Tag: Power of Positive Thinking

‘Melania,’: The Billie Jean of Politics

The recent release of the documentary film Melania, directed by Brett Ratner and distributed by Amazon MGM Studios, offers a compelling behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life of First Lady Melania Trump during the pivotal 20 days leading up to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025. This project, which followed her 2024 memoir Melania (published by Skyhorse on October 8, 2024), extends the intimate, personal narrative she began in print, providing viewers with unprecedented access to her daily routines, family moments, White House transition preparations, and interactions at locations like Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower.

The film arrives at a time when Melania Trump has stepped more visibly into the public eye, leveraging her platform to advocate for causes such as children’s welfare, anti-bullying initiatives (echoing her earlier Be Best campaign), and upward mobility. Her memoir, released just weeks before the 2024 election, framed her perspective on life in the spotlight, her Slovenian roots under communism, her modeling career, her marriage to Donald Trump, and her priorities as a mother and wife. The documentary builds on this, presenting her as a grounding influence on her husband—someone who brings elegance, class, and a measured outlook to the often chaotic world of politics. Observers familiar with her world note that her background, roughly aligned with those who came of age during the Reagan era, informs her values: a blend of capitalist ambition forged from escaping a communist system, combined with a deliberate choice to prioritize family over constant public engagement.

Attending the film’s opening day in a local theater proved surprisingly challenging; despite assumptions that theaters would be empty amid streaming dominance and polarized politics, the showing was packed, forcing seats in the handicap-accessible section to sit together. This turnout reflects broader enthusiasm among supporters, who view the project as more than mere entertainment—it’s a cultural artifact capturing a unique historical moment. Box office figures underscore this interest: the film opened to approximately $8 million domestically, marking one of the strongest theatrical debuts for a non-concert documentary in over a decade, far exceeding initial low projections of $3-5 million in some estimates.

The production’s scale has drawn scrutiny. Amazon MGM Studios acquired rights for a reported $40 million—the highest ever for a documentary—with additional tens of millions in marketing, leading to speculation about motives, including potential alignment with the administration given Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s past criticisms and recent shifts in media coverage. Melania Trump has described the work not strictly as a documentary but as an entertainment piece—a creative, observational portrait akin to a painting, allowing audiences to sit with her character amid major events. This framing emphasizes its artistic merit over pure journalism, offering a positive, aspirational view of leadership, family, and personal resilience.

Critics from the left have responded with notable aggression, including campaigns to suppress attendance or mock empty screenings in certain areas, echoing longstanding animosity toward Melania Trump. Much of this stems from her choices: a former fashion model who opted for a private life, raising her son as a dedicated homemaker while married to a billionaire, rejecting the societal push for constant careerism or public activism. Her beauty, poise, and “golden tower” existence—insulated yet purposeful—provoke resentment among those who see it as unattainable or unfair. Radical elements decry her as out of touch, yet her narrative promotes unity, positive thinking, and bridging divides, ideals she hopes to advance in her second tenure as First Lady.

This backlash reveals a deeper divide: one side embraces high standards, personal responsibility, and optimism, while the other clings to victimhood narratives shielded by government dependency or lowered expectations. The film’s positive portrayal—reliving inauguration day from an insider’s view, showcasing Mar-a-Lago elegance, and highlighting mutual respect in the Trumps’ partnership—challenges that. It suggests Donald Trump’s success owes much to Melania’s stabilizing influence; their union combines his bold energy with her grace, creating a dynamic suited to executive leadership.

Ultimately, the documentary and memoir together solidify a vision of America aspiring upward. They invite viewers to witness a high bar of excellence—strong families, positive momentum, and unapologetic success—and ask whether reconciliation across divides is possible without compromising those standards. History shows that extending hands has often meant lowering expectations to appease radicals, but this era signals a rejection of that path. The enthusiastic reception, despite polarized reviews, indicates many Americans are drawn to this message of inspiration over grievance.

Walking out of the theater after viewing the documentary Melania, the underlying reasons for our societal divisions became starkly apparent, revealing why true reconciliation may be impossible. Melania Trump, through this film, embodies a philosophy aligned with her husband’s lifelong approach: showcasing personal success as a beacon for others. She presents her life—marked by elegance, family devotion, and achievement—as a high bar, inviting viewers to aspire to similar heights. “Look at what I’ve accomplished,” the narrative implies, “and let me show you how you can do it too.” It’s an optimistic, empowering message rooted in positive thinking and upward mobility, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into a world of high standards and mutual respect within the Trump family.

Yet, this vision clashes irreconcilably with the core tenets of left-wing politics, which thrive on below-the-line thinking and perpetual victimization. Progressive ideologies prioritize lowering expectations across all facets of life, from labor unions that resist performance-based accountability to broader policies that dismantle judgments on behavior. The goal is a society where “anything goes,” shielded from scrutiny or consequences, allowing individuals to avoid the discomfort of striving. In this worldview, high achievers like Melania—beautiful, poised, and unapologetically successful—become targets of resentment. Her choice to live insulated in a “golden tower,” prioritizing motherhood and privacy over relentless public engagement, is seen not as inspirational but as an affront to those who demand equality through diminished standards.

