role government plays in social life, and I trust them a lot more than I do people desperate to live their lives off government work.  I have met Vivek Ramaswamy many times, and one of those times, for the first time, came through an introduction with the Great Nancy Nix, the auditor of Butler County, Ohio, and I was able to hear from him very early in this political process what his motives were.  At that time, he had earned roughly a billion dollars privately as a CEO of several biotech companies, and he wanted to do something to help when he saw trouble forming, so he volunteered to get involved after participating in an event that involved me.   I believe him because of our private conversation even before his book Woke, Inc. was published.  I have watched Elon Musk undergo a process similar to Vivek Ramaswamy over the last few years.

Many government workers are still working from home, a continued Covid policy. If you work from home, your job isn’t needed.

One common thing about people who have a lot of money is that they are rich for a reason, so they tend to make money off changes in social conditions by the nature of investments.  Elon Musk was projected to be the first trillionaire before the election of 2024 when he suddenly became Trump’s best friend.  That is because of the value he created in his companies, not because he is making more money because of the government.  It was widely reported that Elon Musk made 30 billion dollars of net worth one day after the 2024 election, and many are pointing to his role in politics in the closing months of the Trump campaign as the reason.  But that’s not the case.  President Trump went through a similar investment recovery period when he was severely financially strained with prosecutions through many lawfare campaigns against him, and things were looking pretty bleak, even for a billionaire as he has been.  But then his social media platform Truth Social went public and Trump actually gained back much of the wealth that had been stolen from him during this harassment process, gaining a few billion dollars in value.  And that’s why it’s good to have wealthy people on your side in these constitutional debates: they can afford to fight those battles where others just can’t.  And many self-made people are independently rich in this incoming Trump administration, which gives them the freedom to do the hard things because they aren’t making their livings off the government.  They are free of that burden generally.

The method of attack by global Marxists has been to capture the means of production so that people can be controlled by their incomes.  And that has been going on to a large degree and shown itself to be most ugly during the darkest days of the Biden administration.  People were able to see just how dangerous a government run by such people indeed could be, and there were many billionaires committed to Marxism, like George Soros, who have used their wealth as a weapon of social policy.  The same could be said of Larry Fink of BlackRock and his relationship with the Federal Reserve, which has been very unhealthy and destructive.  Fighting these people requires other people with similar or more wealth to even the playing field and preserve a republic form of government that regular people can maintain.  And that is clearly what Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, seeks to do with an alliance with President Trump.  That is a relationship that few saw coming even a year ago.  I was at a lunch in February of 2024 with many progressive people were raving about the new Elon Musk biography they told me I should read and would love it.  They were making a case for why people left of center should be running the world and that Elon Musk would pave the way for that new view of the world.  I read the book and saw a much different person than they did in Elon Musk.  I saw someone trying to solve a complicated problem that few were wrapping their minds around; his problem was, what should a government on Mars look like?  What kind of government on Earth could send people to colonize the solar system?  Early in his public life he did vote left of center, for people like Biden and Obama.  But he had been going through a similar change as Trump and even Vivek Ramaswamy.  And I wasn’t surprised at all that as the election came, he was with Trump on Election Night and had realized that if Trump didn’t win, the human race would regress into Marxism for the foreseeable future, and humanity would never get to Mars. 

So it’s good to have rich people on your side in these political battles.  It takes more than money to win these things, of course.  And I wouldn’t trade my life for any of theirs any day of the week.  Wealth comes in many more forms than just money.  But money is a tool, and it’s good to have people on your side with the right tools to battle.  The fight is to free humanity to the most significant degree from those who want to impress upon ordinary people an aristocracy of value for the sake of a class structure that features the egos of very insecure people.  Logically, people like Elon Musk, and I know from Vivek Ramaswamy, that freedom from normal social conditions through wealth provides a perspective encompassing larger ideals.  I am sure Musk could care less about his money; he isn’t driving around in fancy cars and a loose playboy life.  He wears his Occupy Mars t-shirt and sleeps in a shack, more or less at Boca Chica, Texas, because his goal is much bigger than just making money.  I believe him when he says he will use his personal fortune of over a trillion dollars to get mankind into space, every last dollar of it.  He is totally committed to that endeavor. Yet, as this Trump administration fixes many things that are wrong in the world, they will make a lot more money because they already have investments that will increase as the economy improves.  But that is not what they are after, and I can say that with some personal experience with those types of people.  They would be the first to say that they want to see more people have better lives, and if a good economy can do it, then it would be fantastic.  But whatever it takes to improve the world, Elon Musk, I am convinced he wants to do it for mass society, because once that occurs, humanity will be prepared for the colonization of space.  And through the Trump administration, that is the best path to the kind of government that could sustain a Mars colony, with capitalism fueling the endeavor. 

