A Time to Build

using the political climate as a springboard.

Tuesday has come and gone, and we now have a clear idea as to which direction our country is headed.

This isn’t a political post- whether you have been wiping away literal tears the past few days or you were up all night Tuesday into Wednesday drinking in celebration, both are within your right and neither are my (or anyone else’s) business.

Right now, opinions and thinkpieces are aplenty.

You can head to Reddit if you think we’re all going to die, or to the Twitter timeline if you think everyone is going be driving a Lamborghini in a month’s time.

This isn’t that.

The foundation of my writing (especially recently) is centered upon the application of strategies and frameworks in modern life to improve upon your own, and that’s what we’ll focus on today.

Let’s start off with a tweet that caught my eye late into Election night:

Regardless of your opinions on social matters, foreign policy, etc, it’s almost irrefutable that we’ll be entering a pro-business, highly capitalistic four years under Donald Trump.

You can disagree if you like, a glance at the S&P 500 or Coinmarketcap will assure you that you’re misguided.

He’s managed to assemble an economic Avengers of sorts, with the likes of venture capitalist VP J.D. Vance, biotech titan Vivek Ramaswamy, and Elon Musk himself.

The strongest commonality amongst these men is that of entrepreneurship and creation, of making a (big) something out of nothing, and that’s the exact kind of socioeconomic environment they’ll look to foster in the coming years.

Whether you love them or hate them, it doesn’t change the fact that the time is nigh to create and build something of your own. After all, this election was decided largely by builders and creators themselves.

Let’s take a look at that.

It’s not 2012 anymore.

I liked 2012.

The world didn’t end, the music was good, Jennifer Lawrence was great in the original Hunger Games movies- but it was a really long time ago now, especially looking through the lens of culture.

Instagram was in its infancy, we had “Swag”, Bieber fever. Depending on who you ask, those are annals in ancient history.

( ^ What a time to be alive. You know what, seeing as fashion is cyclical, when trends are old enough they become cool again. It’ll actually be hilarious to see kids in 2030-something running around like this. I actually had a Mitchell & Ness hat, Chicago Blackhawks…diamond earring too. We don’t have to get into that. It worked, though.)

Point being is, what worked to move the needle in the cultural zeitgeist over a decade ago is far removed from what gets the job done today.

Factor in the rampant pace of technological and digital advancement, and there’s an accelerated aspect to it. Decades have become quarter (if not entire) centuries.

Apparently this was lost upon the Kamala Harris campaign, as they relied upon the same tired methodologies of yesteryear: the backing of the MSM machine, celebrity appearances and endorsements, having “cool” rappers show up to her speeches, subjugating youth movements (“brat”).

Problem is, this is massively outdated and was proven ineffective on Tuesday night.

A Vogue endorsement, SNL cameos, and “omg it’s Beyonce at a political event!’ was so stale it was almost comical.

It was the political equivalent of running Vince Lombardi’s offense in 2024.

Yes, it won the first two Super Bowls handily- and it would get annihilated by any modern day NFL defense.

If Instagram was a person, it would now be in middle school.

It’s been a mainstay in our daily lives, for better or worse.

Our hyper-access to celebrities and athletes is certainly unique and interesting, but it comes at the price of overexposure and making even the highest ranking members of the glitterati seem, well, somewhat normal.

Seeing a celebrity come out of a long hiatus into the limelight was thrilling in yesteryear; it loses it’s luster in 2024 when you watched them do a “get ready with me” in their bathroom mirror two days ago.

Obama’s Hope and Change was attempted to be transmuted into Joy!, but this failed tremendously when its mascots came down from their ivory towers to tell us who to vote for in a lecturing manner.

In an election where the average American was most concerned with how he or she was going to make ends meet, it was tone deaf at best, insulting at its worst.

So, looking at the other side, what worked?

The Power of Authentic, Open Forums

One of the most impactful strategies during this election cycle came from an 18 year old kid.

He tried to tell us years ago..

Barron Trump was allegedly the brains behind the idea of getting his father onto popular podcasts, and it was a strategy that paid dividends.

Arguably the most important endorsement of the race came from Fear Factor host turned UFC color guy turned podcast titan Joe Rogan, whose hosting of both Trump and then Vance on his show were momentum-shifting moments in the late stages of the race.

This came after Trump hosted Gen Alpha’s superhero Adin Ross at Mar-A-Lago, where they sat inside a Trump-wrapped Cybertruck and listened to Spotify together.

Trump also spent time with the uber popular Canadian quintessential frat bros The Nelk Boys, going as far as to host them on his private plane.

Was all of this absurd?

Absolutely.

Wildly effective?

Certainly.

Even on the other side, one of Kamala’s most noteworthy campaign moments was her appearance on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy, which though widely panned in some circles, was impactful for her as well.