The hatred directed at the film, the Trumps, and conservative politics stems precisely from this refusal to embrace low bars. Critics on the radical left reject any invitation to elevate themselves, viewing expectations as oppressive. They weaponize peer pressure, media campaigns, and even violence to maintain a status quo of minimal accountability, relying on expansive government to protect them from life’s demands. No amount of kindness or outreach can bridge this gap; as long as one side insists on stripping away standards while the other upholds them, division persists. This dynamic ensures ongoing discontent, where unity requires conservatives to compromise their values—a concession that history shows only erodes societal progress. Melania’s documentary, in highlighting this high-bar ethos, underscores that true advancement demands forcing elevation, not appeasement, even if it invites backlash from those unwilling to rise.  Which makes this a uniquely valuable work of art that everyone should see.

Beyond its political and cultural insights, Melania stands as a genuine work of art, masterfully capturing a singular perspective on life in the United States during one of its most transformative periods. The film peels back layers of privacy with deliberate, cinematic flair, offering intimate access to Melania Trump’s world while maintaining an aura of grandeur and mystique. The setup shots—particularly those at Trump Tower, the seamless transitions into motorcades, and the fluid movement through opulent spaces—evoke a sense of controlled revelation, where the viewer is invited in but never fully overwhelms the subject’s carefully guarded essence.

This approach strikingly recalls how Michael Jackson promoted his iconic videos and shared glimpses of his private life in documentaries like those surrounding Thriller or his personal specials. Jackson, too, balanced extreme fame with deliberate barriers—veils of security, secluded estates, and a projected image of positivity—to protect himself from constant intrusion while uplifting audiences through aspirational artistry. He let people peek behind the curtain just enough to humanize the icon, fostering connection without sacrificing enigma. In Melania, similar techniques unfold: the film grants behind-the-scenes access to high-stakes moments, yet it preserves her poise and detachment, turning personal vulnerability into inspiration.

A particularly revealing moment underscores this parallel. In the car during one of her travels, Melania shares that Michael Jackson is her favorite artist, with “Billie Jean” as her top song (alongside “Thriller”). The track plays, and she sings along quietly, even briefly, in a rare, unguarded display—echoing the Carpool Karaoke-style intimacy Jackson sometimes allowed in his own media moments. She recalls meeting him once with Donald Trump, describing him as “very sweet, very nice.” This scene isn’t mere filler; it humanizes her, showing a shared appreciation for Jackson’s method of blending private authenticity with mass appeal. By channeling that same strategy—projecting positivity, offering selective insight, and inviting upliftment—Melania crafts a presentation that feels wholesome and enduring.

Ultimately, this Michael Jackson-inspired approach to marketing her lifestyle and perspective proves remarkably effective. It transforms what could have been a dry political portrait into something engaging and aspirational, likely contributing to the film’s success in theaters and its anticipated streaming draw. Melania isn’t just a documentary; it’s a thoughtfully composed invitation to see excellence up close, much like Jackson’s legacy of turning personal narrative into global inspiration. Everyone should see it—it’s a compelling, artful reminder of how high standards and positive projection can resonate in turbulent times.

For those interested in exploring further:

•  Melania Trump’s memoir Melania (Skyhorse Publishing, 2024) provides the foundational personal account.<sup>1</sup>

•  Coverage of the film’s production and release details Amazon’s involvement and box office performance.<sup>2</sup>

•  Analyses of public reactions and political context offer broader insights into cultural divisions.<sup>3</sup>

The work stands as a testament to individual agency in turbulent times, reminding us that true unity requires elevation, not concession.

<sup>1</sup> Wikipedia entry on Melania (memoir), confirming October 8, 2024 release.

<sup>2</sup> Reports from The Hollywood Reporter and Variety on opening weekend earnings around $8 million.

<sup>3</sup> Various sources including The New York Times and The Guardian on Amazon’s investment and criticisms.

Rich Hoffman

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

The Conditions that Make People Poor: Bill Gates as usual, is way off the mark

In the modern discourse surrounding climate change, healthcare, and economic disparity, we often find ourselves circling the same ideological drain without ever confronting the root of the issue: how we define and address poverty. Recently, Bill Gates made headlines by walking back some of his climate change positions, suggesting that economic development must be prioritized alongside environmental goals. This echoes a more profound truth—one that Donald Trump touched on when he proposed sending healthcare payments directly to individuals rather than filtering them through bureaucratic systems. These moments reveal a fundamental tension in our society: the battle between centralized control and individual empowerment. At the heart of this tension lies a philosophical divide between those who believe in micromanaging outcomes through administrative states and those who believe in unleashing human potential through economic liberty. The former seeks to engineer fairness through redistribution, while the latter aims to cultivate prosperity by removing barriers to opportunity.

This divide is best understood through the lens of The Oz Principle, published in 1994 by Roger Connors, Tom Smith, and Craig Hickman, a widely respected business philosophy that categorizes individuals and cultures as either “above the line” or “below the line.” I love the book and its sequel, The Oz Principle Journey, which was published in 2011, many years later, offering a wealth of new ideas that utilize Wizard of Oz metaphors to articulate effective business practices and the proper social conduct of society at large.  Above-the-line thinkers are proactive, solution-oriented, and driven by positive energy. They ask, “What else can I do?” and take ownership of outcomes. Below-the-line thinkers, by contrast, dwell in a state of victimhood, blaming others and avoiding accountability. In business, cultures dominated by above-the-line thinkers thrive—they innovate, adapt, and grow. Cultures saturated with below-the-line mentalities stagnate, collapse, or become toxic. The same applies to nations. When a country fosters a culture of victimization, entitlement, and dependency, it creates systemic poverty. It’s not merely about access to resources; it’s about the mindset with which people approach life. Suppose the dominant narrative teaches individuals that they are powerless, oppressed, or owed something by the state. In that case, the result is a population that waits for handouts rather than builds solutions.