I didn’t know at the time that this would be a big part of history. I like Vivek!

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Throw All the Palestinian Protestors in Jail: Why Burning the American Flag or Desecrating it in any way is Treasonous and Deserves Severe Punishment

My position on the burning of the American flag at the Capitol during the summer of 2024 by Palestinian protestors is unforgivable, and they should all be thrown in jail.  To my way of thinking about the issue, if a person, American citizen or not, decides to desecrate the flag, then that is a conscious statement of rebellion and un-American activities meant to overthrow the country, and it cannot be allowed to occur.  These kinds of actions are not protected free speech under the First Amendment.  They are treasonous, detrimental, and meant to inspire insurrection.  Any legal argument to the contrary is founded on the progressive interpretation of case law, not on the intent or scope of actual American law.  Legal people have been getting this separation of church and state issue wrong for hundreds of years, and it’s time to address the problem for future clarity.  If you burn or desecrate the American flag in any way, even kneeling at an NFL game when required to stand, you deserve severe punishment up to prison and possibly even all the options under treason.  By desecrating the American flag, the provocateur is stating that they do not support the values for which that flag stands and are abandoning the protections of the American Constitution.  It’s just like the premise of swearing to tell the whole truth, so help you, God, while putting a hand on the Bible.  Without a profession of shared values, you cannot have a civil discourse.  So if the American way of life is criticized through protest where desecration of fundamental values takes place, such as these radical Palestinian protesters involved themselves, they do not get the legal protection of the First Amendment.   And that’s not up for debate in any legal circle.  Here’s why. 

I love the concept of a law and order society, as I have said many times, many, many times—a few of my favorite books are The Federalist Papers and The Anti-Federalist Papers.  I read them all the time, and they are never far from my reading chair, which gets attention many times in a single week, all weeks of the year.  To read them and understand the intellectual argument that is taking place in that debate between big government and small government forces that shaped our Constitution, you have a lot more meaning if you have a good understanding of the Bible.  The Bible is the foundation of the American Constitution and our entire legal system.  The people who founded America were people of Judeo-Christian backgrounds, and their spirit of separation of church and state was to have more ability to worship God more fully without the state getting in the way, such as what happened in Europe during the period of the Revolutionary wars in both America and France.  Established elites of society designed America’s Revolution to free the minds of the masses toward rule-based self-government.  Where the revolution in France was an early version of Marxist tyranny, inciting the masses to overthrow the established government so that tyranny could rule as a centralized authority, which paved the way for Napoleon to become emperor.  What kept those two different revolutions separate was the concept of a God-based society in America as opposed to a mob-driven monstrosity in France of Godless heathens.  All Marxist mobs, which would later be spelled out for global distribution by Karl Marx himself, sought to remove the concept of God from the governing of a country so that radicalism could take over power in the chaos.  It’s the communist playbook, and these Palestinian protestors are wrapped with Marxism at the core of their culture, and it is the root of their protests in every case.

Then, if you are ever so fortunate to study the 2024-1 Ohio Criminal Law Handbook, or whichever state you reside in, their version of it. In that case, you will see a thing of beauty, filled with the intent to have a constructive, free society that promises individual rights for all and protects them from those who might take advantage of those individual rights.  And that is the game of the international Marxists; they seek to erode the American system of law and order by destroying the concept of individual rights, which is a foundation idea articulated through Biblical narrative.  The concept of individual sanctification started with the Bible and has evolved through American law to preserve individual rights.  So when Palestinian protestors are desecrating the American flag, they are attacking the very nature of the preservation of individual rights and are proclaiming dominion over any such concept.  Even so, the basic understanding of most veterans of military service, who care for the flag and do not let it even touch the ground when they are putting it up, is to protect an idea that they learned in basic service as military personnel.  To allow any aspect of a free culture to desecrate those high ideas of individual preservation protected under shared rules and regulations of a mass society is to show intent to destroy such concepts, which can only be considered criminal in relation.  The desecration of the American flag is not some remote, distant country that can be conquered and then re-established with a new government under new guidelines. Instead, the flag represents law dedicated to the individual rights of sovereign people, dedicated to their lives and the God that made them. 

