00:00:00.300Hey everybody, how's it going? Thanks for joining me this afternoon. I am Oren McIntyre.
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00:00:30.000All right, guys, so we are back to our series on Machiavelli. If you don't know, we have been
00:00:36.140reading through Machiavelli's The Prince and diving deep, giving different takes on how we
00:00:42.500can apply this classic work of political theory to our current situation. There's a whole playlist
00:00:48.600of these in case you haven't been following along, but I think each one stands on its own.
00:00:54.680Machiavelli is timeless, and he writes in these really concise and powerful chapters
00:00:59.520so I think that you can watch these individually or if you want to just basically get an audiobook
00:01:04.960of the prince with my commentary once we're done with this series you'll have that as well so
00:01:09.400there's a playlist in the YouTube feed if you want to go ahead and click on that and you want to see
00:01:15.000the previous episodes in order but that said we're going to go ahead and start today with
00:01:20.220chapter 20. Are fortresses and other princely devices advantageous or hurtful? Princes wanting
00:01:28.040to make their state secure have variously disarmed their subjects, encouraged factions in their
00:01:34.280subject towns, fostered hostility amongst themselves, set out to win over those whom
00:01:39.940they distrust at the start of their reign, build fortresses, and destroy fortresses. A final
00:01:46.420judgment on these things can only be made in the light of the particular facts regarding each case,
00:01:51.940but I'll discuss the matter as comprehensively as the topic permits. One, no new prince has
00:01:57.980ever disarmed his subjects rather when any new prince has become uh the prince or sorry uh when
00:02:05.100any uh where we go uh no new prince has ever disarmed his subjects rather than any rather
00:02:11.560when any new prince has found the people unarmed he has armed them why because by arming them you
00:02:17.440make them yours the men whom you distrust become loyal those who were already loyal remain so
00:02:24.160and your subjects become your supporters not all the subjects can be armed and those who
00:02:29.500are armed are receiving a privilege but this won't get you into trouble with the others
00:02:34.320they will understand that the armed men are bound to you and are likely to put likely to be put in
00:02:39.860harm's way on your behalf and so deserve a great reward and they won't hold it against you when you
00:02:46.020get when you have given them when you have given some and not others others this privilege so
00:02:52.160Machiavelli here says that if you're a new prince or if you're someone taking power you don't take
00:02:57.460away people's arms that's not how it works because the people who are already in charge
00:03:02.740are the ones who ultimately got to decide whether or not they had weapons when you come into power
00:03:08.980you're not going to take weapons away from people who already had them and were already loyal to a
00:03:14.340previous king a previous prince that doesn't make any sense so if you are a new prince the only thing
00:03:21.300if you're adjusting whether or not people have weapons at all will be that you will be giving
00:03:25.580those weapons to your people and the reason you'll do that is obvious it's going to make them more
00:03:31.260loyal to you if you are somebody who is trying to come into power but the people did not have
00:03:36.620access to weapons before they didn't have a way to defend themselves then ultimately uh you're
00:03:42.800going to give those arms to the people so that they can overturn those that are already here
00:03:47.620Think of it as the old, we're going to arm the Kurds or the Mujahideen or whatever that we're hearing from the current, you know, neocons, the classic play of we'll arm the rebels.
00:03:59.840Now, the difference is if you're the king and you're going to be inside the country, then the rebels will fight for you.
00:04:05.800That's the idea. You arm them and they're loyal to you.
00:04:08.360And he says, don't worry, because, you know, some people may say, oh, we're giving it to some people, but not to others.
00:04:13.120says don't worry about that because people will understand that if you're giving weapons to people
00:04:18.260who didn't have it previously those people are on your side and are expected to fight for you
00:04:22.160they're expected to put something on the line for you and so not everybody's gonna want to do that
00:04:27.120they're they're not gonna they might be jealous of not receiving the weapons but they'll be happy
00:04:30.840that they didn't have to fight and bleed and possibly die on your behalf so ultimately they'll
00:04:35.760understand why some people got the weapons and some didn't now this is interesting because of
00:04:40.500course in the united states we are a people who pride ourselves on being armed being armed before
00:04:46.880the fact but of course if you wanted to take those weapons and turn them against the king
00:04:52.340well that's what we did in the revolutionary war but we already had those weapons in our possession
00:04:57.600if a new king was going to come into power in the united states he would not be able to do that by
00:05:02.020taking away our weapons he would need the people's weapons on on his side basically because he's the
00:05:08.380insurgent he's the guy who's trying to take over from the people in charge so a existing king might
00:05:15.460remove those but uh over time if he's been there for a long time but new kings are never taking
00:05:21.380weapons away from the people which is kind of the opposite of what a lot of people put out there
00:05:25.740they say oh well authoritarians will will come for your weapons first well if the authoritarians
00:05:29.860aren't already in power they have to enter into power and the way they do that is usually by some
00:05:34.860popular uprising utilizing uh some segment of the population that is ultimately uh disserved by the
00:05:41.680current regime and those people need to be armed now remember when Machiavelli is writing this it
00:05:45.660is a little bit of a different situation arms are expensive and very difficult to manufacture
00:05:50.840in fact we're just getting to the point where like you you don't in Machiavelli's time where
00:05:56.540you don't have to have these extremely expensive cumbersome plate mailed knights who need like
00:06:02.920entire lives to train on how to fight and giant fortunes in order to own you know own these arms
00:06:10.280in the first place it's not like it is today where you just could 3d print a gun and start
00:06:15.200handing them out in Machiavelli's time just obtaining arms was very difficult their
00:06:20.920manufacture was expensive training with them was very difficult and so just giving people arms
00:06:26.260was a much more serious prospect in Machiavelli's day than it was in like 2026 or as it is in 2026
00:06:37.460America. But when you disarm your subjects, you are at once offending them by giving evidence
00:06:43.580that you're either cowardly or naturally distressful. And either of those options
00:06:48.840will make you hate it. And since you can't survive without some army, and since you have disarmed
00:06:53.980your subjects you have to turn to merchants and as i've already shown in other chapters
00:06:59.540what they're like and even if you had good mercenaries it wouldn't be enough to defend
00:07:04.940you against powerful enemies and subjects whom you don't trust so i repeat new princes in new
00:07:10.800principalities have always distributed arms among their subjects so here he makes it clear right and
00:07:16.760this is really important if you are a prince or a ruler who is already in a bad in a bad way with
00:07:27.060your people taking away the arms does not solve that problem because if you take away the arms
00:07:32.780they immediately think that you're a coward or that you distrust them which means that they
00:07:37.540already know that you're planning to do something terrible to them which to be fair is the argument
00:07:42.780most people have for the second amendment right if you take away those arms the government won't
00:07:47.480have to respect you and Machiavelli is kind of saying that here like look if the people already
00:07:51.240have arms you have to respect them if you try to take away their arms they're going to know
00:07:55.420you're a scoundrel they're going to know that you have bad intentions they're going to know that
00:07:59.200you're cowardly or that you don't you distress them and they're going to worry about you they're0.98
00:08:04.200not going to put their faith in you so you need to be very careful if you're new prince coming in
00:08:08.520you always distribute arms you never take them away that's not the way that power flows and this
00:08:13.500is again always true of people wanting to come to power it's always offering the people more right
00:08:19.580this is and this is why the high and low versus middle was such a classic political formula the
00:08:26.320king offers the people a new king offers the people something they couldn't have before
00:08:29.900maybe rights citizenship arms jobs money whatever land you always say i'm going to take from the
00:08:37.020people who already have it i'm going to give it to you and so in this case the new king comes into
00:08:41.540power it's the aristocrats the the people the landed uh you know uh nobles who have the weapons
00:08:47.520who have control and he says i'm going to give weapons to you the masses the people the right
00:08:52.500to have those that you didn't have before and now you're on my side you're with me right so that's
00:08:57.060how the distribution of weapons works it's a flow of power from a new king uh that he acquires uh
00:09:04.280and he acquires the support of the people when he does this, an old king who comes in and tries to
00:09:10.220stop them, you're going to be signaling that you're weak in some way, that you're not trustworthy.