This is the trap of the administrative state, particularly as envisioned by modern leftist ideologies. The Democrat Party, increasingly driven by collectivist impulses, seeks to centralize control over healthcare, education, and economic redistribution. Their vision of “fairness” is not about equal opportunity but about equal outcomes, regardless of effort or merit. They create systems that reward victimhood and penalize initiative. Public education, once a bastion of enlightenment and upward mobility, has become a breeding ground for thought patterns that are below the line. Teachers, often radicalized by personal grievances and ideological indoctrination, pass on a worldview that prioritizes identity politics, grievance culture, and dependency over personal responsibility, excellence, and ambition. Instead of teaching Shakespeare or the principles of economics, they teach children to see themselves as oppressed, marginalized, and incapable of success without government intervention. This is not education—it’s indoctrination into failure.

As of 2025, approximately 10.1% of the global population—roughly 839 million people—live in extreme poverty, defined by the World Bank as surviving on less than $3.00 per day (2021 PPP). The burden of poverty is not evenly distributed across all individuals. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most affected region, with 46% of its population living in extreme poverty. Within this region, Eastern and Southern Africa report rates exceeding 53%, while Western and Central Africa hover around 35.7%. In stark contrast, high-income countries and territories, such as Europe, East Asia, and North America, report poverty rates below 1%, underscoring the profound impact of economic systems and governance on wealth distribution.

The disparity in GDP per capita between economically free and administratively controlled nations is staggering. In 2025, Luxembourg leads the world with a GDP per capita of $141,080, followed by Switzerland ($111,716), Ireland ($107,243), and Singapore ($93,956). These nations consistently rank among the highest in economic freedom indices, characterized by low regulatory burdens, strong property rights, and open markets. Meanwhile, countries with heavy administrative oversight and limited economic freedom—such as Burundi, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic—report GDP per capita figures below $1,000, reflecting the economic stagnation that results from centralized control and restricted market access.

The Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) report reveals a direct correlation between economic freedom and prosperity. Nations in the freest quartile enjoy an average income of $40,376, compared to just $5,649 in the least free quartile—a 7.1x difference. The poorest 10% in free economies earn 7.9x more than their counterparts in the least free nations. Moreover, life expectancy in free countries is 15 years longer, and infant mortality rates are 6.8x lower. The UN World Happiness Index also shows that citizens in economically free nations report life satisfaction scores two points higher on average than those in restrictive economies.  These metrics confirm that economic liberty is not just a path to wealth—it’s a foundation for human flourishing.  If you want to help people have access to wealth, teach them, and empower them to be “above the line people.”  Solution-based and to enjoy the result of that way of thinking with wealth creation, the ability to enjoy a full bank account, and the results of a task well done. 

The rise of the administrative state—defined by expansive government agencies that regulate economic activity—has been linked to sluggish growth and persistent poverty. While initially intended to address industrial complexity and social inequality, these bureaucracies often stifle innovation and delay wealth creation. The U.S. federal administrative apparatus now issues thousands of regulations annually, with the Code of Federal Regulations exceeding 185,000 pages, quadruple the size of the U.S. Code of Laws passed by Congress.  This regulatory overload disproportionately affects small businesses and low-income entrepreneurs, who face barriers to entry and limited access to capital. In contrast, countries that have adopted deregulation, sound monetary policies, and trade expansion have experienced significant reductions in poverty and increases in GDP.

The solution is not more government, more regulation, or more redistribution. The solution is to cultivate a culture of thinking above the line. This means empowering individuals to take control of their lives, make better decisions, and pursue success through effort and innovation. Capitalism, despite its imperfections, remains the most effective mechanism for lifting people out of poverty because it rewards productivity, creativity, and personal responsibility. When people have access to capital and the freedom to use it, they build wealth—not just for themselves, but for their communities and nations. The administrative state, by contrast, stifles this process. It throws up regulatory stop sticks, preventing people from even starting a lemonade stand. It confiscates wealth under the guise of fairness and redistributes it through inefficient bureaucracies that serve more to perpetuate their own existence than to solve problems. To reduce poverty, we must dismantle these barriers, reject the cult of victimization, and return to a model that celebrates personal agency, economic liberty, and the power of positive thinking. That’s how you build a society that thrives—not by managing poverty, but by eliminating the conditions that create it.  Too much “below the line thinking” creates depraved conditions that bring down all cultures.  And if you want to prevent that way of thinking, then you have to change where people are on that invisible line that we draw in the sand, above and below.  It’s not a political line, it’s one of personal responsibility.  And when you teach people to be victims, of course, you are then teaching them to be poor.  And no amount of money that you throw at them will help them if they don’t think right about how to use it. 