Just this very day, I had the opportunity to participate in a gun competition out in God’s country, which I have always enjoyed.  This one was the Annie Oakley Festival in Darke County, Ohio.  Before starting, we all said our pledge of allegiance to the flag, and all our gun-shooting members were very respectful and paid attention to the little ceremony with dedicated solemnity, and it was very refreshing.  We can’t all live in the same world with the same values if criminal thugs are going to hide their malice and ill intentions toward our sovereign status as individual members of society if we are going to have some who will give anything to the American flag and its high ideas, and those who would burn it on the steps of the Capitol and step upon it like mad virgins at a stag party under a drunken stupor.  Such corrosive societies were discussed very much in the Bible, and we have built American life with those harsh lessons in mind.  The intent of our legal system down to every bit of state revised code intends to free people from authoritarian tyranny by collective masses, and the statement made by the Palestinian protestors on the Capitol in July of 2024 was to desecrate those protections for destruction, now and forever.  It was a direct attempt to undermine American society by hiding terrorism behind a veil of Free Speech protected only by the flag of America.  By purposely destroying the flag, participants reject the concepts of individual protections given under shared consideration of allegiance to that flag.  And the Republic for which it stands.  One nation, under God, indivisible.  With Liberty and Justice for all.  In that context, the problem is obvious: those burning and destroying the American flag are intent on killing all those lofty goals and casting members of that society into the chaos of communist thought as the rest of the world suffers without any recourse by social destruction planned from the outset.  And that can’t be allowed.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

A Love Letter to America: Season 5 of ‘Yellowstone’

Now that I have watched the Yellowstone series it has confirmed something that I had suspected, which made it a more urgent project.  There is a lot more going on with it than just an entertaining television show.  Taylor Sheridan and the gang are making a point and they know who their audience is, which was obvious at the start of Season 5 if you know what you are looking for.  Of course, Yellowstone is the popular television show for Paramount Plus, which many have called a love letter to the MAGA political movement.  Over the various seasons, Sheridan and the gang obviously struggled with this impression.  After all, they are Hollywood lefties and they didn’t want to be viewed by their peers as a bunch of radical right-winged lunatics.  However, the show has become increasingly popular over the five seasons because the topic of a modern Western has captured the hearts and minds of an audience hungry for content that represents their concerns.  Taylor Sheridan has become a scorching commodity since all the shows he’s producing suddenly are doing very well, not just with Yellowstone, but also the spin-off shows like 1883, 1923, and Bass Reeves.  There are more in the works, but these are all excellent shows, and in my wildest dreams, I never thought I’d see them on television.  They remind me of the old westerns I grew up with, like Gunsmoke and Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie, and I didn’t think Hollywood could produce anything like that ever again.  However, with Taylor Sheridan and Kevin Costner, along with others, there is a revolt against Hollywood that has been going on in Montana and Texas, which has its own kinetic energy that is giving voice to America, which is crying out for its own existence. 

If you’ve ever dealt with Hollywood types you will know that they are cosmetically, outright Marxists.  But around the catering truck, they are like everyone else.  They are mostly Marxists because they have to be to get work, and the financiers of their projects want global communism; otherwise, their projects don’t get greenlit.  But on rare occasions, sometimes you can flip the script on that process, and when someone like Taylor Sheridan is successful, the greed factor takes over, and the finance people forget about Marxism and turn to the glitter and glory of massive profit, which is one of the great attributes of capitalism.  Yellowstone is not a show that could have been made for state-run television.  It is a love letter to the foundation of America, and it is oozing in patriotism.  With the success that Taylor Sheridan has found with these projects, he is moving in a more obvious direction politically, which is similar to what we’ve seen with Elon Musk, President Trump, and Joe Rogan, all people who voted Democrat but have changed over time, based on what they have seen.  At the beginning of Season 5, when John Dutton becomes governor of Montana to essentially save his ranch from developers who want to build an airport, during the swearing-in scene, there is a long pause before putting his hand on the Bible, where Kevin Costner is throwing obvious red meat to the Hollywood community.  The purpose of the scene was to show that the Yellowstone production had not gone native and thrown their lot in with God, even though Kevin Costner does end up doing so and swearing to protect the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic.  But the scene’s purpose, even if Taylor Sheridan will never admit to it, was to throw the Hollywood Reporter types into a tailspin of doubt.  Because the rest of the season, the next eight episodes are a love letter to American life that I never thought I’d see in a Hollywood production again. 