00:09:15.920Generations ago, the experts used to say that Pistoia can only be held by factions and Pisa
00:09:22.980only by fortresses. And this idea, or a generalized version of it, led to foment quarrels in some of
00:09:30.480their tributary towns so as to make them easier to dominate. Back then, when there was a kind of
00:09:37.920balance of power in Italy, this may have been a sound enough policy, but I don't think it's
00:09:44.320acceptable today because I don't think that now factions can ever be used. On the contrary,
00:09:50.920when a city divided by factions is attacked from the outside, it will quickly be lost because the
00:09:56.340weaker faction will always help the external attackers and won't be able to resist. I think
00:10:01.520the Venetians are following this policy when they've stirred up trouble between the Gulfs and
00:10:07.240the Ghibellines factions in their subject cities without letting the trouble come to bloodlust.
00:10:13.660They encourage these disputes so that the citizens wouldn't unite against them, the Venetians. We
00:10:20.440saw that it didn't work out in the way that they had expected because after the Venetians
00:10:24.660defeated after the venetians defeat at velia in 1509 one of the two factions took courage and
00:10:33.300seized the state a prince is following a prince following this policy that he is uh a prince is
00:10:39.840following sorry strange way this is written a prince is following this policy uh policy shows
00:10:47.320that he is weak because these factional quarrels won't be permitted in any vigorous principality
00:10:53.580in times of peace it is a policy for managing subjects not in a time of war it is sheer
00:10:59.540folly all right so this is interesting because this is literally happening in the united states
00:11:04.340right now a lot of people ask or and why is our current ruling class trying to import foreigners
00:11:11.060why are they fomenting hate between different factions in the united states why are they
00:11:15.620constantly playing them off each other who would destabilize their society like that
00:11:19.400Well, you know, Machiavelli says, I understand this strategy. This is a classic strategy. You divide the people inside your city or your country, and those people are too busy fighting each other to unite against you.
00:11:32.800so you want to set these different factions off against each other and that will keep them from
00:11:37.300uniting push back against your rule but there's a problem with that and the problem is a couple
00:11:42.860fold if you have a disunited body politic yes they are easier to rule because you can play one
00:11:50.720faction off against the other but if you ever run into a situation where you're actually attacked
00:11:56.240this is a very bad idea for a couple reasons one you're going to be disunited it's going to be
00:12:00.940hard to unite the people to come together and defend the land second you are going to have a
00:12:05.880scenario where the weakest faction inside your civilization your country your city is always
00:12:11.360looking for someone to free them from your tyranny if you have been treating them poorly you've been
00:12:16.560turning other factions against them fomenting hostility towards them they're ultimately going
00:12:21.160to say you know what we're probably better off with some other leader we're going to let in these
00:12:25.920other guys we're going to work for them because they it couldn't be worse than it is under a
00:12:30.300current leader. Now, they're often wrong about that, but that is the mentality when you have
00:12:34.200this factionalism going on. And the United States is very much currently being divided in this way.
00:12:42.520This strategy is being used to control the population. The reason that they're fomenting
00:12:46.900hatred against white people, the reason that they're bringing in foreigners is to play this0.99
00:12:51.640tactic that Machiavelli warns about. It's not that it can't work at some level, but he very much0.99
00:12:56.660warns that this is at best in peacetime a policy for managing subjects which sounds exactly like
00:13:03.260what's being done to us right now they're creating these divides these factions these rifts they're
00:13:08.100bringing in people they can leverage against the native population of the united states
00:13:11.260because it helps them to manage the population it makes them weaker it makes them more divided
00:13:15.520it makes them easier to control you can't unite against the bad guys however if you're ever
00:13:22.660attacked, this looks bad. He says, but in time of war, it's sheer folly, right? Because if you're
00:13:28.520attacked, then ultimately the cost of this tactic is going to come due. You're going to have to pay
00:13:34.820the cost that you have accrued for dividing the country and setting it against itself.
00:13:40.900Now, the United States is very lucky in that it's very hard for anyone to invade us. We're very
00:13:45.840difficult to assault in a classic military manner we're surrounded uh on all sides pretty much by
00:13:53.240water divided by all you know by the sea from any real serious threat to the united states
00:13:59.920we've got two relatively weak uh countries bordering us you know in canada and mexico
00:14:05.580who don't really have the ability to invade or put serious pressure on our boundaries and so you
00:14:11.640that you can get away with a little more of this right you can play this game a little longer or
00:14:15.900at least like oh well we can keep we can keep doing this divide and conquer strategy because
00:14:20.240ultimately there's no one who's going to come and attack the united states assault the united states
00:14:24.700and exploit the fact that there's this division however this is ultimately folly because even if
00:14:31.040you aren't going to have an army showing up on the doorstep the united states and you know we have to
00:14:35.900be serious at some point that could happen and if it does that's a very real problem but even if
00:14:41.500that's not going to happen, there will be other ways for foreign powers to exacerbate these
00:14:46.120divisions. And we see that on a regular basis. We see that Russia and China and these other actors,
00:14:52.660probably Israel, are looking to exacerbate these divisions inside the United States for their own
00:14:59.020advantage. And so this strategy can work for a while. It does have some legitimacy,0.71
00:15:05.060but Machiavelli warns you're going to pay a cost for this. Yes, in the short term,
00:15:10.160it will keep the people from turning on you it will divide the people and allow you to exert
00:15:14.760more power over them because they can't unite to fight against you however you are going to
00:15:19.400ultimately see that this is a destructive method of controlling the people
00:15:24.060so he advises against that factionalism there is no doubt that a prince becomes uh becomes great
00:15:33.840when he overcomes difficulties and obstacles for this reason uh fortune wants uh wants greatness
00:15:40.000to come to a new prince who needs uh who needs a personal reputation more than a hereditary prince
00:15:46.800does it causes enemies to arise and turns them against him this gives him the opportunity to
00:15:52.020overcome them climbing higher on this ladder that his enemies have brought to him that's why so many
00:15:57.000people think that a wise prince should when the opportunity presents itself engineer some hostility
00:16:01.880against himself so that he can crush it and thus elevate the level of fame so he says one way you
00:16:07.720can control the people is you know to kind of gain support of the people is to overcome adversity
00:16:14.080that's why new princes you know princes who are trying to climb the ladder who don't have that
00:16:19.040hereditary connection who don't inherit the kingdom they need to have these uh like big moments where
00:16:26.300they overcome adversity to win the favor of the people he says there are even some situations
00:16:31.880Where people believe that if a prince is actually in a pretty good position, he should still like engineer some kind of hostility, like create some kind of drama so that people see him as somebody who's overcoming these things and should be elevated, should receive honor, should receive glory.
