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“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
― The Art of War
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I seriously doubt that what we witnessed yesterday in our capital was an example of strength of the kind that Sun Tzu was talking about in his classic The Art of War.
For one thing, I seriously doubt that the seemingly unstable person that raged and spat alongside the Finnish President yesterday has ever read the book.
Secondly, it seems as though this person is incapable of anything but psychological projection, incapable of seeing anything but his own motives and actions in the actions of others.
Since he lies, everyone lies.
Since he is corrupt, everyone is corrupt.
Since he is not loyal to his country, everyone else is traitorous as well.
He sees his greed, his selfishness, his anger and a laundry list of other negative traits only in the form of others.
I am convinced that the next generation of psychology textbooks will chronicle the behavior of this president* as the perfect example of projection.
For me, all I saw yesterday was an incredibly weak man flailing away. His bluster and rage only made him seem small, stupid and trite.
That is the face of our nation right now and so long as it continues, we, too, seem small and stupid and trite.
I leave you with some words the ancient Greek playwright Euripides, a warning traveling from the past:
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“When one with honeyed words but evil mind
Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.”
― Orestes
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Redtree Times 