In real life, Sheridan and much of the cast have found themselves enamored by the majesty of the flyover states, which has rarely happened to famous Hollywood personalities.  And rather than hiding from it, they have embraced it more.  In the case of Sheridan, he has bought ranches and is desperately trying to tell the story of everyday Americans in this struggle with a true phantom menace of Marxism without calling it that.  There are many parts of Season 5 in Yellowstone where Beth Dutton, the daughter of John Dutton and the apparent future of the show, delivers some of the best pro-American lines that have ever been done in entertainment, on the level of Clint Eastwood and John Wayne.  And they were possible because of that setup of ambiguity at the start of the season with the Bible.  Usually, with these kinds of projects and the success that comes with them, any romantic notions that a producer like Taylor Sheridan receives take the ambition out of the projects, and they become more corporate as more people are interested in attaching themselves to the success.  But not here; Yellowstone has become more authentic.  And even though they probably find the idea repulsive, Yellowstone is more MAGA in the notion of Make America Great Again.  They may not want to admit that they like President Trump.  However, they are after the same things Trump and his supporters wish for in life.  We want our country, and we want to love it.  America is speaking and doing so loudly at the heart of the Yellowstone series and all the Taylor Sheridan projects. 

I don’t think Yellowstone planned to be this way from the beginning.  But what it has ended up becoming, and Taylor Sheridan himself, is an authentic love letter to the creation of America.  As I became more interested in these Taylor Sheridan shows, I caught him on a podcast with Joe Rogan talking about the western 1883 and the genuine plight of a new nation needing to fulfill the needs of Manifest Destiny, where advertisements around the world were begging people to come and settle America for a piece of it.  And much of the world, under various forms of tyranny and the early versions of Marxism, wanted more than anything to have a piece of their own life, even if it meant having to come and fight Indians to the death just for the opportunity.  Taylor Sheridan, throughout his various television series, is grappling with this problem, and it all leans toward the reasons America needed to exist in the first place and is stepping away from the Hollywood Marxism that has so ruined entertainment to its present condition.  And because of all that, people love Yellowstone and the other Taylor Sheridan projects.  I am indeed a fan.  There is some real heart in what is being produced around the Yellowstone series, much better than The Godfather or Dallas, which it has been compared to.  Yellowstone is a love letter to America that has needed to happen for a long time.  And it’s a story told by people going through their own transformation into patriotism.  I have always been conservative.  But I am happy to see more people becoming that way as they learn the real history of America, even if it takes success to free them enough to have that point of view.  Watching Yellowstone is worth the effort to get to Season 5.  And whatever happens in the future with the show, what has happened up to this point can’t be undone.  It’s part of America’s story now; and many people will be better because of it.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

It Shouldn’t Take Kristi Noem to Teach America How to be a Man: The future will be far tougher than just shooting a sick dog

The story about Kristi Noem’s dog doesn’t change anything for me regarding her qualifications to be the Vice President with President Trump.  There are two main things that a VP will need to do for Trump: defend his plan for MAGA, which she has been doing.  And to establish a continuity culture that will continue for another eight years after Trump leaves the White House this next time.  Someone will need to work with the Trump family for the future of politics and everyone out there with the right brand to do so; it is Kristi Noem who is the best for that need and its fulfillment.  The Guardian newspaper in England is aware of where Kristi’s name is on the selection list, so they read her new book No Going Back and twisted the story around about the dog that she had shot many years ago, hoping it would have an adverse reaction from the public and steer Trump away from picking her.  Based on everyone’s response to that story, I think Trump should pick Kristi Noem more than ever.  Reading that section of the book myself and comparing it to what the radical leftists out there think about it, it’s clear that Kristi Noem is just the right person for the VP job, and this character assassination thing against her needs to backfire in a spectacular way.  I personally like Kristi Noem.  And I like the idea of Kristi Noem being close to the White House and having the potential to be the first woman president.  We know someone will be the first, and the way that Kristi Noem represents America, she would be a great opportunity.  She has been a fantastic governor in South Dakota.  And she knows how to present herself on a national, even an international stage. 

