I must give Trump (or ‘Orange Shithead’ as the kid in the convenience store called him) credit. Here’s a guy who no matter what is going on around him, knows how to pull off a good scam every chance he gets.
Think about it for a minute. The whole vote ‘fraud’ thing was just another scam. It didn’t happen but Orange Shithead (OS) had a lot of people believing it and putting money into it. And he’s still got people believing it even though it’s becoming old news.
So, you come up with some new news and you start up a new scam. In this case, it’s a scam called the ‘American Freedom Tour,’ where Trump shows up and gives a speech about American ‘values,’ and the audience pays between $55 and – ready? - $3,995, who then get a personal photo op with OS after the speeches and also get an opportunity to buy (as in to purchase) a series of lessons which give you the real deal on how to invest your money and really cash in.
Remember Trump University? That scam ran from 2005 to 2010 where people paid serious money to attend closed-door meetings where they allegedly learned the secrets of real-estate investments from Trump and other so-called ‘faculty members.’ Except all that happened is that the student body lost a lot of money and OS eventually had to shut the whole thing down.
The only real difference between these American Freedom events and the big, open-air rallies that Trump does at various locations in red-state America is that the latter events are free at the front door, although not to worry, there are plenty of MAGA hats, banners and t-shirts on sale.
And where does the money go when you buy any of this crap? In the exact, same pocket where the money goes when people buy tickets to attend the American Freedom Tour.
Every former President tries to cash in on his name, and sometimes the wives of ex-Presidents, like Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama also do their part to bring in some extra bucks. But the big difference between what the Clintons and the Obamas do when they go out on the circuit and what Trump does is that Trump is not only an ex-President, but he may also become a Presidential candidate again.
If OS declares himself to be running in 2024, all the rules change. Now all these scams become political events and the money which all these suckers are putting up must be declared to the Federal Election Commission and can’t just go into Trump’s personal bank account.
When you stop and think about it, none of these scams like Trump University or Trump’s Freedom Tour can begin to compare in any way, shape or form, with the biggest scam of all, namely, the four years that Trump pretended to be the 45th President of the United States. And there still seem to be a lot of people out there who want that scam to be repeated again.
Except the good news for the rest of us is that this particular scam didn’t work so well in 2020 and it won’t work in 2024, for the simple reason that all of a sudden, some of the supporting cast for how this scam operated after 2016, seem to be having second thoughts. Yesterday the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, reversed an earlier refusal and testified before the January 6th Committee, and there’s a report out there which says that Trump is going to withdraw his Executive Privilege claim so that Steve Bannon can testify before the Committee as well.
So, the rats are beginning to jump off the good ship OS, and sooner or later the Committee will refer matters to the Department of Justice which may convene a Grand Jury that will have until January 20, 2025, to decide what to do.
How big a crowd do you think Trump could draw for a rally outside the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta just before OS goes off to jail?