Rich Hoffman

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

Rich Hoffman Derangement Syndrome: Solving problems people don’t want solved

This has arisen recently due to the fallout between Elon Musk and President Trump, during which he discussed Trump Derangement Syndrome.  However, I understand why people dislike President Trump.  And here’s the deal: it’s not his job to change the opinion of those who hate him.  I know that hate all too well because it’s a personality thing.  There are a lot of people who hate me; they have Rich Hoffman Derangement Syndrome for sure.  And I know why people have it.  So I get Trump, and I understand why Elon Musk self-sabotaged his relationship with the President.  I see it all the time, every single day.  And there isn’t anything anybody can do to change that status.  People are going to feel what they are going to feel, and that’s just the way it works.  In Trump’s case, there are many people, including Elon Musk, who fall out of favor with the President due to the factors that contribute to the development of Trump Derangement Syndrome.  And the burden for change is on the people who hate, knowing that people like Trump set a bar too high for weak people to live up to, and they hate the person who sets that high bar because they are too lazy to live up to it.  That is the start of the hatred, but of course, it runs deeper than that.  But for some dumb reason, people have been taught that society owes them some unearned merit, to make them feel less bad about themselves, and when people don’t give them that, they grow to hate the targets of their anxiety.  And that relationship often descends into hatred.  One of the reasons President Trump has been as successful as he has in life is that he developed the ability to not care about changing his status against him, but to embrace it and live with it.  And once that happens, a certain freedom is experienced which allows for exemplary leadership and personal virtue. 

The Rich Hoffman Derangement Syndrome, which is a very real thing, is completely unprovoked by me.  I am about as friendly to people as anybody could be.  Yet I have a list of people who hate me for a reason.  And I understand it all too well, and I can therefore see it in other people with the same ease, such as in President Trump.  I don’t go out of my way to harm people at all, yet there is no shortage of people every day, at a different level than President Trump, of course, who lose their minds just by hearing my name.  And to maintain your level of happiness, you have to develop the ability not to care what people think of you.  President Trump has certainly created that over the years, which is why he can be such a good President.  But the same could be said of the head of any company or a family.  If someone had to pinpoint the most essential ingredient in any successful enterprise, I would say that it resides in Trump Derangement Syndrome, and how he deals with that derangement as a person.  Most human beings have an innate desire to be liked.  So they find themselves going out of their way to appease those around them, which gives people who don’t deserve it unearned merit, more power than they deserve to have, because they get to decide whether or not they like you.  And if you want to be liked, then you give people who don’t deserve that power, power over you, because you want something from them. 

It’s a psychological problem from people who have significant, destructive personality traits that they desire to hide from the world through this little game of popularity.  One thing that people, for the most part, do is introduce problems into the world so they can hide their insecurities behind them.  It’s a deep psychological problem that most people have in their lives to some extent.  So, when you bring someone into their life who likes to solve problems, and they solve those problems easily, of course, for those with the problems, that’s the worst thing in the world.  Because they want to hide behind problems with no prospect of ever being solved, those types of people dislike individuals who solve problems, as they want the problems to persist so they can conceal deeper issues within themselves that they seek to hide from the world.  That is why there is, and always will be, Rich Hoffman Derangement Syndrome.  Solving problems comes very naturally to me, and I do it everywhere I go.  I see through people to who they are, and when I see problems, I solve them.  And people hate me for it.  And since I don’t give them unearned merit just for breathing, as they have been taught, society should not be structured that way. As a result, they have no barrier to reality to insulate themselves from the truth. So they hate me.  And they hate anybody who shows an inclination to solve their problem because they want the problems to exist so they can hide behind them.  We’re talking about the kind of people who create problems in the world so they can hide their insecurities behind them, protecting themselves from needed reforms, and putting pressure on them to be good people.  To avoid that fate, they create problems as a barrier to the pressures of judgment.

So if you are a problem solver who sees easily through these smokescreens of issues, you will be hated.  Just as a child wants to hide under the covers to avoid the monsters that they think are in their closet, they will hate the person who rips away the covers and forces them to see what is hidden in their room.  And when you show them that there is no monster, they will not be happy, but sad, because they liked to hide under the covers, as it simulated a primal desire they have to be back in the womb of their mother, all cozy and warm, and cared for.  Because life is tough, and they aren’t adamant, or smart, and they fear most of all the world knowing that about them.  And with me, I see everything, I know everything, I can read a person just walking down the sidewalk and tell you just about everything you need to know about them.  Solving problems comes naturally to me.  And when I do, some people want the issues to remain, for their own needs of concealment.  And over time, if you want to be successful with such a talent, you learn not to care what other people think.  Because you don’t give those people the unearned merit to leverage friendship for compliance, people who don’t deserve it don’t get to use their control over relationships to keep problems intact as an extortion strategy.  And when that doesn’t work, as seen with Elon Musk maintaining a relationship with President Trump to gain leverage over a NASA administrator, or some EV mandate in the new Big Beautiful Bill, you find out real fast who your real friends are and what they want out of a relationship with you.  And when you couldn’t care less what they think, of course, they will develop a hatred for you and will suffer from a Derangement Syndrome.  And there is nothing you can do to help them.  I have certainly learned not to get pulled into other people’s problems.  But to solve them, regardless of their feelings about it.  And when they learn they can’t use friendship to retain their problems.  Of course, they will hate you for it, so if you want to be a successful person, you need to solve problems.  You have to learn not to care when people develop a hatred for you. Instead, you learn to accept and even embrace that hatred.  There is nothing I can do about Rich Hoffman Derangement Syndrome.  Except learn not to solve the problems people want to hide behind.  And we all know that’s not going to happen. 