People’s reaction to the Noem story about the dog was most astonishing, though.  Kristi had a dog that was out of his mind and not getting better.  That happens sometimes, especially on farm life, where many animals come and go, and sometimes you get a dog that just doesn’t get it.  And you have to get rid of the dog.  Both of my grandparents were farmers, so I understand farm life better than other people; I know what it’s like to bale hey and what it feels like to get a call in the middle of the night to give birth to a calf.  And I’ve seen many hundreds if not thousands of animals killed either for food or to prevent them from eating the products of a farm.  But farmers are some of the best conservationists in the world, and many animals have a far better life on a farm than they would in the wild, so in the context of farm life, Kristi Noem’s story about her problem causing dog is consistent with all of rural America.  And that America is part of Making America Great Again, which is why Kristi told that story.  The dog was killing other animals and biting people, so she had to do what was done at the end of the movie Old Yeller, and that was to take the dog out back and shoot it.  It used to be people could watch the movie Old Yeller, produced by Disney, and they could relate.  But now, there are lots of these urban dwellers who have grown up as dependent Democrats who have just lost touch with reality, and that Guardian story was intended for their ears as much of the American media picked it up and ran with it.  I’d say that what happened only proved a point I have been making about the differences in those who support Trump are far different from those who have global communism in mind, and the Trump supporters far outnumber those who want big daddy government communism to rule their life from top to bottom.

But it was Clay Travis who had the most surprising reaction to the Noem story for me.  Here is a guy who was picked to fill in the radio void of Rush Limbaugh and lives in Nashville, well outside the media loop culture of Fox News, where he is very well respected as a voice of the future. He loves sports and is a classic man by today’s standards.  But he was really emotional about this dog story.  For him, it was a deal killer.  I listened to him talk about dogs and his love of them, and I was shocked that he was such a beta man.  Not that shooting dogs prove your manhood, but it’s an urban context.  Don’t people realize how cruel the world is for dogs?  How many dogs end up in shelters?  I have picked many dogs from the pound over the years; some worked out great, and some did not.  But I have had to put a lot of dogs to sleep.  Now I live in an area where putting dogs to sleep is easy.  It’s more preferred than shooting a dog when they get sick beyond repair or go bad mentally, which happens as it did in the Old Yeller movie.  But when you live in rural America, as Kristi Noem has on her ranch, and the nearest medical facility for dogs is an hour or more away, shooting the dog on the farm is the most humane way to deal with it. 

Clay Travis, as a modern man, didn’t know that.  He thought that if Kristi couldn’t make the dog work out, she should have given the dog to someone else.  As if dogs were a precious resource.  Hey, there are a lot of dogs in the world, and most of them are not in good homes.  Most of them are being abused to some degree or another.  And there are lots of poor dogs at the pound being put to sleep every day because nobody wants to care for them.  And you know what’s worse? There aren’t enough homeowners these days to even give dogs a proper home because too many people are renting.  And the more that the United Nations gets its way with its Agenda 21 policies that every trustee in America has to deal with, where communities are more urbanized, there are fewer homes for dogs, so many more of them will be killed as communism runs our communities as they have been.  It is not a dog-friendly world, and Clay Travis, out of all people, should understand that.  But the modern left and manhood have shaped his perspective and been defined in new ways that are far from classic American farm life.  And I would say that was Kristi Noem’s point with the dog story.  She certainly set herself apart from the rest of the pack.  Many would say not in a good way.  But based on the reaction of so many people like Clay Travis, I think it was good.  Especially men, need to find a way to be Great Again.  Not by shooting dogs, but it shouldn’t take a woman to tell you how to be a man, and that is a problem in our modern times.  People have lost a connection to the harsh realities of where their food comes from, and how hard farm life can be, which is one of the backbones of American life.  To get too emotional over a dog is to be too emotional to save America from the communist losers who are far worse than that dog Kristi Noem shot on her ranch.  There are a lot of decisions over these coming years that will be far harder.  And people are going to have to have the stomach to do the hard things when required.  Kristi Noem gets it.  But many people need to learn to be tougher, especially those like Clay Travis. 

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707