Dear Trump, it takes a lot of money, time, and energy to run a cult.
Dear Trump, if you want to keep your cult going, you need to understand the money, time, and energy that it takes to maintain a cult.
Think about the more famous cults like the Moonies, Scientology, The People's Temple, Rajneeshpuram, and NXIVM.
They all share some basic similarities:
1. They require a lot of money to manage the day to day activities of the cult. Money needs to be coming in on a regular basis. Helps to have an extremely wealthy benefactor or two. The Bhagwan had the heirs to Learjet and BaskinRobbins. NXIVM had the Seagram heirs. Scott Baio has that Charles in Charge royalty checks.
2. They need to recruit new members to keep it going which means highly active recruiting. This will be hard to do when you no longer have any power and cannot bestow favors like pardons onto people.
3. They have to spend a lot of money on lawyers to keep members under control, and fight criminal charges and civil lawsuits. Good lawyers are not cheap.
4. They all have/had some sort of security force that maintains control. All good cults need their henchmen. Scientology employs an army of private investigators.
5. They all project a feeling of omnipresence. Cult members need to feel that you are always around. Being president, Fox News, and abusing Twitter fulfilled this requirement, but you won't have these things when you leave.
You could label yourself and your movement as a religion which would allow you to raise money tax free, but that move may turn off the fundies.
Give this some serious thought. As you age from your mid to late 70s, do you have what it takes to maintain your cult? Do you really want to do this. 2024 is a very, very, very long time away.
Cults are a young man's game.
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