00:16:48.720So he says that you might think that it's always best to have this quiet life, this quiet, peaceful rule, but actually it's always better if you can to have something to overcome.
00:17:00.900So even if you're like in the secure position, look for these opportunities. And if you're someone who's climbing the ladder, who's entering, you need these opportunities. They're foundational for you to prove that you're worthy to be elevated to the level of ruler of prince.
00:17:14.060princes especially new ones have often received more loyalty and support from men
00:17:19.560who they had distrusted at the outset from those whom they had trusted uh pendolfo uh
00:17:27.120petrucci uh prince of siena governed his state with more help from those who initially distrusted
00:17:35.160uh that he initially distrusted than from others but one can't generalize on this topic
00:17:41.580because individual cases vary so much i'll say this men who have been hostile at the start of
00:17:47.600a principality and who don't have the rank or status needed to support themselves without help
00:17:52.640can easily be won over by the prince they'll be strongly bound to serve him loyally because they
00:17:58.620know how important it is to them to act in ways that will cancel the bad impression he had formed
00:18:05.000of them. So the prince always gets better value from them than from men who serve him neglectfully
00:18:13.660because they are so sure of their position with him. So he said, basically, look, obviously you
00:18:19.100want long-term supporters, but in many cases, it will be new supporters that actually are the most
00:18:24.520valuable to you because they have something to prove. If originally some guy was seen as
00:18:29.100untrustworthy or not loyal or not supportive. And then he needs to go out there and show
00:18:35.120that he's supportive. He's going to be even more loyal. He's going to feel compelled at all times
00:18:40.860to constantly work to win you over and get rid of this reputation as a guy who doubted you.
00:18:46.260And so this kind of prodigal son, this person who returns or wasn't on board in the first place,
00:18:51.180but ultimately ends up rejoining you, he might be more loyal. He says, you can't judge it all
00:18:57.380the time i'm not you know he says you know i'm not saying you are should just only look for people
00:19:02.240who were disloyal to you at the beginning it's not a hundred percent thing however keep in mind
00:19:06.500that just because someone was loyal to you previously doesn't mean they're the most loyal
00:19:10.720now in many cases it may be someone who was denouncing you or wasn't on board originally
00:19:15.460who ultimately ends up going out of their way on a regular basis to show their loyalty and they
00:19:21.420might be your most valuable supporters i should warn any prince that who has taken over a new
00:19:26.860state, with the help of its inhabitants, that he should think hard about their motives in helping.
00:19:32.480If they were motivated not by any natural affection for him, but only by discontent
00:19:36.920from their government, he'll find it very hard to remain friends with them, because it will be
00:19:41.220impossible to make them content with him. In the light of the reasons for this, look at all the
00:19:47.840ancient and modern examples. You'll find that it's easier for a prince to make friends of men
00:19:52.560who are content under the former government and are therefore his enemy therefore his enemies
00:19:58.220than those who were discontent with the government and wanted and enabled him to seize power so he
00:20:03.260says be careful i know these people might have supported you but ultimately they might just be
00:20:08.480angry with the government in general not really care much about you and if that's the case if they
00:20:12.520were just angry with their government in general and willing to overthrow it then they might still
00:20:16.900be angry at you when the revolution is done you might not have their full support in many ways
00:20:21.160It might be the guys who were going along to get along with the last regime who will be willing to go along to get along with your regime.
00:20:28.960They actually might be more reliable than the revolutionaries that ultimately push to get rid of it.
00:20:35.620There's a reason that after the revolution, many times, the most revolutionary people get pushed out or even executed because they're kind of constitutionally against governments.
00:20:46.220they're constitutionally willing to rise up and take out leaders that they don't like do you
00:20:52.200really want that guy hanging around once you're the leader they take out do you really think that
00:20:56.720you need to win over the people who are disgruntled at the last government enough that they'd kill
00:21:01.760their leader and put a new guy in place do you want to try to win them over or maybe it's just
00:21:05.720easier to use the power of people who were basically already on the side of power anyway
00:21:10.820maybe maybe that's the more useful thing to do again Machiavelli not known you know it's not
00:21:15.880like oh you fought in the revolution i owe you everything nope machiavelli's saying not really
00:21:19.880actually you should be aware that just because someone fought for you doesn't mean they're
00:21:23.240actually loyal to you that's different princes wanting to increase the security of their states
00:21:30.200often build fortresses a fortress can serve as a bridle and bit reigning in potential enemies
00:21:36.880as a place of refuge from first attack i praise this as a time hollowed practice yet in our times
00:21:43.160we have seen these events nicolo vitelli uh demolished two fortresses in caida de castello
00:21:49.960as an aid to uh to holding on to the town guys as always uh you know excuse my italian pronunciation
00:21:57.240i certainly have no i'm not very good at it uh guido abaldo and the duke of urbino drove caesar
00:22:04.620borgia out of his dominion and then flattened all the fortresses in that province which he thought
00:22:11.320he could hold more easily with the fortresses gone. The Benteveligo regained power in Bologna
00:22:18.820and followed the same policy. Whether a fortress is useful then depends on the circumstance.
