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We know one of the enduring legacies of the Trump presidency will be how he’s gotten ridiculously wealthy by screwing over his own followers—with meme coins, crypto schemes, Bibles, and the like—but he’s not alone. Many of the people around him have also gotten rich by selling their access to him.
That appears to be what Christian evangelist and perpetual grifter Joshua Feuerstein is doing for his latest moneymaking scheme: offering people a high-priced, vaguely defined networking pitch that involves a stop at Mar-a-Lago.
Over the past few years, Feuerstein has appeared at several Trump events, including ones at his Florida clubhouse, None of his events or photos shows that he has a personal relationship with Trump. Only that he’s in conservative circles, which allows him to be near the president… sometimes.
Consider this picture, taken at CPAC in 2024:
Feuerstein later cropped it and removed the presence of one woman to make it seem like Trump was taking a picture with just him and his wife.
Editing a picture like that is hardly a sin. But his social media feeds are full of these kinds of posts, implying that he’s a regular at Trump’s favorite haunts. Now he wants to use that access to help pastors spread Christianity. Somehow. What he’s doing to help the faith is anyone’s guess.
In August, he began posting about how he was looking for several “high level Christian businessmen” to join him for… something:
It got more explicit earlier this week when he said he wanted to take “7 figure CHRISTIAN businessmen to Maralago.” For what? Who knows.
One of his buddies later posted that they were specifically looking to take between 50 and 100 men with them, but only if they were “7-9 figure kingdom entrepreneurs.”
He added: “This event is going to be WILD.”
Eventually, the details of this scheme began coming out: Feuerstein wanted interested men with money in their bank accounts to pay roughly $4,500 to participate in a trip to Mar-a-Lago and surrounding areas. If 50 participants do that, we’re talking at least $225,000 before expenses for the organizers. What that money is used for is not clear. He never says in his public posts if that money covers airfare and lodging, or how many days the event will last, or whether any Trump administration officials will be involved in this, or who collects the cash.
They’ll just be near each other. And that, Feuerstein said, was the point. They’ll have access to other wealthy people, and then… magic?
If you criticize the offer, he implied, you must be one of the jealous have-nots who don’t belong in the room.
Feuerstein got enough criticism for this that he made a video in response to his haters, and he directly addressed why all this cash was needed. If you were too poor to pay the thousands of dollars—and didn’t have the base wealth they were looking for—that’s your fault.
The reality is this… if we’re going to have End-Time revival, it’s going to mean that people are going to have businesses and are going to have to make money in order to fund those things, right?
…
Iron sharpens iron, right? But that means that iron has to come in contact with each other. That means that you have to get two people that are made of the same stuff together in the same room.
And so we say: We’re going to do a trip to Florida. And on one of those things that we’re going to do is going to go to Mar-a-Lago. And when we go to Mar-a-Lago, guess what? It costs money.
Oh man, all of the have-nots jump, I mean, just get so upset about this. How dare you charge for kingdom stuff? Well, look, just, just because you call it Christian again doesn’t make the invoices go away. Everybody needs their cut.
If I have a kingdom lunch, guess what? Whatever restaurant we go to is not just giving us free food. So, yes, stuff’s going to cost money, but the people that understand the power of proximity have no problem because they say, when you put me in the right room…
…
So invest in rooms, invest in places. Now, maybe this isn’t the right fit for you. And the reality is, is if you’re crying about $4,500, then it probably isn’t the right room for you. But don’t get upset at the people that do it. Don’t get upset at the people that have it...
A “kingdom lunch” is a hell of a way to describe any restaurant Feuerstein wants to go to...
Even if Feuerstein is bringing together like-minded business owners, legitimate conferences generally advertise an agenda, speakers, workshops, scheduled activities, and specific benefits for attendees. Feuerstein has offered none of that publicly. He hasn’t explained how dinner with him and a visit to Mar-a-Lago will help anyone’s business, finance an “End-Time revival,” or advance Christianity in any meaningful way.
At no point did Feuerstein explain the actual reason they need all these “kingdom entrepreneurs,” or how it would spread Christianity, or why this gathering couldn’t occur anywhere outside Florida where it might be cheaper.
Another problem: If Feuerstein is planning to host a private function at Mar-a-Lago—not merely visit the club—its website says the event must be sponsored by a current member. It’s not clear who that sponsor might be. And if this isn’t a private event, does that mean they’re just entering the building and acting like that’s an accomplishment?
In case anyone was upset about the glitz and glamour associated with this event—maybe because it’s not necessary to spread the Gospel—Feuerstein had a response ready for that, too.
He explained that he has to stay in fancy hotels and buy first-class plane tickets—he has to!—because that’s what rich people do. If you don’t understand that, there’s a reason: You’re not cool enough.
… I always tell my wife I need to stay at the Ritz-Carlton or this place or that place, even though it costs a few extra hundred dollars a night.
Why? Because I understand that when I’m sitting in the hot tub with 5 old white hairy men, that those old white hairy men are CEOs of companies and they’re not managers of companies. There’s a reason that I buy a first-class ticket, and that’s because I understand that, well, first of all, because I’m 300 and none of your business pounds and 4 ounces. But I also understand that the person that I’m sitting next to in first class is the CEO of a company and not the manager of a company.
In no world are “old white hairy” CEOs sitting in a hot tub together just waiting for Feuerstein to join them so they can all become besties. In no world do you need to buy a first-class plane ticket hoping that the person next to you is a random CEO. All he’s doing is making excuses for his get-rich-quick fantasies, and they’re not effective.
A first-class ticket buys Feuerstein a larger seat. It doesn’t guarantee that the stranger next to him is a CEO, much less that the person will be interested in him or his company. There are many perks to sitting in first class (I assume) but a complimentary business executive is not one of them.
The same can be said of the hypothetical hairy men in the Ritz-Carlton hot tub. Simply entering an expensive space is not a business strategy. Feuerstein is confusing physical proximity with meaningful access—and asking other people to pay thousands of dollars to indulge the same fantasy.
You can’t buy your way into the circles he wants to get into, at least not for the reasons he’s telling everyone. You might be a useful tool if you’re willing to pay up, but that’s not the same as having their respect. In many ways, this is just a page from the Trump playbook. Promise everything. Deliver a lot less. Assume your supporters will never question it.
In this case, Feuerstein is (at least publicly) saying very little about what he’s offering those who pay. Networking isn’t a guarantee. Visiting Mar-a-Lago isn’t the same as meeting with a Trump administration official. How much of the money will go directly into Feuerstein’s pockets? The product appears to be nothing but hope and proximity, as if being around other rich people will somehow rub off on the participants.
It’s nothing I’d ever want to pay for. And the fact that Feuerstein is responding to critics by ridiculing them, instead of offering any kind of transparency, should be a giant red flag to anyone considering this.
I sent a number of my questions to Feuerstein yesterday via social media. He has not responded as of this writing.
(via Right Wing Watch)
Without intending to, fools like this make very compelling cases for atheism.
Obviously, this Feuerstein guy fits perfectly into the second category of people identified by C.S. Lewis: “God uses the good people; the bad people use God.” But, then, what else could or should we expect from anyone voluntarily in Trump’s circle, other than evil?