How do you sell the rights to your name for hundreds of thousands of dollars? If we are to take Trump as an example, the secret is to constantly tout the greatness of everything related to the name. Doing this, he took something with little inherent value and now licenses it for millions of dollars to companies around the world. Trump took this lesson to heart and continues to employ the same tactics as president. His approach is actually quite similar to sodas. Most consumers can not taste the difference between Pepsi, Coke, and an off brand, yet they are willing to pay more for Pepsi and Coke. The value difference lies almost entirely in the brand name recognition driven by massive advertising departments.

No matter the course of Trump’s presidency, expect him to repeat audacious, over the top claims about the greatness of everything surrounding his presidency. Why does he do it? Because it works! It’s called the repetition principle. It’s a key way humans learn and interpret the world. If you hear something once, you are more likely to believe it is true when you hear it again. Not only does it work, but people already inherently discount his lying because he is a politician. People expect politicians to lie via exaggeration. Did people really believe Obamacare would save families $2,500 year? Some did, at least for a time, in part because the claim was repeated ad nauseam. But even once this was proven false, they were able to easily rationalize it away because all politicians lie. Trump’s serial lying may be a little more brazen, but there is a big difference between braggadocios overstatement and intentional deception and people will discount criticism accordingly. He’s a shameless self promoter and he’s been true to form. This has put the press in the position of what amounts to fact checking a Tai Lopez ad. Their wish to correct the record has only been amplified by their partisan bent, creating the openly hostile atmosphere. Who will win this match? It is said you should never go to war with businesses that buy ink by the barrel, but in our digital marketplace the press isn’t as monolithic as it once was. Alternative sources and sequestered consumers limit their reach. In the other corner, the current president has convinced people to pay him millions of dollars to promote his brand for him. With the soap box of the presidency, it’s possible he may be able to convince enough Americans he’s a great president regardless of what happens.