There was also the ground war on Twitter/X, which became a digital public square under the helm of new owner Elon Musk.

The free-spirited exchange of views and ideas on the platform was essential in the election, and incredibly far removed from the Parag Agrawal-era censorship that was so Draconian it would’ve made Chairman Mao and a certain German chancellor blush.

These moments, in all of their unscripted and raw glory (jury’s still out on KH’s CHD spot, but still), proved to capture the precious lightning in a bottle that is internet virality.

Hail to the Builders

If you were to be asked what J.D. Vance, Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, Adin Ross, and Alex Cooper had in common, you’d be hard pressed to come up with an answer outside of “impressive bank accounts”.

However, delving deeper, they all fall under the umbrella of the modern builder.

I’m an OG listener of Joe Rogan.

Like, way back in the ancient days of the aforementioned 2012 era OG. The show used to be a favorite of mine and my friends.

Aliens, questionable supplements, breaking down MMA fights with Eddie Bravo and Joey Diaz..those early days were unpolished and fantastic.

Seeing the show now turning the tide of arguably the most important Presidential election in modern history sort of blows the mind.

It’s a testament to raw creative power and never giving up.

The same could be said of Adin Ross, who saw his and the younger generations “chronically online” lifestyles and parlayed gorging on promethazine while streaming NBA 2K into a multimillion dollar career.

It’s weird, it’s different, it’s oddly beautiful.

Alex Cooper might be the most impressive of them all.

A shrewd and intelligent businesswoman, she grew what was a raunchy sex podcast in Call Her Daddy into a media giant.

Cooper cleaned up the content, dropped her far less sharp (but cuter) co-host, and captured the imagination of a large swath of an entire generation of women. While she and her product certainly have their detractors, the talent and acumen for such a feat cannot be denied.

She’s a pure builder.

(Also, I can’t condemn CHD. It’s got its plusses. What’s the most appropriate way to put this, perhaps an analogy- like, you know when you turn on an NBA game and now even the 7’ center knows how to hit the 40-foot three ball from the logo? yeah..)

Simply put- 2024’s election cycle was an exposé of the power and effectiveness of the creative builder in the modern world.

The Perfect Storm (and what to do about it)

The incoming Trump economic climate is going to be ripe for creation and building.

The flow of money and the ensuing roaring capital markets coupled with the obvious influence of ground-up creators in the modern landscape creates a set of perfect conditions for us to launch endeavors of our own.

Much to the chagrin to the panelists of The View, social media remains largely unrestricted and a digital wild west.

The lending environment will loosen up for those searching for startup capital to fund their dreams and goals.

We’re lucky enough both to have an environment that not only enables creativity and building, but welcomes it and proves its efficacy when successful.

I implore everyone reading to, by all means, shoot your shot.

“But John, I voted for her and I’m mad/sad.”

I totally get it.

Trump may have won the popular vote, but the AP Election Poll would tell us that there’s 69,074,143 other people in this country that feel like you do.

The sentiment is out there.

So what do you do?

Well, I was never the science guy.

However, I do know that energy becomes matter (I think?).

Anger and resentment are certainly powerful energy sources, even if negative. But how many great works of art were borne out of creators who were in a poor headspace? The answers are legion.

Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits were borne out of pain.

Beethoven wrote his Ninth Symphony after going deaf.

Munch made The Scream up there when he was really going through it.

The most pertinent example would be Milton writing Paradise Lost as a testament to his own political disillusionment.

Just because the macro conditions for creation are favorable doesn’t mean that micro conditions to the contrary are a detriment. I’m probably the biggest Lil Peep fan out there (RIP), you think he was happy?

Channel and encapsulate the rage and create something that means something to you.

(Gonna listen to Hellboy now after I finish writing this.)

A Closing Note from the Trenches

Sometimes you have to hand over the reigns when somebody does something so well it leaves you no choice.

My attempt to transcribe my sentiments and feelings would pale in comparison to this tweet from a personal fave, Dan Koe:

Read it three times over if you have to, I know I did.

It’s the perfect time to cultivate and create what you hold near and dear- look at the influence and changing landscape of our culture and the effect that it’s had.

The thought of all the new emerging technology, media, innovations, brands, and mediums that will sprout in these coming years is both inspiring and hard to comprehend.

Regardless of your political affiliations, isn’t it time you went out and grabbed yourself a slice of the pie?

In closing, I’m on this journey myself.

As I look to grow my writing and expand my real estate career to multiple states, I’ll be here in the “trenches” right alongside you. Whatever it is you’re going for, I’ll be happy to cheer you on and we can hold ourselves accountable- there’s my Twitter/X handle for anyone that is on the same path.

Frankly, I don’t care who you voted for- but I’d love to see what you build.

Love always,

John Abbate