HOW THE DEATH OF A SKYSCRAPER LEAD TO THE BIRTH OF “TRUMP’S FEVER DREAM”

Hi. I’m Ken Sheetz. That’s me on the right with client Oprah Winfrey and her 1991 president of the time, Jeff Jacobs.

Real estate flashback, working 12-hour-days, 6-days-a-week, I oversaw building Oprah’s HQ at the same time I also built One North Franklin, the 38-story skyscraper at Franklin and Madison, the heart of Chicago’s west loop. Unfortunately, that $162 million project did not enjoy as happy an ending because, even though that project was also delivered on time and on budget, Sears vacated 3 million square feet just 3 blocks away.

This 3 million square foot black hole crashed the entire Chicago commercial/office market just 90 days before my new building opened. No amount of my talent and hard work could save my baby in the face Barclays Bank deciding it was DOA. The ensuing dark side I witnessed of hostile AF workout bankers; disloyal, disingenuous and panicked partners; and most heartbreaking of all, a college sweetheart who lost faith in me, sent me into therapy. Where, I realized to be fair to my ex, I was not exactly easy to be around during those dark days. Desperate days alone, when I was trying to save my building from the vulture fund of Sam Zell’s that snatched up all my hard work, three years worth, for 50 cents on the dollar, with no support at home or work. I learned I had far fewer true friends than I ever dreamed.

I sadly learned what the German word Schadenfreude means, joy from other people’s troubles, when tales associates Schadenfreude at my expense reached my ears. That hurt the most. Most frustrating of all, I did everything right, the crash was all caused by something 100% beyond my control – my having nothing to do with Sears except where I bought tires occasionally – caused me to reassess my life completely. Rather than rebuild my real estate career I chose to start life over as a single filmmaker after making the largest tech center lease in Chicago history as my ‘swan song,’ to real estate.

Those days as a real estate developer led me to follow the Trump story, reading his book, The Art of the Deal, where I discovered I was his polar opposite, as those who gave me legal advice or were contractors on One North Franklin were all paid in full even though I lost everything. Unlike Trump who stiffs everyone he can, I could never consider his way of operating as ethical or honorable, making me, in 1987, one of the first people to see Trump for the crook he’s always been.

Look me up on IMDB sometime. It’s hard for even me to believe that this son of a blue-collar Milwaukee welder has been making movies now for over 25 years since walking away from life a top real estate player. All kinds of movies on all kinds of topics, from politics to the coolest tech and meditation ever. Over this creative quarter of a century, I’ve crafted 4 feature docs, thousands of short films with well over 30 million views on the web, as well as 2 successful limited west coast theatrical runs.

You can read more about my career leap from real estate to film on my meditation blog.

But let’s talk now how “Trump’s Fever Dream” came about. It began began in 2020 in the depths of the Covid scare when I wrote a dozen episodes of Trump’s Fever Dream, two seasons worth, and posted them on my meditation blog where, as an eternal optimist, I was trying to wake up many in the yoga and meditation community I loved who were going down the Q Anon rabbit hole.

Trump lost the 2020 elections, something my wife of four years and partner in all things, Elizabeth England, and I worked hard to help make Biden’s victory happen by donating hundreds of hours of our time to making content for Twitter and money to Dems for Senate and Congress. It was a close call when Trump staged the J6 coup but the democracy guardrails held. We garnered 10 million views of my videos, on the site now strangely called X, and I took a break from political humor until joining the good fight again for the 2022 midterms. Here’s a sample of our 2022 work via our BuzzBroz platform on Twitter, pre-Muxk.

Our motivation as Independents in fighting for democracy is not money, but saving the world for our beautiful grandkids. Elizabeth, 17 years military, and I believe the world needs a democratic America if we are to solve climate change and corporate greed consuming the planet. I’d rather be supporting Dems and Reps alike but the GOP is now a dangerous zombie version of its former self.

Shameless plug: The fight is not over by a longshot. See our GQP OF THE DAMNED to enjoy Trump attending a rally where a deadly variant of Covid virus, named the DeSantis variant breaks out.

We weren’t going to resume Trump’s Fever Dream unless he was running in 2024 and not until about 6 months before election day. That is until something that’s been on everyone’s radar, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strikes happened. Leaving a gap in the kind of political satire that we all need to keep a sense of humor in these dark times. You see, folks like me and Elizabeth who love democracy now feel obligated to step up to the plate to fill the void with much-needed political comedy.

Filling the Void with Humor: Enter “TrumpsFeverDream.com”

With late-night shows going on hiatus due to the strikes, there’s a noticeable gap in the realm of political satire at a time where we all desperately need it as a gentle weapon in the fight to save democracy. Get ready for an irreverent science fiction dark comedy take on the Donald Trump of another universe where karma really is a bitch. Hence the new blog TrumpsFeverDream.com where I am in the process of launching season 3 and reposting seasons 1 & 2!

Introducing “MAR A LAGO PRISON”: A New Season in Satire

And now, I’m excited to share a new episode in this satirical journey. Drumroll, please! Tune into our new YouTube.com/@trumpsfeverdream channel as we post season 3 “MAR A LAGO PRISON.” We promise you even more out-of-the-box political satire that offers an alternative lens through which to view today’s political landscape. Something we’re all missing during the righteous WGA and SAG strike.

So “Why TFD”? Simple. We need to f’ing laugh at ourselves, left and right alike, if we are ever going to save us from f’ing ourselves.