00:22:24.820If they help you in one way, they harm you in another. Here's a way of looking at it. A prince
00:22:29.980who is more afraid of his own people than of foreigners ought to build fortresses, but one
00:22:34.640who fears foreigners more than he does his people ought to do without them. The castle
00:22:40.880from the castle that Francisco Swarza had built in Milan has given the Swarza family more trouble
00:22:49.200than any of the state's other troubles and will go on it will go on doing this the best possible
00:22:55.780fortress for a prince is not being hated by his people if you have a fortress and your people
00:23:00.780hate you the fortress won't do you any good an openly rebellious populace will have no shortage
00:23:06.440of foreigners wanting to come to their aid against you so this is very interesting because actually
00:23:11.260this one's directly applicable to our situation today so he says yeah i get it walls fortresses
00:23:18.100these are classic defenses they are useful however you need to think about why you need that fortress
00:23:23.160what is it for because if you are building a fortress because you are scared of your populace
00:23:29.840that doesn't solve the problem that does not solve your problem at all yes temporarily it could make
00:23:35.360it easier to defend against a rebellious and unruly populist mob however you can't live your
00:23:42.140life in the fortress all the time you can't rule effectively from the fortress right Machiavelli
00:23:46.640is very clear you need to be among the people you need to be present you need to you know kind of
00:23:52.000exert your power in public and you can't do that if you're hiding behind castle walls all the time
00:23:57.420fortress walls all the time if the people want to hurt you they will hurt you like you are ultimately
00:24:04.060always in a situation where if the people banded together they could hurt you and so you have to
00:24:10.900recognize that also if you're worried about foreigners on the outside well your best defense
00:24:15.400is the love of your people is not being hated by your people because they're always going to be
00:24:21.320able to find a foreigner to come in and hurt you if that's their goal if the people hate you and
00:24:27.020you're hiding in the fortress it's not really making you safe because ultimately they could0.81
00:24:31.800always find some other foreign power. And so the whole reason you'd have it to defend yourself from
00:24:36.080foreigners, it becomes useless if the people hate you because they're just going to recruit some0.99
00:24:40.060foreigner. And that fortress is ultimately not going to solve your problem when both the people1.00
00:24:44.080and the foreigners are all dead set against you. Now, Donald Trump has just had another
00:24:51.080assassination attempt, right? And they were having it at this event, you know, the correspondence
00:24:57.880dinner uh that was not in the white house it was out at a hotel ballroom and the security was not
00:25:05.580great from the secret service because our secret service is a joke and are terrible the jobs
00:25:09.260apparently uh however uh the the push after that was we need to build the ballroom we need to build
00:25:15.000the ballroom we have to put the ballroom in the white house because then we'll have an event space
00:25:18.880that is secure and the the president can serve from there and fine build the ballroom but
00:25:24.840Machiavelli points out the ballroom is not going to save you ultimately if someone wants to hurt
00:25:29.420Trump because he's so hated because the people don't like him that's the problem or very
00:25:34.720importantly they don't fear him enough right they don't think that trying to take a shot at the king
00:25:39.800is going to cost them something or at least it's not going to cost like their wider political
00:25:44.540movement something yeah probably they'll arrest the guy who took the shot but they're not going
00:25:48.840to go after you know Antifa all these other guys that they should be going after after that happens
00:25:53.480and Machiavelli explicitly warns you look you can build that fortress but ultimately it's not going
00:25:58.920to save you if you have this situation so you need to recognize that okay there's some utility in
00:26:04.300these but ultimately you need the love and fear of the people more than you need fortress walls
00:26:09.880if you don't if you have a people who hate you then ultimately and remember fear and hatred are
00:26:15.080not the same thing fear and hatred are not the same thing if you have the people who hate you
00:26:19.520it doesn't matter what's going to happen or if you have people who are not afraid of you
00:26:23.240then it doesn't matter how many fortress walls you have because ultimately they're going to turn on
00:26:27.520you no prisoner times has found a fortress to be useful to him with the limited exception of the
00:26:33.300countess of forley on the death of her husband count your lot your alma in 1488 her fortress
00:26:40.640enabled her to withstand the popular attack and wait for help from milan thus recovering her state
00:26:47.240The circumstances of that time were such that no foreigners could help the rebellious people,0.98
00:26:52.600but foreigners didn't do much for her in 1499 when Caesar Borgia attacked her and when her
00:26:58.780hostile people were allied with the foreigners. At both those times, she'd been better off having0.99
00:27:04.300subjects who didn't hate her than she was with a fortress. All these things considered, then,
00:27:11.700I'll praise any prince who builds fortresses as well as any who doesn't, and I'll blame any prince
00:27:17.040who doesn't mind being hated by his people because he's relying on the fortress so again he says like
00:27:21.780there's nothing wrong with fortresses in theory they can help you there are limited situations
00:27:27.280where a fortress can be advantageous but don't be foolish enough to think that building it solves
00:27:33.960your problems i'll praise you if you build a fortress and you fix your problem but if you
00:27:38.340build a fortress and you still are hated by the people if you build a fortress and you do not
00:27:42.580instill either a love or a fear or probably both from the people towards you, then ultimately that
00:27:48.920fortress is not going to end up getting things done. All right, chapter 21, what a prince should
00:27:57.800do to acquire prestige. Nothing builds a prince's prestige more than his understanding, than his
00:28:04.500understanding great enterprises and his setting a fine example by his personal conduct. We have in
00:28:10.860time Ferdinand of Aragon, the present king of Spain. He can almost be called a new prince
00:28:18.260because his fame and glory have raised him from being an insignificant king to being the foremost
00:28:23.740king in the Christian world. At the start of his reign, he attacked Granda, the Moorish kingdom in
00:28:28.880southern Spain, and this campaign laid the foundation of his power. He proceeded quietly
00:28:35.860at first with no worries about being interfered with he kept the barons of castile busy thinking
00:28:41.840about the war and not planning any changes inside spain and they didn't notice that by these means
00:28:47.860he was increasing his prestige and his power over them by financing his army with money from the
00:28:53.280church and from taxes and through the that long built war that long war he built a military
00:28:58.880establishment that was since brought brought him honor further under cover of religion he embarked0.99
00:29:05.660in great schemes with pious cruelty hunting out the jews in his kingdom and expelling them a pitiful0.99
00:29:12.600state of affairs brought about by an by an extraordinary act under the same religious0.97
00:29:17.760cloak he attacked africa invaded italy and now has attacked france thus he has always planned
00:29:23.980then acted in a grandiose scale keeping his subjects minds in a state of amazement and anxiety
00:29:29.180about what was going to happen next and his actions uh have followed one another so quickly
00:29:35.700that there's never been a quiet time in which men could work steadily against him so this is
00:29:42.340this is Machiavelli saying shock and awe baby always be doing great things always be doing
00:29:49.960impressive things. He's got this king who comes in, he's not really well known, but he becomes
00:29:55.740this great king because he's constantly pushing to do great things. He's constantly pushing to
00:30:01.700conquer, to overthrow things, to take great acts. And because people are always amazed at the
00:30:07.880accomplishments he's created and are anxious about what he'll do next, they never have time
00:30:12.460to think about turning on him. They never think about how they could ultimately take him out of
00:30:18.140power. So if you're worried, you want to secure power, you want to make yourself safer, constantly
00:30:22.340be doing great, amazing things. Cover yourself in glory, right? The power of glory is it can protect
00:30:28.580you against schemes of people who would otherwise want to overthrow you. And again, we can connect
00:30:33.720this directly to Donald Trump. Look at those first few months when he came into office.
