1. Leaders often outmaneuvered by their own consiglieres
Advisors often rise to power by demonstrating their uncommon loyalty to the boss—but over time, the tables are turned as the leader becomes increasingly reliant on those subordinates, and those consiglieres become the real power behind the throne.
Many leaders have fallen victim to this mythic palace intrigue. Grigori Rasputin, the infamous Russian mystic, expertly ingratiated himself with Tsar Nicholas through his extraordinary devotion, treating the tsar’s sick son and spending hours befriending the entire family, before consolidating political power in his own hands for his own interests, pressuring courtiers for bribes and sexual favors. His unpopularity led to his own assassination and played into the downfall of Tsar Nicholas II.
The wealthy GOP businessman Marc Hanna was often portrayed in cartoons as the master puppeteer behind the rise and short career of President William McKinley. Colonel Edward House was widely seen as President Woodrow Wilson's forceful backstage coach until Wilson realized that House was undermining him in the 1919 Versailles peace negotiations.
This archetype of the evil, power-craving advisor who outmaneuvers their boss manifests in Shakespeare's searing portrait of Iago, the villainous lieutenant to Othello who leads him to doom.
Similarly, in the Bible, Haman the Agagite rose to become a trusted minister in the court of Persian King Ahasuerus through his fawning obsequiousness, while abusing the king's trust to demand personal subservience from those around him. When a Jewish man, who was the uncle of the king's Jewish wife Esther, refused to bow down to Haman, he convinced the king to issue a decree that all Jews be exterminated. Esther ensured, though, that it was Haman who ended up at the end of a rope.
In the present day, Musk is going out of his way to demonstrate exaggerated fealty to Trump, posting on X "I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man"—but if history is any guide, the tables could turn just as easily and the subordinate could become the puppeteer.
https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/does-the-rasputin-curse-live-again
nina from canada eh /
npub1mt…rzzf6
2025-05-20 03:16:46
Author Public Key
npub1mtwh8q9uk209ymra2aegzmz3qhc5sz7c65aavfavr3w5tja2k4uqfrzzf6Published at
2025-05-20 03:16:46Event JSON
{
"id": "4c531e6f9c766c2335fbf9009fd93a2519ee92394011871078b9d559bbdacb44",
"pubkey": "dadd7380bcb29e526c7d5772816c5105f1480bd8d53bd627ac1c5d45cbaab578",
"created_at": 1747711006,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"proxy",
"https://spinster.xyz/objects/08a650e6-1f0b-483f-9441-ce2aafc050fe",
"activitypub"
],
[
"client",
"Mostr",
"31990:6be38f8c63df7dbf84db7ec4a6e6fbbd8d19dca3b980efad18585c46f04b26f9:mostr",
"wss://relay.mostr.pub"
]
],
"content": "1. Leaders often outmaneuvered by their own consiglieres\n\nAdvisors often rise to power by demonstrating their uncommon loyalty to the boss—but over time, the tables are turned as the leader becomes increasingly reliant on those subordinates, and those consiglieres become the real power behind the throne.\n\nMany leaders have fallen victim to this mythic palace intrigue. Grigori Rasputin, the infamous Russian mystic, expertly ingratiated himself with Tsar Nicholas through his extraordinary devotion, treating the tsar’s sick son and spending hours befriending the entire family, before consolidating political power in his own hands for his own interests, pressuring courtiers for bribes and sexual favors. His unpopularity led to his own assassination and played into the downfall of Tsar Nicholas II.\n\nThe wealthy GOP businessman Marc Hanna was often portrayed in cartoons as the master puppeteer behind the rise and short career of President William McKinley. Colonel Edward House was widely seen as President Woodrow Wilson's forceful backstage coach until Wilson realized that House was undermining him in the 1919 Versailles peace negotiations.\n\nThis archetype of the evil, power-craving advisor who outmaneuvers their boss manifests in Shakespeare's searing portrait of Iago, the villainous lieutenant to Othello who leads him to doom.\n\nSimilarly, in the Bible, Haman the Agagite rose to become a trusted minister in the court of Persian King Ahasuerus through his fawning obsequiousness, while abusing the king's trust to demand personal subservience from those around him. When a Jewish man, who was the uncle of the king's Jewish wife Esther, refused to bow down to Haman, he convinced the king to issue a decree that all Jews be exterminated. Esther ensured, though, that it was Haman who ended up at the end of a rope.\n\nIn the present day, Musk is going out of his way to demonstrate exaggerated fealty to Trump, posting on X \"I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man\"—but if history is any guide, the tables could turn just as easily and the subordinate could become the puppeteer.\n\nhttps://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/does-the-rasputin-curse-live-again",
"sig": "dd977c777c8ecf6630a27f573676063b049f374859f2077d89757d516668091b52124430184f6b0a0b0fdb766323c0a681840b59f8feeaa5cb6b8d3fc1d2ffbf"
}