November 6, 2026 — A first for trumpedwithpower.com.
Well, folks, it finally happened.
After nearly a decade of operating trumpedwithpower.com, I’ve added something to the website that has never existed here before.
A Donations button.
Since 2016, this website has been a one-way financial transaction. Money went out of my pocket for hosting, advertising, maintenance, and countless hours of labor. Nothing came back in the form of donations.
I’ve never charged admission to my thoughts, and I don’t intend to start now.
But I am finally asking for a little help.
A Decade of Trying to Make Sense of Reality
This website began during an extraordinary period in American politics. What started as an exploration of money, speech, and power gradually evolved into something much more personal.
I’ve spent years examining seriality, the strange coincidences that seem to echo through our lives, and the possibility that consciousness and reality are connected in ways we don’t yet understand.
Along the way, I’ve explored religion, physics, holographic reality, simulation theory, and now artificial intelligence.
Some of my ideas have been serious. Some have been ridiculous. And occasionally, the ridiculous ones have led to the most interesting questions.
I’ve made mistakes. I’ve trusted people with money I couldn’t afford to lose. I’ve followed ideas down rabbit holes that didn’t necessarily lead anywhere.
But I kept writing.
Eventually, I couldn’t afford to maintain the website as it once existed, so I reduced it to this blog rather than let the entire project disappear.
The Irony of Money and Free Speech
One of my earliest inspirations was Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court case that helped shape my thinking about money and political expression.
I’ve spent nearly ten years questioning the relationship between money and speech.
And now, after all that time, I’m asking for money so I can keep speaking.
You have to appreciate the irony.
I don’t believe wealth determines the truth of an idea. But poverty certainly affects how much time, freedom, and energy someone has to investigate it.
I’m trying to study an increasingly complex universe of information from a rather uncomfortable financial position.
I sometimes describe that as attempting to gravitationally lens information from the center of poverty.
Unfortunately, gravity hasn’t started paying my hosting bills.
Why Now?
Artificial intelligence has opened new possibilities for the research I’ve been pursuing.
I’m particularly interested in how multiple AI systems might fact-check one another, compare their errors, and work toward more reliable conclusions.
I don’t claim to have solved the universe. In fact, the more I’ve learned, the more I’ve come to appreciate how much remains uncertain.
What I do have is a long record of questions, experiences, observations, and a willingness to keep examining them.
What I need now is a little financial stability.
My First Invitation to Contribute
I’ve created a permanent donations page with several ways to support my work, including Cash App, Chime, Bitcoin, and Solana.
Contributions will help with website expenses, research tools, and my basic living expenses. These are voluntary personal gifts, not tax-deductible charitable donations.
There’s no obligation, no promised revelation, and certainly no guarantee that I’ll figure out what Schrödinger’s cat has been doing all these years.
If you’ve enjoyed my writing, found something thought-provoking, or simply appreciate someone who refuses to stop asking questions, I would be grateful for your support.
And if you can’t afford to contribute, I understand. Sharing the website is helpful, too.
After nearly ten years of putting money into this project, today marks the first day I’m inviting a little of it to flow in the opposite direction.
Thank you for reading, thinking, and occasionally laughing along with me.
— Todd
Transparency: This article was AI-generated from Todd’s personal experiences and reflections. Final fact-checking and editorial approval by Todd. Interpretations of seriality, consciousness, and reality are personal perspectives rather than established scientific conclusions.