Rich Hoffman

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

Why Trump Won: Brand building is the key to establishing and maintaining relationships

So many important lessons can be learned from the Trump election of 2024.  But, the reason Trump won has yet to be talked about much.  The assumption is that Elon Musk came in at the last minute, after the assassination attempt in July, and put many millions of dollars into Trump’s campaign as the world’s richest man.  But to assume that, you would have to believe that money wins elections and that those who raise the most money and spend it will win the election.  Of course, the media, which sells ads and makes its money off politics during elections, wants everyone to think that.  But it wasn’t true.  Kamala Harris spent on her 2024 campaign 1.5 billion dollars and ended up, at the end of it, millions of dollars in debt.  She spent more than she had, which was a lot.  Who in their right mind gave her money who had that kind of money?  I could have told them they were wasting their time.  Wait, come to think of it, I did tell them.  But they didn’t listen.  Reports say that Trump spent much less than that, hovering around the 1 billion dollar mark, which is what many think it takes to run for president these days, but I’m not even sure that is the case.  But the bottom line is that Kamala spent a lot of money and didn’t move the needle in any kind of positive direction.  So why?  That’s the most critical question.  If Trump and Kamala spent even more money, why did the money spent work more for one, not the other?  So you can’t say that Elon Musk bought Trump the election, that would not be accurate. Instead, something much more important happened, and Trump did a masterful job at it, as we would all expect. 

A person’s brand is one of the most essential attributes of their personality; it’s how people come to know you and what they think of you when you aren’t around them anymore.  In everything you do in life, you must build your brand and use it to gain cooperation from your peers.  I have a very strong brand presence on many fronts.  For instance, I was having a fancy dinner with many people with strong opinions about my brand.  We were all ordering dessert, and the people with us at this dinner were from all over the world.  So I ordered a cake with many special effects to demonstrate how extraordinary the desserts were at this dinner and encourage our guests to be a little daring.  After all, I figured my brand was so good that I could handle a little wildness.  So I ordered a special cake, which came out with dry ice spewing everywhere. A tree made of cotton candy came out on top of it.  Those combinations of things made my dinner guests laugh because of the contrasts.  They were not very “manly” things to do and seemed like something they would never expect coming from me.  But that’s also why the Trump Dance works for Trump at rallies; it contrasts his tough guy image.  That image is his brand, and it’s how people learn the nature of the values of the advocate.  Without a brand image to maintain, my ordering the cake and the reaction to it would have just been about food.  But I made it into something else to advance why we were having the dinner together in the first place, as a team-building event that people would not soon forget. 

Trump has been one of the best in the world at building and applying brands.  His family name, Trump, is recognized worldwide and establishes quality and luxury for those who see it.  Trump built the brand over a long period and, about ten years ago, decided to use it to put America on its back and to Make America Great Again.  When people saw the Trump Brand anywhere in the 80s and 90s, they think of wealth and luxury, which is a way for Trump to take The Power of Positive Thinking and apply it to wealth generation.  So when Trump decided to run for office in 2015, he just brought his brand with him and beat Hillary Clinton based on the strength of his brand, as he spent a fraction of the money most campaigns would to win such a high office.  When he disrupted the system and everyone in the world came after him, Trump used his brand to rise above the critics in a way only his extensive, positive brand would have allowed.  Like my story about the cake, if you have a strong brand, you can provoke much action that either supports or contrasts it.  For my dinner guests, expecting an uncompromising gunslinger to shoot anybody who does injustice is a sharp contrast to sitting there eating a chocolate cake with pink cotton candy all over the top.  Showing such a moment of comparison within my brand earns trust because it contrasts my customary behavior.  But without the brand, there wouldn’t be any opinions or jokes to evolve a dialogue of trust that was needed for such a moment.  On a much larger scale, Trump used his brand to carry the lofty goal of Making America Great Again into a value system people felt they could invest in.  And they did.

One of my favorite campaign items from the 2024 election is a Trump 2024 switchblade.  I obtained it under unusual conditions, and it was undoubtedly one of the best souvenirs of Trump I had ever seen during the election.  Trump’s name was on everything, from knives to hats to shirts, flags, glasses, anything and everything.  And that was because Trump had built a brand that gave value to obtaining those items.  That Trump knife would be just another knife if it didn’t have Trump 2024 written on it.  On the other hand, Kamala spent a lot more money trying to create an impression, but her brand didn’t have roots in which people could invest.  So, as she tried to make an impression on voters, she did not have a brand that people could understand and invest in.  Nobody was rushing out to buy a Harris hat or shirt.  But people were flocking to buy a Trump hat.  They couldn’t make enough of them.  And in the end, that is what ended up mattering most.  Even though Elon Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the MAGA movement and Trump himself, it was Trump who built a brand worth investing in.  Without the brand, the money was tossed to the wind like drunk gamblers in a casino late at night. The brand allows people to invest in the person who built it, for better or worse.  But once you have the brand, you can use it to sell ideas to people who have enough rooting to grab on and take action.  And the Democrats, they didn’t do any of that.  They tried to create impressions but had no substance behind their brand to sell an idea.  That caused them to toss much money at the effort only to have it wasted because there was no brand worth investing in.  So the ideas that Democrats had couldn’t be sold to a public so empty that they’d buy any impression.  When it came to Trump, people bought into a brand he had built for over 4 decades, and he put it all at risk to become president.  And as a result, the brand outlasted the attempts to destroy it.  Now, with that brand value, America can do as Trump’s brand indicates: to Make America Great Again.  When people see that term, they think of quality, wealth, and tenacity.  And the nation can rally to the cause because a brand can sell the idea and sustain the results.  Rather than just creating more false impressions that people have become long weary of.  And this will be the case for politics over the coming century.  It’s not enough to spend money. Instead, the money has to have a brand that people want to invest in and make it their own. 