00:30:39.980Nothing but shock and awe. The glory of what he was doing, even though the libs were in terror,
00:30:45.040right the glory and the terror that's what kept him not having to face any real backlash because
00:30:51.420he was acting so fast he was getting so much done he was uh achieving so many things that nobody
00:30:57.040thought was going to be possible that there was no time to second guess him there was no time
00:31:01.420ultimately to say oh uh maybe he's doing it wrong maybe there's a way to stop him maybe he shouldn't
00:31:07.120be doing this anymore no because you're so everything was bang bang bang and the left was
00:31:11.520completely um you know in disarray they were so anxious about what he's going to do next the right
00:31:16.940was just in awe everything was amazing everything was getting done and that just gave him this
00:31:21.920unquestioned uh ability to rule his supporters uh didn't question because they loved it his enemies
00:31:28.100didn't question because he seemed so powerful and he was getting so much done that they felt
00:31:32.100dispirited and anxious but that constant action that constant achievement of glory that's really
00:31:38.340powerful right that's what people want to see or even if they don't want to see it they respect so
00:31:44.400much they're so terrified they're not going to take any action against you
00:31:47.340now you can see that this is also something that differentiates Donald Trump's first major
00:31:58.900military action from a second so we saw the strike in Venezuela and that Venezuela strike
00:32:06.000was so successful and so quick and so overwhelming that even people who were hesitant about it who
00:32:12.980weren't sure who had questions ultimately it was done boom impressive over nothing to argue about
00:32:19.160nothing to take back trump wins right that decisive quick uh overpowering victory meant that there
00:32:26.700was simply no questions left to ask and then we look at iran where we had a much larger scope
00:32:33.160mission one that wasn't prepared for one that i think ultimately we weren't really looking for at
00:32:37.040the time and ultimately because that was slow because it was not immediately successful because
00:32:43.200there were immediately additional consequences that slowed down it created questions it allowed
00:32:49.160people to attack trump for what he was doing that's the key right it's that momentum that glory
00:32:54.920that constantly winning if you just keep winning people won't ask questions that's what machiavelli
00:33:00.800sank you can talk about principles you can talk about limitations on government but if you just
00:33:05.980keep winning fdr style lincoln style people are not going to ask questions that's the key
00:33:12.200a prince can be greedy uh a prince can be greatly helped by striking acts of government in eternal
00:33:20.900internal affairs king ferdinand did well on this score also and there's a striking example of this
00:33:26.540in the report in the reported acts of bernard bernabo visconti prince of milan whenever uh
00:33:34.580any civilian did something extraordinary whether good or bad bernardo uh would devise a reward or
00:33:41.880punishment that everyone talked about a prince ought to above all try to get through all of his
00:33:47.560actions the reputation of being great and being a great and remarkable man so he says okay look
00:33:53.420when people did great things, this king rewarded them in this lavish and amazing way that made
00:33:57.900everybody talk. And when they did bad things, they were punished in this horrible way that was so
00:34:02.240horrible that people talked. But the key is people were always talking. They were always in awe of
00:34:06.840his action. Action is the key. Action is what brings respect, which brings honor, which makes
00:34:14.860your rule look secure. If you're acting confidently and consistently and successfully, people will pay
00:34:21.020attention. So always look to act swiftly and decisively. Always look to be successful and
00:34:28.060always look to be striking awe into people when you act. Make it grandiose. Make it significant.
00:34:34.540Trump's good at this, actually. This is something that Trump has a gift for in many scenarios.
00:34:39.580He's good at talking it up, selling it, making it seem like it's a big deal. Maybe it's not always.
00:34:44.100You fail on that too often. You can get a reputation for that too. Maybe some people
00:34:47.820think Trump has acquired that, but ultimately the point is that decisive ability, that awe-inspiring
00:34:53.320ability, that constant action, that's what you need to be doing. A prince also gains prestige
00:34:58.340from being either a true friend or an outright enemy, i.e. says openly which side he favors in
00:35:05.780any conflict. This will always serve you better than staying neutral. Here's why. Suppose the two
00:35:13.040of your powerful neighbors are at war and you are wondering what to do either the combatants
00:35:18.020power levels makes it the case that if you stay neutral when the winner then the winner will be
00:35:23.580a threat to you or their power level isn't as high as that when you travel well your klm royal dutch
00:35:30.720airlines ticket takes you to more than just your destination it takes you to front row views
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00:35:51.400klm royal dutch airlines when you travel travel well either way you'll be you'll be best not to
00:36:01.840stay, uh, not staying neutral, but rather picking a side and fighting hard for it. Because in case
00:36:08.300you will, uh, inevitably fall prey to the winner and you'll have no excuses, uh, no defense and
00:36:15.120nowhere to hide and how, and how that loser in the conflict will enjoy this. Neither side will
00:36:20.200befriend you. The winner won't hold you as a friend whom you can't, uh, who you can't depend
00:36:24.900on in times of trial. And the loser won't receive you because you didn't take sword in hand and
00:36:30.900share his danger with him. So he says, look, if there is a conflict, it's better to just commit
00:36:36.640one way or another, man. Like that indecisive need to straddle is not going to do you any favors.
00:36:42.520Just biding your time and trying to see who wins out, that's not good. Because if you sat around
00:36:48.420and didn't help the winner, they're going to have all the power. They're going to be ascendant.
