It was personal.

We're watching this Norwegian series on Netflix. It's entitled "Occupied." Because of an energy crisis, Russia ultimately infiltrates Norway. And there are a lot of parallels to today's world. Like the rule of law. Once you throw it out, everything implodes. Once you use illegal information to convict someone, what is the legal system worth?

But then there's a power struggle. The prime minister leaves no room for his number two in the new government in exile. She wasn't elected, but she has incredible influence, she tells the prime minister what to do. And when she finds out there's no place for her, despite promises she's an integral member, too important to get a specific title, she goes behind the PM's back and forms a new government in Norway with HER as prime minister.

Never underestimate the power of being dissed.

Now the truth is, so many of the prognosticators, the talking heads, those inside the beltway, do not have high public profiles, especially the lobbyists and corporatists who work behind the scenes. So they're not aware of the social media blowback.

Give Trump credit, by tweeting he single-handedly brought D.C. into the present. It used to be a club of insiders, now it's run by an outsider and all the Republicans are kowtowing to him, but not those he's dissing on social media.

The most important article about the killing of Soleimani was in the "Washington Post" a week ago:

"Soleimani posted memes antagonizing Trump on social media": wapo.st/35JWZtq

The bigger the narcissist, the more they abhor negative feedback. Just ask Taylor Swift! Furthermore, Swift was a target because she was the biggest act in the business, and Donald Trump is PRESIDENT!

I've been there. When you say something about someone who believes they're invulnerable, above it all, THEY GO INSANE! Now at this late date, those who are savvy don't respond, if you don't amplify something, it tends to die out. But when you're hit over the head every day, when someone thinks they're just as powerful as you and has a significant position on the world stage...

IT DROVE DONALD TRUMP INSANE!

That's why they can't come up with a reason for the killing of Soleimani. Yup, for a week the press has been trying to figure out why. And Trump and the Republicans keep obfuscating, because there's no legitimate reason other than Trump had had ENOUGH!

This is why the Democrats are doomed. They're still living in the last century. Where everybody's prim and proper, where you don't use profanity, and you don't use modern media to get your message across. The Russians took ads on social media... Hillary Clinton was so busy triangulating that she had no idea what was going on!

Like Joe Biden. Who didn't even get pissed, didn't go nuclear when the Hunter Biden contract at the heart of the Ukraine controversy became front page news. If Biden were smart, and he's not, he'd have gone on the attack immediately, muddied the waters, and if he played the game the way Trump does, so successfully, he would have ADMITTED IT! Yup, Hunter got the well-paying gig because I was his dad. The same way Ivanka got all those contracts, the same way most people get a job these days...YOU'VE GOT TO KNOW SOMEBODY! That would have resonated with the public. Instead, when Biden did speak up, he kept avoiding what we all knew...Hunter got the gig because he was Joe's son, even if Joe didn't get him that gig and didn't try to keep Hunter and the company from being investigated. It's not that hard, you've just got to speak ENGLISH!

Now what the Republicans have done so well is eviscerate facts, nothing is believable anymore, everything is up for grabs. Forget climate change, it's the little things, the every day things, the right doesn't believe them. And what did the Democrats and the non-right wing press do...NOTHING! There's all this insider analysis re Soleimani when it's obvious, if you look at the big picture.

Everybody keeps talking about the job, the office, the responsibility... But that's not who Trump is. Trump is impulsive, used to getting his way. He stiffs contractors. He gropes women. And he was immune until he became President.

And Trump knows his game. Deny and refuse to reveal, over and over again.

That's another thing the hoi polloi does not understand. The press, the legal system, those are things to be MANIPULATED!

Yup, you've got your PR agent and you place the story or spin the story or trade the story to make sure it does not appear.

As for the government, the legal system, it's just business. You fight, you've got the resources. Legal battles take years. Cases are hard to prove. And worst case you settle, usually for not that much. As for the CEO of Boeing, he just walked with $60 mil, after getting fired!

Sure, we've got all this #Me Too coverage, and that's great. But we've got very little coverage about what it's like inside the boys club, amongst those who really run the world.

If you're not battling from day one, if you don't have your eyes on the prize, you're never gonna get there.

And on the way you're gonna have to be two-faced and manipulative. And when you succeed you're going to undermine and eliminate your adversaries.

And you're gonna live a large lifestyle just to prove what a big swinging dick you are. Chances are you don't have time to visit all those vacation homes, sail on that yacht, but all your contemporaries know you've got 'em. And there are the trophy wives and we lionize these corporate titans as winners, even though we abhor their morals, even though we won't do what they do.

And sure, there are some sociopaths, more than you'd imagine, but the rest of 'em? They've got no real friends, because they trust no one. And they sleep with one eye open.

So when Soleimani said "It is not in our president's dignity to respond to you..." and "If you begin the war, we will end the war. You know that this war will destroy all that you possess." Trump had two choices...to laugh or go nuclear.

True winners laugh. They know which of their enemies really have power. And they ignore those who ain't got it, and work behind the scenes to get those who do. Come on, that's how Obama got Osama, right? He didn't boast every day that he was gonna get him, didn't keep threatening him, he actually lulled Osama into complacency, and then BOOM!

Sometimes it's not that complicated. Sometimes the intellectuals ignore the human.

And we're all human. And it takes a lot to ignore the slings and arrows. The truth is most people can't. And Trump? NO WAY!

--
Visit the archive: lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, Unsubscribe

To change your email address this link