Rich Hoffman

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

Trump is the Best Salesman in the World: Unless the President is back in the White House, people will not accept the results of the election

So, to answer the question that I have been asked by many people, including people who work on the inside of several campaigns, including Trump’s, what can Trump do to beat the machine?  How does he answer the campaign of keep away that Harris is playing, knowing that the election is rigged and that the media is in the tank for the Democrats?  Should Trump put together the old 2016 team?  How should he answer the challenge, assuming free elections are still possible?  I would add to all that the essential problem is that the Deep State cannot afford to lose this election.  And what they are doing with Kamala is not enough to win.  The polling with rigged elements is trying to keep it close, but in reality, it’s not close.  I think Trump could walk to the finish line doing nothing and win this election.  But what can be done by Trump to help ensure he can win?  Well, my response is to dig back to his roots, at the Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale, and turn all the negatives into positives.  Kamala Harris is such an evil character who is trying to be overtly positive; their only option since they have such a terrible record comes out as phony.  And people are naturally repulsed by her.  The goal of the bad guys is to try and make it look close so they can cheat, which Merrick Garland has already started alluding to.  Unless it’s Trump winning the White House, people are not going to accept the results of this government-counted election where the Deep State is trying to protect itself from the massive reforms that are coming, whether they like it or not.  Those reforms will happen through peace, preferably an election, or force.  But they will happen.  The Deep State of global communism, which Kamala Harris represents, is only hanging on by a thread at this point.  People are not choosing them by default as they have in the past.  Now, people are on to the game.

Trump is one of the best salespeople in the world and is certainly the best in terms of his massive social brand.  When people talk about Trump as a con man and not an astute businessman, they are talking about his ability, which is a skill, to turn negatives into positives.  One thing that is very evident in Trump’s books, which I have collected for years, especially these new ones, such as Our Journey Together from Winning Team Publishing and this new one coming out, Save America, is the quality of everything that Trump does.  The Trump Organization, well before they were ever in politics, knew how to sell a good experience, which showed in their products.  Going through some of those Trump books recently, mainly Our Journey Together, sells American exceptionalism independently.  Trump doesn’t have to work very hard at it.  What this election will come down to, as they usually do, is the economy.  Do people have money to work with? In this case, everyone attached to the Biden administration in some way or another has been suppressing a depression, not just a recession.  Driving down gas prices here at the last minute isn’t enough to put juice back into people’s pockets.  The cost of inflation has already done the damage, and there is no way to hide it from people.  When it comes to voting, people want a change primarily due to money and the lack of it in people’s pockets. 

Trump knows how to sell the brand of a better America through the Power of Positive Thinking.  He doesn’t have to answer Kamala Harris on anything.  Trump has set the stage and controls the message, which are all the key points any campaign wants.  The only question remains whether we can still choose representatives through our elections.  Trump knows the key to that is too big to rig approach where even with the manipulations of voting machine data and drop box stuffing, people know how they voted and they aren’t going to put up with a spike in the middle of the night of Biden drops while people were sleeping, then say, “presto, Biden won,” as they continued to count for weeks after that.  It’s kind of the situation at the end of Beetlejuice where he stole the number for the line wait from the shrunken head witch doctor.  Only for the doctor to notice and shrink Beetlejuice’s own head.  The criminal elements of our government do think we are all stupid, and like that Beetlejuice character, they are going to try to take advantage of us any way they think they can get by with.  But people are now looking out for the trouble in ways they never have before.  So, Trump doesn’t need to run a negative campaign.  He has his core base, and they get it.  Trump doesn’t need to be negative in any way possible.  He does not need to play the victim card.  All he needs to do is peel away the middle grounders, which is happening already with Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy, known democrats who are now joining Trump for a big-tent Republican Party. 

I am looking forward to Trump’s new book Save America, which features him being shot in the head on the cover and pumping his fist to the sky in defiance with blood running down his face, and it comes out on the first of September 2024.  As I said, Trump and his team understand what they are doing, and these books during his presidency are very high quality and have an extremely positive message.  These are the same Trumps that had Melania selling jewelry on late-night infomercials before any of them got involved in politics.  Selling a positive message as to how America can be Great Again is something they know how to do.  These books alone will not put Trump over the top in this election.  Melania Trump has a book coming out in October, which I will undoubtedly be one of the first to get and read, and I think it will sell her in a way she doesn’t usually give people access to.   What’s happening here is that Democrats who see the writing on the wall, such as Musk and Kennedy, are stepping toward Trump, as many others are also.  This is what was happening to the Trump administration during its last days before the Deep State launched COVID-19 to stop the bleeding.  Democrats were stepping over and joining Trump’s positive message.  So, Covid was released as a bioweapon.  Hey, don’t take my word for it; Bobby Kennedy and Rand Paul will tell you all about it.  It was the biggest crime in the world’s history, and many people still have to pay for it.  But Trump doesn’t need to cry and whine about it.  He has to stay positive, and that will make it too big for the bad guys to rig this election.   I didn’t just start loving Democrats, but we’re looking at a big picture here, and Trump gets it.  It’s in his books that he is bringing America together again no matter what the skin color, sex, or political affiliation is.  And it’s all about the Power of Positive Thinking.  The platform is in Trump’s books.  People are jumping on for their own self-preservation.  This is something Kamala Harris and her Deep State controllers could never do with any amount of money and propped up polling if they wanted to.  They just can’t, and people know it, which is why Trump is poised to win, even beyond the controls of cheating that are looming in the background.

Rich Hoffman

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The Art of the Comeback: Trump has been there before, and he can do it again

This is for the many Trump campaign people who read here; I have noticed something useful that should be utilized. It’s not just a campaign of unfairness what the FBI and Biden Democrats are doing by abusing their relationship with the Department of Justice to prosecute President Trump and keep him off the ballot in 2024. We all understand that, and yes, it’s grossly unfair. But their continued use of that pressure is more than just an abuse of authority; it’s a strategy. The raid on the President’s home was a stamp on him that there was an authority bigger than him. By calling into question Trump’s right to evoke executive privilege, the enemies on the other side want to deny that Trump was ever President and could never evoke such a thing. That is the game we are playing here. It’s more like football than anything, where the Biden cheaters’ defensive line intends to create so much pressure that our quarterback, Trump, can’t make his reads and complete his throws. Even though it’s evident that Trump earned more than 75 million votes in the last election and likely will again, the strategy going into a 2024 election cycle can’t be what it is today, where the message is victimhood.   Even though it has been unfair, Trump must stop saying it and appeal to people’s sympathy. He needs to show that he is bigger than the system, which is how he became elected in 2016. The system miscalculated him and figured he would never beat Hillary Clinton anyway, so they didn’t attack him enough. They won’t make that mistake in 2024.

Likely, the Democrats will put up Gavin Newsom to replace Joe Biden. Once Biden gets through the midterms, they will retire him off into the sunset, and he’ll play along, stating his age. That will all be to make way for Newsom, who is much younger and will pressure Republicans to give more support to DeSantis and lower the age of the candidates into something more favorable to Democrats. And they’ll hope to split Republican support between Trump and DeSantis and cause a rift between MAGA supporters since most of the Republican Party has already turned against Never Trumper types and RINOs. The constant pressure of investigation and court action are all designed to keep Trump off his game and reacting, rather than setting the stage for what the next election will be about. That is where Trump would benefit significantly from changing his strategy to more offense than trying to appeal to people’s sense of unfairness. Everyone knows the system is rigged. Everyone sees how corrupt everything is. What they want to know is what Trump would do about it. The first time around, in 2015, it was The Art of the Deal presidency. People wanted a real deal maker, and Trump had his books and television shows that showed he was a master at it. They voted for him to do what he would eventually do, run circles around the politicians of the rest of the world and make fools of them, and put America back into the winning column. And it worked, it worked too well, in fact, and the globalist types hit the panic button and pulled every string at their disposal to get rid of Trump so that the threats to their Liberal World Order would stop, which is where we are today. 

But Trump has another best seller, it’s hard to get these days, but it’s still out there, The Art of the Comeback, which I think is much more appropriate for this next campaign run. 2024 is much different than things were in 2016. Before Trump’s first presidency, we only suspected certain things, and so did he. After we have confirmation on many of those things, a different approach will be needed, and the ground rules for the next election must be set by him, just as he did in 2016. He made that election about deal-making and took it out of the realm of the professional advisors who wanted it to all be about taxes, abortion, women’s rights, and climate change. Democrats in 2024 will try to sell California socialism to the rest of the nation, which will be the platform. Usually, Republicans get caught reacting to that platform instead of setting it themselves, with inflation out of control. With respect around the world, that is so terribly bad. With the crush of the electric car market that is grossly underpowered and saturating American car makers by force of government intrusion, people won’t just want to Make America Great Again. Still, they will want to do so with a big fat exclamation point.   They will want a president that has shown them the roadmap to victory before and can handle the extreme odds stacked against us with poise and grace. Obviously, the enemies of America worldwide have set things in motion that many people don’t think could be recovered. They think it’s too late for America and that nothing we do can stop the country’s destruction at this point. And that is the primary issue going into 2024. It’s one thing to win seats and gain majorities in 2022. But how do you keep people focused on task for another two years once we’ve stopped the bleeding?

I’ve always liked Trump because of his books on business. And I thought The Art of the Comeback was one of Trump’s better books because it tells the story of how a big-time investment player lost everything, to become billions of dollars poorer than a homeless person, and picked himself up to become once again and permanently, one of the world’s wealthiest people. And in the aftermath of all that success, and running the hit show on NBC, The Apprentice, Trump married Melania and then set the stage for a run for President, which he won, of course. That is a story that everyone can appreciate, and it’s the story that Americans want to hear about in 2024. They don’t want to hear about the FBI and the election fraud, although that is the biggest story in the human race. If election fraud continues, then Republicans will never win, so we have to deal with it with tighter controls. But people don’t want to hear about how Trump is a victim. They want to see that he’s bigger than the system and that he is untouchable by the enemies of America. They want to see The Art of the Comeback. They want confidence, bravado, and an America First platform. Voters want to know that Trump made a comeback for himself; now they want to see it done for them, to save their country from the obviously bad people around the world who hate America and us and are salivating our destruction. When I went to campaign events for Trump in 2015 and 2016, I saw many people carrying around copies of The Art of the Deal, hoping they could get Trump to sign it for them. They would hold it up at rallies, and Trump would positively point them out to the audience. In a lot of ways, that was the campaign slogan of 2016. But few people know about his Art of the Comeback, and it’s time to educate them on its success. It’s the perfect way to start this new campaign and the ideal way to take the momentum away from the government antagonizers who are terrified that Trump will win in 2024. And the way to keep everyone focused on the right things would be to make The Art of the Comeback the foundation for the 2024 run. It’s part of Trump’s brand, and it certainly would set in motion great things to come, politically and socially. 

