How To Lose Friends And Influence People

When you take the wheel of a car, you should drive it like it is stolen.

That will, however, require more subtlety than the casual GTA enthusiast imagines.

Earlier this week, Tulsi Gabbard — without offering details — stripped security clearances from dozens of officials over their involvement in intelligence assessments of Russian interference in US elections, something Putin’s Russia does as reflexively as it breathes, regardless of its preferred American candidate.

Then, this morning, I woke to news of the FBI raiding the house of former national security advisor John Bolton, the timing of which feels too coincidental not to be payback for his commentary on the Alaskan summit.

Later today, finally, I found myself listening to Gavin Newsom interview Beto O’Rourke about the redistricting fight in Texas where the lawfare and grandstanding feel of a piece with these other stories.

I largely sympathized with Beto’s plight but recoiled when he reiterated Mandela Barnes’ assertion that “when we win power we have to drive the car like we stole it”, clearly suggesting a different approach than mine.

Unless you intend to channel Shaka Zulu — “Never leave an enemy behind or it will rise again to fly at your throat!” — then take care not to wield power like you will always possess it.  Both major US parties, alas, share this regrettable tendency, forgetting that the excesses of today fuel the backlashes of tomorrow.

We would all do well to show more forbearance in our approach when lucky enough to hold the levers of power — whether personal, professional, commercial, or governmental.

The benefits of abuse may taste sweet but will prove temporary, the consequences will engender turmoil, and would-be allies on the margins won’t trust your intentions.

Best always to build a world you would be happy to inhabit when it is someone else’s time to hold the keys to the kingdom, for the sun shines on no one forever.

For related threads, check out other pieces from the archives — especially November 2024’s “Learning To Talk With Each Other Again” and January 2025’s “Explain The Deep State To Me Like I’m (Thirty) Five“.