Is there anything left with Trump that isn't low-level manipulation?
this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2026
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Citing the Substack of industry pundit Tom Brueggemann, the article claims: “Industry sources say there were signs that blocks of tickets were purchased for the weekend, then distributed to senior citizen homes, Republican activitists, other interested parties for free to help boost audiences.”
They literally had to pay for people to see it. That's hilarious.
Paid protestors
Shenanigans happened for another conservative movie called “the sound of freedom” a few years ago.
I think just about every conspiracy theorist promoted this terrible movie. "The best movie of all time," they claimed, with their usual bad faith.
They do the same for their books too. Buy a bunch so they show up on best seller lists then hand the books put for free at events.
They are trying to replicate Triumph of the Will
LOL.
...The general manager of the Lake Theater & Cafe has claimed the corporation cancelled future screenings of Brett Ratner’s authorised study of the first lady after being alerted to promotional pushes such as: “To defeat your enemy. You must know them. Melania” and “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out on Friday!...”
...Perry wrote that his overriding instinct was that the programming “would be funny”. There was also a financial imperative, he added: “The film marketplace this week and next were a desert … So, to fill a screen, why not get this inexplicable vanity piece from the current president’s wife? I mean, it just seems so weird that it even exists (who wants a movie about Melania lol?), and wouldn’t it then be exponentially weirder, to the point of being funny, to show it here, at your obviously anti-establishment, occasionally troublemaking, neighbourhood cinema?”
The film marketplace this week and next were a desert …
Currently in theaters:
- The Moment (2026, dir Aidan Zamiri) - Rising pop sensation Charli xcx navigates fame and industry pressures while preparing for her arena tour debut, revealing the transformation of underground culture into mainstream success.
- The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025, dir Kaouther Ben Hania) - January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A 6-year old girl is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab. Nominated for the 2025 Academy Award for Best International Film.
- Magellan (2025, dir Lav Diaz) - In the 16th century, Ferdinand Magellan (Gael García Bernal), a young and ambitious Portuguese navigator, rebels against the power of the King of Portugal, who doesn’t support his dream of discovering the world, and persuades the Spanish monarchy to fund his bold expedition to the fabled lands of the East.
- Arco (2025, dir Ugo Bienvenu) - Arco (Oscar Tresanini), 12 years old, lives in a far future. During his first flight in his rainbow suit, he looses control and falls in the past. Iris, a little girl his age from 2075, saw him fall. She rescues him and tries by all means to send him back to his era. Nominated for the 2025 Academy Award for Best Animated Film.
Desert my ass.
It's a tiny local community cinema, perhaps they can't afford all the movies they'd like to get, so it was a desert in terms of what they could get? Hell, maybe they don't have deals with every distributor so they can't access some movies?
Because I for sure would probably watch Magellan at least, if nothing else, so I'll have to agree it's not really a desert.
So it was all a giant scam to launder money into Trump pockets. Guess Bezos didn't want to buy a jet, luxury watch, or sham award instead.
In the UK, where Melania opened across 155 screens, takings were considerably softer. The film opened at No 29 in the UK charts, for a weekend screen average of £212.
The US takings for the film currently account for some 98.8% of its overall total, with Melania’s native Slovenia proving the best-performing international territory. Overall, the film opened in 26 countries globally last Friday, after the South African release was abruptly cancelled the day before, with local distributors citing “the current climate” and “recent developments”.
In the UK, some industry insiders questioned whether the unusually wide rollout of the film could be an indication of “four-walling”: the release strategy by which distributors pay cinemas to screen the movie.
Lol
I did not even realise they were screening it here in Slovenia.
Since the US accounts for 98.8% of the overall total, I'd estimate that up to 12 Slovenians have seen it lol