00:36:52.820They're going to have these trained soldiers who are already on the march, and they're going to
00:36:57.140look at you and say, oh, you're a liability because you didn't come to my aid when I needed
00:37:01.140you. And if you didn't side with the loser, they're not ultimately going to like side with
00:37:08.580you again. They're not going to receive you. They're not going to try to make common cause
00:37:12.400with you because you were not there when they needed you. So it's just better to pick a side
00:37:18.100and fight rather than sit there and bide your time and try to see if you can be on whatever side
00:37:24.320is ultimately the winner because no one's going to trust you when you do that. That fickle
00:37:28.900friendship, that only siding with the winner after the fact, that is always going to make
00:37:33.180you a distrustful person and people are not going to want to work with you or they might actually
00:37:39.080actively want to take revenge on you for not siding with them or they might see you as an
00:37:44.040easy target now that they eliminated their competition. Anyway, it's always better to
00:37:49.120side and take action. Thus, it will always happen that one who isn't your friend will ask you to
00:37:56.340keep out of it, and while your friend will ask you to fight on their side. Indecisive princes
00:38:02.260usually try to avoid immediate danger by taking the neutral route, and they are usually ruined
00:38:07.700by that choice. But when a prince briskly declares himself in favor of one side, if the side you
00:38:13.280choose is the winner, then you have a good friend, and he's indebted to you. It's true that the
00:38:17.760winner may be powerful enough to have you at his mercy but he won't use it against you if he did
00:38:22.940he would be a monument of ingratitude and men are never as low as that victories are never so
00:38:29.640complete that the victor has no need to be careful about anything no need especially to be careful
00:38:34.920about justice but if the side you chose loses you will receive they will receive you and help you as
00:38:41.360long as they can so that you become companions and fortune uh companions in a fortune that may
00:38:46.820rise again so it says look i get it that most princes want to just play the middle play it safe
00:38:52.380avoid conflict but if you side with the winner then obviously you'll be in a good place because
00:38:58.440he'll be indebted to you or at the very least if if he didn't need you to win entirely at the very
00:39:04.580least he's not going to turn on you because he's going to look deeply ungrateful to everybody else
00:39:08.620and that's going to make it very hard for him to rule he needs to look just even in victory and if
00:39:14.240you sided with the loser then if they're not totally annihilated they're still going to want
00:39:19.120to work with you because you were there for them when they needed your help and ultimately uh they
00:39:24.740you might end up hitching your wagon to somebody who comes back and your fortunes could rise
00:39:29.040together but there there's just no advantageous advantageous position in cowardice if you avoid
00:39:35.780siding with someone they're always going to blame you it's better to pick a side and whether you win
00:39:41.160or lose yes losing is always bad you will always pay a price it could be disastrous but failing to
00:39:48.080act is even more disastrous because that way you're always the subject of the winner and they
00:39:53.140always look down on you and then you don't even have the ally of the loser that at least you would
00:39:57.460have had had you back them up if they're not completely annihilated at least you still have
00:40:01.740a friend somebody who can help you at the end of the day and who knows maybe they'll bounce back
00:40:06.060and ultimately be successful and then you'll be the guy that stuck stuck with them thick and thin
00:40:11.180in the second case when the power level of the combatants is such that you have nothing to fear
00:40:16.660from either there's an even stronger prudential reason that you should choose a side why because
00:40:22.000the side you choose is certain to win so that your help in the destruction of one prince prince x
00:40:27.680with the help of another prince prince y who if you had any sense would have protected x against
00:40:33.740you and why having with having your assistants won a war uh that he couldn't have won without you
00:40:40.300is now at your mercy so he says look you might think that you know okay i should side with one
00:40:46.580side or the other unless they're basically even in which case i don't need to i could they can
00:40:51.600be neutral he says no that's even a more of a case to side with somebody because if they truly are
00:40:56.680completely equal if they really are basically just the same in power level then wherever you
00:41:02.720throw your sword in they're going to be the victor and then you're the guy that helped tip the balance
00:41:07.600you're the guy who decided you're the king maker and so they're going to owe you they're they're
00:41:11.620at your mercy because you're the one who made them a winner so it's basically he's just saying
00:41:16.660again he's reiterating it's always worth throwing in yes when the power levels are mismatched uh you
00:41:21.840know it's worth throwing in but even when they're even it's even more worth fighting because then
00:41:27.280you get to be the decider you get to be the deciding factor which gives you more of the power
00:41:31.020and here i should point out as a reproach to prince y that a prince should be careful never
00:41:37.520to make an alliance with a more powerful prince for the purpose of attacking others unless
00:41:42.000circumstances force him into this if he wins you'll be at his mercy and princes should do
00:41:48.420everything they can to avoid being anyone's mercy no government should ever think that in
00:41:54.240that it can choose perfectly safe courses of action every government should expect to have
00:41:59.820to run risks because in the ordinary course of events, one never tries to avoid one trouble
00:42:05.020without running into another. Prudence consists in knowing how to weigh up troubles and choose
00:42:10.280the lesser one. So he says, look, in this world, there will be trouble and you're going to have
00:42:17.060to fight it. So it's better to be decisive and take bold action and look for the advantage
00:42:22.660than to sit back and hope things break in your direction. Machiavelli is constantly telling
00:42:28.080the ruler to take action be decisive don't hesitate it you're yes you might be in a bad
00:42:37.260situation you might be uh with your back up against the wall but that is just life and you
00:42:42.980have to choose the best of the worst outcomes you have to do that it is never worth hesitating
00:42:49.020this is just good life advice like yes this is good advice for rulers but this is just good life
00:42:54.080advice right it's the people who sit around forever and basically just hope that things
00:42:59.400will work out for them that just never have a good time they're always the ones that are in
00:43:05.780trouble they're always the ones that are like kind of subject to other people it's just better to
00:43:10.960take the action to to to recognize that there are no safe choices don't sit around always looking
00:43:18.000for the safest choice don't optimize for safety and that's a lot of what our society has done
00:43:22.640that's what we tell people to do today be as safe as possible don't take risks don't put yourself
00:43:28.040out there but if you meet most people who have been successful in life they are risk takers yeah
00:43:35.840there are people who get it handed to them on a platter and yeah the great for them right but
00:43:40.200ultimately people who are climbing the ladder who are making their way in the world who are
00:43:44.580improving their situation are those who recognize there's always risk and there is no perfect or
00:43:49.880safe situation. And Machiavelli says this is true for rulers as well. There's no, it makes no sense
00:43:56.820to constantly be sitting on the fence and hoping things work out for you. Ultimately, you need to
00:44:01.980take action. A prince ought to show, a prince ought to also show himself a patron of virtue
00:44:08.800and honor those who are talented in any art or craft. He should encourage his citizens to carry
00:44:13.840steadily on with their ordinary occupations in commerce, agriculture, and so on, so that no one
00:44:19.880is deterred from increasing his holding by fear that they'll be confiscated. They're deterred from
00:44:25.020starting up businesses as a trader for fear of dues of taxes. Rather, the prince should create
00:44:30.180incentives for this, these things, for doing these things, and for doing anything else that improves
00:44:36.460his city or state. Also, he should entertain the people with banquets and shows at appropriate
00:44:41.740times of the year and as every citizen is divided into guilds or clans he should treat such bodies
00:44:47.080with respect go to some of their meetings and present himself as a model of courtesy and
00:44:52.060generosity through all though always maintaining the majesty of his rank which he must never allow
00:44:58.860to be diminished all right so oftentimes people will say Machiavelli is just a teacher of evil