Rich Hoffman

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The Midterms Aren’t Enough: This problem goes back thousands of years

As we talk about the midterms and the massive increases of House and Senate seats that are projected for the GOP and watch with mystery the obvious ruse of Nancy Pelosi poking the stick at China, seemingly going against the Biden administration’s pro-China policies, we need to understand just how desperate Democrats are and to what extent globalists around the world will fight to keep power. And we also hear that Joe Biden has Covid yet again; the Democrats saw that Joe polled better when he hid in the White House residence, just as he did when he ran for President by hiding in his basement; they intend to exploit every advantage they can get their hands on fully. The Never Trumper movement will do anything to keep Trump out of office, including running a third-party candidate to help Gavin Newsom get pushed over the top as Bill Clinton did. Never-Trumpers don’t mind dealing with the Democrats in office. And, of course, Democrats will do anything to obtain power. They aren’t just going to accept a red wave vote and disappear into the night. They will fight until the very death of themselves and their party. They aren’t going to respect the will of the voters. So be cautious of every trick and expect them all to be played. It might be too late for them to correct course by the midterms. Just like the recession forecasts that have been talked about all of 2022 only to come true ultimately, the midterms will also. But Democrats will spin it with their eye toward the next goal, much as they did with the economy. They are what any definition would call the very foundations of evil. Not because they think differently, but because of their intentions toward mass society, and they are getting ready to make their final stand. Once the midterms are won, the fight will just be getting started. It’s not very long until 2024, yet it’s a very long way away as well, and a lot can and will happen. 

For Democrats and global progressives, the political fight in America is not just about ideas on how to manage society. It’s a religion to them. That is why they are willing to work with Never-Trumpers, and there is essentially a “uniparty” in Washington D.C.  Most politicians in political theater, whether it’s Fox News or CNN broadcasts are essentially the same. Everything they have ever been was shaped by two opposing forces. Yet the MAGA movement is the natural evolution of a third political force that has tried for many years to manifest into reality but has always been lost by one of the two basic religious philosophies. President Trump represents a threat to that entire world order which is older than history itself.

On the one hand, members of the dualist religions believe that all life on earth is evil, driven by materialism and that the goal of all humanity is to escape from the limits of the body and be resurrected as a spirit for eternal life. Then there are those religions, such as the Roman Catholic Church, which intended to be the government on earth over every micromanaged aspect of people’s lives. They intend themselves to be the gates to God, putting themselves between everlasting life and the material needs of existence. No matter what time humanity has found itself, one of those two forces has shaped all political theater suppressing any other ideas that might have emerged. So what the administrative state, as we call it, is fighting for is nothing less than a preservation of the old order and preventing any new ideas from emerging. 

There is a reason no other ideas emerged beyond those two forces, the dualist religions and the kinghood of the other dominating entire regions to the embodiment of a ruler on earth. Most of the secret societies we always hear about have operated in the background to preserve these orders, and they are hard at work right now to keep this threat of President Trump from emerging again. Donald Trump is an exciting creation of the American lifestyle. This materialist literally lived in a golden palace high atop America’s most capitalist city of New York with his beautiful supermodel wife. He had top-rated television shows, wrote books, and was the face of American capitalism in ways that significantly threatened the order of anti-materialists who have always maintained the religions of dualism, earth bad, eternity good. Trump showed that a person could be a materialist and could be smart about eternal life. He is an eternal optimist, never crying in public and not even slowing down for the death of people close to him. Trump is very much a creation of the Power of Positive Thinking, which is uniquely American and is terror to the old religions of the world who use the fear of fire and brimstone to control people from birth until their graves and claim to have influence even into eternity. That lack of fear and respect for the duelist religions and the king state concepts of the modern pope or some monarchy are reprehensible to the political left. And they will not disappear into the night with a golly-gee, shucks mentality. They will be out for blood and must be dealt with knowing that.

Expect every trick in the book. Splitting the vote with a three-candidate field is the most obvious, but I would caution everyone not to fall for it. This new Republican Party under Trump is something very different from what it has been in the past. Immigration running from terrible conditions worldwide is looking toward the Republican Party. They don’t want America to become the kind of places they ran from. Democrats planned that those immigrants, illegal and otherwise, would vote for big government because of the giveaways. But most people coming to America, no matter where they came from, want the preservation of family, want the freedom to make money, and try for the American dream. They reject globalism because they have seen what it does to communities where it has sunk roots. And none of that is part of the Democrat plan. It’s not part of the Never-Trump plan either. For the first time in human history, something is emerging in America that is different from the other stagnant religions of the world, the duelists and the king-state. What Trump has represented is a uniquely American idea of religion that is not controlled by the previous embodiments of social organization. It honestly terrifies those who currently want to be in charge. These new rules are what the next elections are all about. Yes, there was election fraud in the last election, at least. There has likely been election fraud in the previous decades as well, knowing what we do now about how political parties run elections while they are in charge and just how little they think of people in general. And they will try again. But what’s different now and likely for the first time is that people are aware of the problem and act honestly in their own self-interest. That self-interest was defined by one of those two previous religious ideologies. But now, there is an American stamp on it that transcends all the aforementioned controls and the administrative state in the halls of institutionalism that had run the terror. They don’t know what to do to hold on to power when so many people continue to turn to Trump for a change, a change away from them and their rules. And to maintain their illusions, don’t underestimate them at all. Because they will do anything to keep power. Cheating in elections is just the tip of the iceberg. 

Rich Hoffman

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