All presidents make a fortune giving public speeches around the world when they’ve completed their presidencies. There is the old nightmare about Hillary getting $250k to talk at Goldman Sachs, and Hillary was about to run for President, a bad political move. Barack Obama got nearly double what Hillary got to give a talk at a conference organized by Cantor Fitzgerald after his presidency. You charge what the market will bear. Obama spoke to the Montreat Business community (organized by Montreal rotary), and no fee was released. Justin Trudeau did take Obama out to dinner after at one of Montreal’s new tres chic restaurants. You were not invited to that table with the two.

So there is nothing new about ex-presidents paid large sums to speak to groups. The group isn’t paying for the speech, it is paying for the relationship. Obama will take Cantor Fitzgerald’s calls.

Trump is diving in, and there’s money to be made out there. But there are a couple of things that are a bit different about Trump’s “motivational speeches.” For one, no one is inviting Trump, he is booking himself and selling tickets to the public. And, of course, Trump will not admit to being an ex-president and has to be careful about campaign violations, thus, he’s trying out the motivation speech tour. We suspect he is not going to make $400,000 at any talk. Think of it as a rally but… well, charging admission and leaving out the direct campaign?

Tell us, Axios:

It’s privately run — and, according to organizers, it’s driving huge audience interest. Trump stands to benefit on both ends. He headlines a rally-type event with a third party footing the bill and stands to get a hefty payout for his time. AFT’s founder, Chris Widener, told Axios that “most all of our speakers get paid an honorarium for the event,” but he declined to name Trump’s fee.

If it was a lot of money, Trump would put the fee in the New York Times.

Tickets vary from $9 to be in the building and watch it on television (It won’t be on the news channels) to $4,995. That includes early access to the event site, admission to a reception and a photo-op with Trump’s son Don Jr., as well as premium seating to watch Trump speak in person.

You pay five grand and don’t even get a picture with the man, that’s extra, to be bargained. His next one is this weekend in Austin. We would bet there’s nothing motivational about it. One will hear stories about Trump and how he got screwed by various groups, that’s it. That’s what will happen.

It is just another scam, grift. To the people who say, “All presidents get paid to give post-presidential speeches,” remember, those presidents are invited by the group, not inviting the audience.

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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman