1. POWER IS ABOUT PRESERVING THE SYSTEM
Yes. Power is about keeping the system alive — the system, the process — never mind the disastrous outcomes it can produce.
Disastrous, because we repeatedly choose incompetents to lead us. We choose comfort, what is familiar, rather than those with technical merit — the experts.
This is something independent thinkers find hard to understand.
2. WHY DO WE CHOOSE THE WRONG LEADERS
Why do we choose idiots over rational, thinking people to lead us?
The answer lies in what Aristotle called the body politic. He used the body as a metaphor for society. Every part has a function: the brain thinks; the arms and legs act; the organs sustain life.
But most important of all is the heart. The heart sustains the rhythm of the whole. It keeps everything together. That, Aristotle argued, is the role of the politician.
3. COMFORT, FEAR AND IDENTITY
Most people feel afraid if change comes too fast, if understanding is too radical, or if vision stretches too far ahead.
They want someone who reflects their values, their feelings, their identity back to them. This is how leaders build trust and loyalty.
Leaders themselves are driven by power, wealth, control, and the desire to please — and to manipulate emotion through propaganda.
There is little room at the top for brilliance. It is too frightening. People prefer familiarity, comfort, and leaders with big hearts.
Even highly intelligent leaders must dumb down their messages into the comfort zone of their followers to retain trust and influence.
4. WHERE THE BRILLIANT MINDS GO
The bigger brains go elsewhere.
Into research and technology, building the things we will need.
Into the arts — the authentic ones — helping us make sense of experience and pushing beyond it.
But these people threaten power. Artists present radical, uncomfortable visions. Innovators move too fast. Thinkers challenge the rules we live by.
You are not going to follow them.
5. PROPAGANDA AND THE HERD
Safety before truth. Appearance over substance. Feeling before reasoning.
Propaganda is a special form of Aristotle’s rhetoric:
Ethos — the speaker’s credibility and authority.
Pathos — appealing to emotion: fear, anger, belonging.
Logos — logic and data, often selectively applied.
If we are tribal or herd animals, belonging becomes the first rule of survival. Anyone threatening unity with unfamiliar ideas is cast out.
The group votes for safety and stability at the expense of excellence or long-term survival. That, Aristotle argued, is democracy.
6. IDIOTS AS EMOTIONAL MANAGERS
But perhaps today’s idiots in power are not accidents.
Perhaps they are there precisely because they churn up emotion on behalf of their masters. They create the emotional landscape — values, fears, desires — into which approved messages are poured.
Calling this fake news or misinformation understates what is happening. This is propaganda.
We do not need this kind of leader. We need someone capable of radical rhetoric — capable of persuading us to accept transformative solutions to long-term decline.
The West is in decline. History is repeating itself — Rome, Spain, Holland, Britain. Instead we get emollient solutions that satisfy donors, distract the crowd, and soothe emotions while leading us towards collapse.
These leaders dampen reality, dampen anger, distract attention, and manufacture unity.
That is their function.
7. TRUMP AND THE QUESTION OF A SCRIPT
In Trump’s case, the challenge is real.
He is expected to sell a long-term vision — largely shaped by Steve Miran and Scott Bessent — both to the public and to entrenched neocon elites.
He must inspire and transform. So far, that remains uncertain.
Is Trump an actor on the stage?
Is he part of the Entertainment Division?
And if so — who is writing the script?
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