Perception Versus Reality

Orange County business trip

view from the backseat of a driving service car

The likelihood is that, if you are reading this, you are probably pretty awake. You are not indoctrinated into the system; you haven’t taken the blue pill. I’m referring to the movie The Matrix, of course, and not Viagra. Whether you have been awake for 60 years, 20 years, 10 years, 5 years, or even if you have woken up within the last couple of years, chances are we’ve gone through a similar process.

When I first “woke up”—call it eight or nine years ago—I felt compelled to share everything I learned with everyone I encountered. To my surprise, it was received with much dismay and rejection. A lot of “side looks,” and in some cases, it led to severed relationships. I didn’t realize at the time how deeply ingrained the brainwashing was, or how it was designed to protect the lies at all costs, including by ending relationships.

COVID was strange for those of us who were awake at the time. To see seemingly normal people act so irrationally, filled with such venom and fear, referring to the unvaccinated as monsters for choosing not to inject themselves with an experimental drug—some literally wishing death on us—was enough to cause one to build a wall around themselves and choose not to engage with anyone who wasn’t clearly aligned with their beliefs and understanding.

If you are one of those people who built up a wall and now currently live in a bit of an echo chamber, as I probably do, you may think the general population’s understanding of the world is still stuck at day one of the COVID lockdowns. As I have discovered, the average person has come a long way. They may not be fully onboard, but they are at least at the station considering the purchase of a ticket.

With all of the craziness currently happening within the MAGA community, understand this: it is not real. It is not organic. It is clearly bad actors turning against Trump at designated times—an act of desperation by their overlords who have lost control. But don’t make the mistake of thinking, “If MAGA is acting this crazy, imagine how bad the ‘normies’ must be freaking out.”

While we are being led to believe MAGA is jumping ship, they aren’t. It’s all fake. Posts saying, “I voted for Trump three times, and now I’m done with him,” are not real people. They are fake accounts or fake MAGA. The truth is that more and more average people are climbing aboard the Trump train every day. They may not be ready to wear a red MAGA hat and do the Trump dance, but they are waking up to the truth.

Long story short, consider reengaging with some people who rejected you in the past, even if they hurt you. This mind control is a nasty thing, akin to demonic possession. Just as no one would hold the little girl in the movie The Exorcist accountable for her demonically possessed actions, maybe the same should hold true for our brainwashed society.

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Orange County Trip

The day after the Super Bowl, I flew to Orange County for a work conference. Basically, an investment company flies in financial advisers to give them a detailed breakdown of their products. You fly in, have dinner, then the next morning you attend a six-hour conference before flying right back out again. It’s kind of exhausting but usually valuable when trying to better understand a company’s more complex investments.

Like most people reading this, I don’t really spend a lot of time meeting new people. I have my family, my clients, people at church—but I’m not really out there socializing or networking a lot. So when I find myself in situations where I’m interacting with new people, I become hypersensitive to everything and everyone around me. I’m an observer by nature, a sponge taking in everything I can.

After landing at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, I hopped into an SUV whose driver was there to pick me up and take me to my hotel in Laguna Beach. It seemed to be about a 30-minute drive. I love these situations where you have a captive audience and they basically have to listen to you—it’s their job. I also find service drivers and Uber drivers to be quite interesting, often with an “awake” understanding of the world, more so than the average American. Rarely do I choose not to have an in-depth conversation with the person driving.

Right off the bat, I usually dive into a divisive topic. I want to find out what the average American thinks and what they know.

When I sat down in the SUV, it was before I had the chance to see what the mainstream media was saying about the Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show that happened the day before. It wasn’t until I was going to bed later that night that I scrolled through cable TV and saw the liberal media pushing the halftime show as being the greatest of all time. They showed a Trump-hating Hispanic actor crying from pride. They tried to make it appear it was a truly unifying and inspirational event bringing immense pride to the Hispanic population.

Not knowing yet that the liberal media was glorifying the halftime show, and seeing that my driver was Hispanic (Juan), I didn’t ask about that perceived pride. Instead, I asked him about something else that was very controversial at the time.

“Juan, what do you think of all this anti-ICE crap?”

Swinging for the fences on the first pitch.

He immediately sat up a little more in his seat, and you could tell he was excited for the next 30 minutes. I proceeded to give my “elevator pitch” on many topics, and he expressed how crazy he thought the country had become. He soaked in everything I had to say and didn’t reject or disagree with any of it. Obviously, a lot of what I said was new to him, but I could see that it was filling in missing puzzle pieces in his mind. Things were starting to make sense to him.

If you think about it, when we meet someone new today, we are deathly afraid of having a conversation that might offend them—afraid of saying something that may get us “cancelled” or cause negative blowback. Therefore, we do the equivalent of talking about the weather. But even then, we have to be sure not to talk about what might be causing the weather. LOL.

Imagine giving 10–15 rides a day to strangers and having to talk about the weather with each of them. When one of those fares gets real and actually wants to engage with you, it must be shocking—in a refreshing way.

This was shortly after all the ICE pushback in Minneapolis. I asked Juan why someone would show up to a peaceful protest with a loaded gun and 50–60 rounds of ammunition. You don’t carry that much ammo unless you are looking to kill people.

He responded, “Exactly!”

Then he said, “These people make $80–100k a year as professional protesters.”

I was borderline shocked that a guy who certainly isn’t an anon had this understanding. Someone else even mentioned it later that evening during dinner. The reality is that many people are no longer buying the idea that protests are organic in any way. More people are open to the idea that nothing is truly organic.

As I got out of the vehicle, Juan told me he really enjoyed our conversation and wished me a pleasant stay. He said he hoped he would be assigned to take me back to the airport the next day.

Oh, and I almost forgot—being in Orange County, we talked about how weird it is that some white people are so obsessed with Disneyland, particularly middle-aged adults with no kids. He said his kids don’t even want to go to Disneyland anymore because of all the weird white people. I told him Disneyland brings back pleasant childhood memories for me—it’s kind of my “happy place”—but even I wouldn’t go without my kids.

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At the financial conference, I experienced what I usually do when around people in the financial industry. I’d estimate that 90% of them tend to be discerning, logical thinkers rather than emotional ones. They generally have good pattern recognition and lean conservative politically.

That said, I think the average educated conspiracy theorist probably understands what makes the financial system tick better than the average financial professional. They may not know all the lingo and jargon, but they understand who really runs the system and how corrupt and manipulated it is.

Most people in the financial industry believe the system is less corrupt than it truly is. They tend to think things happen more organically than they do. They look for answers, but the answers they’re given are often too easily accepted. CNBC might say, “It looks like Google is giving back some of its gains today,” and that explanation alone is accepted as sufficient. It couldn’t possibly be market manipulation.

While many conspiracy theorists have a solid understanding of corruption and control, many also hold the attitude that “we need to blow it all up.” I get it—the financial system needs a complete remodel—but we can’t demolish the whole country to achieve that. Who survives a financial Armageddon shouldn’t come down to who stockpiled the most ammunition and survival food.

After the conference, another driver took me back to the airport. He was a legal immigrant from Lebanon. I immediately got personal with him. He told me he loves America, loves Trump, and believes anyone can succeed here if they put in the work. He said illegal immigration is ruining America and agreed with everything Trump was doing to stop it.

After a 30-minute conversation—where I spoke about the golden age coming and positive things happening behind the scenes—we arrived at the airport. When we got out of the car, he was beaming so much I thought he might hug me. It turned into a handshake with a hand on the shoulder as he thanked me for the conversation and wished me a safe trip home.

It’s interesting: the same things I said six to eight years ago that resulted in side looks and severed ties are now being accepted more often with open arms. I haven’t changed. I’m still delivering the same realistic yet positive messaging. People are becoming more open, more willing to listen, and more receptive to explanations for why nothing seems to make sense.

Walking to my terminal, excited to go home to my lovely wife and amazing kids, I passed a white lesbian couple sitting in the waiting area. They were both morbidly obese, with matching pink hair, septum nose rings, and matching green Disneyland sweatshirts.

Immediately, I thought of Juan mentioning how his kids don’t want to go to Disneyland anymore because of all the crazy white people.

It’s obvious we still have more work to do—but we’re getting there.