The Shocking Truth about Melania Trump

Sorry for the clickbaity title, but this is a story about clickbait.  At least on the surface.  But clickbait begs the question: what happens when the bait gets clicked on.  In fishing, where the term originates from, when the fish takes the bait, a hook tears through their flesh, they yank around violently (not knowing that their fighting is worsening the pain and damage they’re enduring), until they are reeled in, and then killed to provide someone’s dinner.

So what happens when you take the bait on TikTok, Instagram, or X?  Or the New York Times, FOX News Channel, or the Joe Rogan Show?

If you’ve been following my work for long, you know I mindfully regulate the time I spend with social and traditional media.  As far as social media, I’m a creator but only a minimalistic consumer. (And if I didn’t feel a responsibility to support the editors who publish my work, I wouldn’t be caught dead on social any longer.) Social media is the plague of our era and doing more to destroy humanity than all the wars on Earth.  (In part, because of the role it plays in causing and continuing all the wars on Earth.)

Back to what happens when you get hooked on the bait…

When making my posts this morning I noticed that Melania Trump was trending.  Without even knowing the context of what had her trending, I knew what would come if I clicked.  Since I’m working on a chapter in my next book on the dangers of social media, I pressed the key…

Indeed, she was trending. The catalyst seems to be a podcast that Super-Dem James Carville did where he suggested she was in the orbit of the Epstein sex trafficking circle.  After receiving a letter from the Trump legal team, Carville deleted that section from the pod and apologized on social. I’m sure you will be shocked to discover this—but there were two very different trains of thought on the subject.

On one side, the fatuous, adulation posts from the believers: she is the greatest First Lady ever, Melania OWNS the lib-tards, the media conspiracy against the Trumps, most stunning First Lady in American history, etc. On the other side: biting, allegation posts from the haters: pix of her with Epstein, crypto grifting with her meme token, her nude pix, and her “Who gives a fuck about Christmas?” audio.

What’s the shocking truth about Melania? You’ll find it somewhere in the middle of the entries above.  But where you won’t find it, is in social or traditional media. Because that doesn’t create clicks, and clicks create dollars.

These clicks from social and traditional media also create low self-esteem, imposter syndrome, isolation, polarization, loneliness, hate, short attention spans, and overall brain decay in hundreds of millions of people. And they’re doing it by destroying your ability for rational reasoning, civil discourse, and critical thinking.

There’s a new book out worth your time titled, The Anthology of Balaji. If you’re not familiar with Balaji Srinivasan, he’s a brilliant thought leader with extensive domain expertise in engineering, technology, and entrepreneurship. In one of the essays in the book, Balaji creates an analogy using the examples of “you are what you eat” and “you think what you see.”

Not only do I think Balaji is dead-on right, but I also think this scenario is scary AF. Because the average human in the first world spends anywhere from six to ten hours a day seeing shit like this debate on Melania today.  Even scarier, most aren’t seeing both sides—the algorithms are only serving up the side they want to see.

Let me share a secret with you…

It does not matter which perspective of the Melania side you are on. It’s almost a certainty that there is absolutely NOTHING of educational, positive, or redeeming value in reading that timeline.

Or the timelines of the hundreds of other trending topic competing for your attention today from the news media, social media, or the alerts you opted into on your phone.  Yet literally billions of hours will be sucked up by this shit today alone.

It’s terrifying the ease to which we dehumanize people today. It doesn’t matter who you see trending: Melania or Kamala, or Biden or Trump, Cardi B or Pavarotti. They’re no longer people but mirrors.  Mirrors that reflect our deepest divisions, biases, and fears.

Last week I was attending the National Speakers Association convention and Don Hutson, one of the OGs of the group, pulled up a slide of my old pal, Charlie “Tremendous” Jones and his legendary quote:

“Five years from today, you will be the same person that you are today, except for the books you read and the people you meet.”

Allow me to share a new quote from Randy “Tremendous” Gage updated for today’s reality:

“Five years from today, your personality, behaviors, health, happiness and prosperity (or lack of it) will be the result of the scrolling you do on your dumbphone between now and then.”

I’ll wager you know at least 15 or 20 people who have experienced a strange or even radical personality change over the last five years. It’s a likelihood just shy of a certainty that the changes you've seen have been in the negative direction.  Symptoms include being more argumentative, strident, judgmental, narcissistic, jaded, distrustful, cynical, depressed, fearful, and prone to conspiracy theories.  Sometimes, symptoms like these are a medical issue that should be checked.  But I'll posit that most of these cases are the direct result of manipulation by computer algorithms.

Enragement leads to engagement.  And engagement is how the media companies (and all the marketers that use them) make money. Once they know what makes you afraid and what makes you angry, you’re the fish on the hook.

My day job is teaching the principles of prosperity.  (Can’t wait to tell you about a new program I’m launching in January!) In the meantime, here are two simple but profound behaviors that will help the version of you five years from now, be closer to the highest possible version of yourself…

• Do a “cool down” period before bed.  Don’t let the last influence you get be the late news or a slasher movie.  And the last thing you see before sleep should NOT be your smartphone.  Charge your phone overnight, turned off, in a different room from where you sleep.  Keep a spiritual or inspirational book on your nightstand.  Then take at least five or ten minutes to read something positive before sleep.  This will work on your mind all night as you sleep.
• Spend self-development time each morning, before you go out into the world. (Or look at your phone.) Practice at least 20 minutes, to set your attitude and create intention for the day.   You will then attract people and circumstances in alignment with who you want to become.  During this time, expose yourself to stimulus that empowers you.

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

From just that one sentence from the Book of Proverbs, James Allen was able to write at least five profound books.  That’s a lot of work for ten little words, but it speaks to how powerful the idea they convey really is.  Because whatever you constantly think about, not only will you come to understand, but you will become. Just remember that what you think about is going to be greatly influenced by what you’re seeing on your devices.

Peace,

- RG

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