00:45:06.640and there's truth to that there's some level of truth to that however you'll notice that
00:45:11.640Machiavelli recognizes that it is advantageous to be a good ruler most of the time. Most of the time
00:45:18.160he is telling the prince, act with the good of your people in mind. Not just because it helps
00:45:24.600the people, because it helps you. It helps you maintain power. When you act in that way, you will
00:45:30.800always be heading towards a position of strength. When you are searching to find these things that
00:45:37.940can ultimately benefit your people that's going to be good so when you see someone acting in uh
00:45:43.020you know a positive way for your society reward them you see someone in arts or crafts when you
00:45:48.280see someone making money or in some way improving the quality of life or the standing of your
00:45:54.180civilization support that person honor them and show up to these guild meetings look generous
00:46:00.820look like you're courteous look like you're interested but remember still stay majestic
00:46:07.280act like a ruler don't become a commoner right this is a very common thing with our ruling class
00:46:13.640today they love to look like an average person oh i'm not i'm not elite i'm not some uh you know a
00:46:19.400guy uh who who's above it all i'm like you i'm a multi-billionaire who's like wearing sneakers
00:46:25.040and a track suit right like that's very common today but he says no stay prestigious that doesn't
00:46:30.200mean you shouldn't mix with the common man you should show up you should honor them you should
00:46:34.900honor them especially when they're doing good things for the for the nation but always keep
00:46:39.980this air of majesty always keep this air of being in control and showing your rank it's okay to show
00:46:46.400up to these places you should show up to these places you should be courteous you should be a
00:46:50.100model citizen when you're there you should be generous but always maintain your separation
00:46:55.200and your majesty as the ruler remember that so we see this from Machiavelli over and over again
00:47:00.920right yes he is telling you to do the things that are advantageous to you as a ruler he is very
00:47:08.200clear about that he'll tell you to lie when you need to to break oaths when you need to to kill
00:47:13.680people when you need to but most of the time he says be a good king see notice when people are
00:47:19.880doing things that help your society who make your society great and honor them entertain the people
00:47:25.640with banquets show you know give them feasts give them these uh these shows at the appropriate times
00:47:31.820be a good part of the community so again Machiavelli is talking about the advantage of the ruler he is
00:47:38.680giving very very um nakedly uh uh naked advice in favor of power however that doesn't mean he's
00:47:48.040always telling you to hurt the people it's not telling you he's always to be a tyrant in fact
00:47:51.760most of the time he's telling you be a good king don't take your people's stuff don't abuse the
00:47:56.220women uh don't you know honor the people when they do good things uh make sure to do glorious
00:48:01.520things that make people want to follow you you know these are things that are good for the ruler
00:48:06.580and the people when it's only good for the ruler Machiavelli will say you know you need to stay in
00:48:12.300power do what you need to to stay in power but most of the time he's saying do things that help
00:48:17.020you and the people because ultimately that will help you as king that will keep you in power
00:48:21.180right the best defense against foreigners is not fortresses it's people who love or fear you it's
00:48:27.700people who don't hate you that's the best defense so you hear this refrain over and over from
00:48:32.460Machiavelli yes you are the king yes you need to look to your interests yes you need to care about
00:48:37.960power yes sometimes you have to do immoral things to maintain it but most of the time try to do
00:48:44.500stuff that makes you popular and stuff that makes you popular is being a good king
00:48:47.720chapter 22 the ministers of princes a prince's choice of minister is important to him and it's
00:48:58.240up to him to his intelligent foresight whether he has good ones the first opinion that one forms of
00:49:04.140a prince a prince's intelligence comes from observing the men he has around uh surrounded
00:49:09.520him or he has around him. When they are competent and loyal, he should be rewarded as shrewd because
00:49:16.980he was, he has known how to spot competence in people and to keep them loyal. But when they are
00:49:23.760otherwise mediocre or disloyal, one can't have a good opinion of him because of his choices of
00:49:30.000ministers was his first big mistake. So he says, people are going to look, every king is going to
00:49:36.880have ministers. Every prince is going to have ministers. Every president is going to have
00:49:42.360secretaries, right? No one runs a kingdom or a country by themselves. And so if you're an
00:49:48.320executive, if you're a prince, if you are a ruler, you need to surround yourself with competent and
00:49:53.800impressive people because people's first impressions of you will be those you surround
00:49:58.780yourself with. Again, classic advice in general, right? Surround yourself with good people because
00:50:03.820it reflects on you. Show me a man's friends and I'll show you something about him, right? Like
00:50:08.500this is classic life advice from your grandma. It's also the advice Machiavelli gives to the
00:50:14.760prince. And again, we can look at Trump and, you know, the different secretaries he's surrounded
00:50:20.480himself with. Some are impressive. Some have proved to be less impressive. And people tend to
00:50:26.200have certain opinions on Trump depending on who he has placed in those positions. And so you have
00:50:31.840to be very careful about who you put in these positions of authority because not only will
00:50:36.580they give you good or bad advice but it will also alter the way that people think about you
00:50:40.420uh let's see here anyone who knew antonio uh de uh denafro in his role as minister of
00:50:51.380pandolfo petruchis uh prince of siena would regard pandolfo as a very clever man to have
00:50:58.140such a minister there are three things of intellect a superb intellect which uh which understand
00:51:04.360a superb intellect which understand things unaided a good intellect which understands things when
00:51:10.880others explain them and a a useless intellect which doesn't understand anything with even with
00:51:18.720help if pandolfo's intellect wasn't of type one therefore he was a type two someone with enough
00:51:25.200judgment to evaluate what others say and do even if he isn't capable of originality and can tell
00:51:31.500them a minister of originality can tell when a minister is performing well and when he isn't
00:51:38.800and can praise in one's case and scold in the other so the minister can't hope to deceive him
00:51:44.100and is kept honest so he says look there are some people who are going to be like this top tier
00:51:48.900intellect which they get it all they know it all they can see the board entirely they don't need
00:51:54.360anyone to explain it to them they're smart enough they grasp everything immediately then there's
00:51:58.740those with a good intellect they might under not understand everything on their own but they know
00:52:03.460when it's being explained to them correctly they can see when someone's doing a good or bad job
00:52:07.800so ideally you're the first one right and you're just like you get it all you're like this
00:52:11.700philosopher king you understand all of these different uh aspects and you uh really only
00:52:17.660have these ministers to kind of carry things out or maybe give you a few perspectives you didn't
00:52:21.940normally have, but generally you grasp it. That's the best. However, there is an acceptable version
00:52:26.820and most leaders fall into number two. I think Trump is very much a number two here where he's
00:52:32.120smart enough to get things when they get explained to them. And then your talent really lies in being
00:52:37.840able to discern whether you're being told the truth or not, whether the person giving you advice
00:52:43.200is themselves grasping the situation enough. And you can kind of warn if the minister is like
00:52:50.620trying to deceive you or that kind of thing. So you, even if you're not number one, even if you
00:52:55.000aren't like this guy, who's a genius and understands everything and never needs anything
00:52:58.660explained to them, even if you aren't that person, you can still be a good ruler, but then you need
00:53:02.820to cultivate a different, uh, ability one to understand things when they're explained to you,
00:53:07.240but two, to know when a minister is themselves, not really grasping what they're explaining,
00:53:13.400right? There are probably people who have the discernment to say, I don't get this,
00:53:17.900but i can look at two different people and say that expert is honest and is doing the right
00:53:22.740thing and understands what they're talking about and that one is a fraud and he's trying to deceive
00:53:26.800me even though i don't get it like i don't understand this particular subject i can still
00:53:31.600see the difference between those two people and you need to have at least number two because the
00:53:36.560third one is just your use your intellect is bad and you're not helpful with anything a prince has
00:53:41.660a prince has one infallible test of the quality of a minister when you see the minister thinking
00:53:47.040more for himself than for you keeping an eye on his own advantage in everything he does he'll
00:53:52.420never be a good minister and you'll never be able to trust him someone who has another's a person's
00:53:57.860stake his government in his hands ought to think never of himself but always of the prince spending
00:54:03.640no time on anything in which the prince is not concerned on the other hand to keep this minister
00:54:09.440honest the prince should think about his welfare honor him enrich him do him kindnesses uh and
00:54:16.600confer honors and offices upon him. And at the same time, the prince should let the minister see
00:54:21.780that he can't survive without the prince. He shouldn't, he should be so rich and so honored
00:54:27.000that he doesn't want more either. And so, and has so many offices that'd be afraid of the change of
00:54:33.400regime. So this is how a prince should handle his ministers, right? His employees, the, the,
00:54:41.360his advisors because naturally if you're handing these people power there will be an incentive for
00:54:47.420them to use it for themselves in modern like economics language game theory language we call
00:54:51.840this the principal agent problem right where you have the principal which is a person who actually
00:54:56.740owns the thing runs the thing and then you have an agent operating on their behalf and i write
00:55:01.980about this in the total state this is a huge problem with our current managerial regime
00:55:05.460because we have the principal and then we have the people actually running the organization the
00:55:09.980managers and the capitalists who started like a company has actually a different set of incentives
00:55:16.160than the managers inside it because they're not getting all the benefits that the capitalist is
00:55:21.860from running the company so they start looking to build their own power their own control
00:55:26.900that kind of thing and that makes them a bad manager because they're more interested in their
00:55:31.060own power their own aggrandizement the increase of their own money and as we've seen with many
00:55:35.200managerial organizations this ends up dooming the organization it eats itself from the inside
00:55:39.320because the very people who are supposed to be running it are actually acting as conquest law
00:55:43.780number three says as a cabal of its enemies because they are more interested in their own
00:55:48.820aggrandizement their own power their own money than actually completing the mission of the
00:55:53.620corporation or the organization Machiavelli says same thing here when it comes to kingdoms he's
00:56:00.380recognizing the principal agent problem hundreds and hundreds of years before anyone has thought
00:56:05.240up this economic theory to explain it. He's saying your ministers will naturally have an incentive
00:56:10.900once you hand them power to want to use it for themselves. Be wary of that. If you see them
00:56:15.880consistently doing that, you should be very worried they're not going to be a good minister.
00:56:19.720If they're always trying to accrue advantage to themselves, if they're always thinking about how
00:56:22.980they can maneuver or manipulate and gain more influence, that's not good. You want people who
00:56:28.140are primarily worried about doing their job and delivering results. You don't want people who
00:56:33.320playing court politics or trying to accrue power or glory or money themselves you want people who
00:56:38.260are putting their eye on the ball all the time who are putting their shoulder to the grindstone
00:56:43.260making sure that they benefit the organization and the and more importantly the prince that they
00:56:48.740work for the kingdom and the prince that they work for and he says the way to do this is to
00:56:53.940leave them no room to want for more so actually Machiavelli says be generous with these people
00:56:58.620give them money honor honor them enrich them show them kindnesses give them offices so he said he
00:57:07.080says treat your ministers well treat the people who you give power to well because this will allow
00:57:13.920you to ultimately trust them they won't look to go somewhere else they won't see a need to fight
00:57:21.100for their position because you're already making their lives the best they can be why fight for
00:57:26.280more power when the king makes sure that i'm wealthy and i'm honored he gives me praise he
00:57:31.120puts me in positions of power he uh elevates me in the in the in honor like why would i want to
00:57:37.400leave this guy why would i want to backstab this guy why would i need to work for my own benefit
00:57:41.620when this guy gives me everything i need in fact he says specifically he should be so rich and so
00:57:47.920honored that he uh he won't want more of either and have so many offices that he's afraid of regime
00:57:54.240change. So if your ministers are properly taken care of, they don't need more money. They don't
00:58:00.340need more honor. And very importantly, they have no interest in betraying you because their whole
00:58:05.100lifestyle, their rich, lavish lifestyle, their lifestyle of honor and privilege is based on you
00:58:10.580being in power. And this is something again, that Machiavelli says over and over and over again,
00:58:15.520it's about dependence. It's about dependence. You want the people who are working on you
00:58:21.100to be dependent on you. So that if you're gone, if they betray you, if the situation changes,
00:58:28.260they'll lose something. And that's so important. It's so important as a ruler to make sure that
00:58:35.600the people who are under you would lose something if you're gone. Now, many times that means
00:58:40.540being a good ruler, honoring people, doing good things, because then they'll miss you if you were
00:58:46.160gone. But no matter what, you want to make it clear that your absence would hurt people, right?
00:58:53.120And this is what most rulers do when they want to maximize their power. Now, there are good and
00:59:00.160bad versions of this. There are more destructive versions of this. You could look at something
00:59:04.100like Leninism. And Leninism, they're taking like the dregs of society, the bottom of society.
00:59:10.160You might have heard bio-Leninism, which is kind of the NRX explanation of this, but they're taking the people who are those that have the least in society and elevating them into positions they would otherwise never hold, would never have a chance to hold.
00:59:25.220And those people are so deeply, deeply dependent on the party, the communist party to stay in power, that they will fight to the death.
00:59:34.360They will have total loyalty because they know in no other situation would natural hierarchy shake out so that they get that benefit.
00:59:42.560So they are entirely loyal to the party.
00:59:44.820Now, that is a system that is leaned so hard into this that it's almost that it's well, not almost.
00:59:50.360It is destructive because you're putting the worst people in the world in charge.
00:59:54.500and ultimately that does have a problem Machiavelli wouldn't say that he says you still need to put
00:59:59.480powerful thoughtful valuable people in charge however once you do make them dependent on you
01:00:05.160make them entirely dependent on you make them so thankful that you are the king and you are giving
01:00:10.820them these positions of honor and you are making them rich and you are giving the prestige that
01:00:15.960they would never think of betraying you and they would never even think of looking for more power
01:00:19.880more wealth because they already have more than they could have ever imagined so once again you
01:00:24.200see this moment where Machiavelli yes it's about your own power right like do things that help you
01:00:29.240gain power but oftentimes the thing that helps you gain power is treating people well and in fact
01:00:35.120being so generous being such a benefactor to these people that they would never want you gone
01:00:40.380right like that's the key so always make it known that you are a force that is necessary whether
01:00:47.420it's because you are great and generous and or because you are terror terrifying the point is
01:00:54.120always make it clear that the people the ministers everyone is better with you in charge
01:01:00.380that your rule is beneficial to everyone and that they need you in power because if they need you
01:01:06.700they'll be loyal but when they don't need you that's when they walk away it's better to be
01:01:13.220feared than love right you want people to know that if they turn against you if something happens
01:01:19.940where they betray you when if you're gone their lives will get worse right like that that's
01:01:25.240something you want people to understand all right guys well we're gonna go ahead and wrap this up
01:01:32.300today i don't think i see any questions right away so we'll go ahead and wrap this one up thank you
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01:02:15.020Thank you everybody for watching. And as always, I will talk to you next time.