2min chapter

The Jordan Harbinger Show cover image

795: Alastair Smith | The Dictator's Handbook Part Two

The Jordan Harbinger Show

CHAPTER

You Don't Want Incompetent Loyal Supporters

There's this concept in the book that it's better to have incompetent loyal supporters than it is to have educated competent people near you who might challenge your power. And I thought this was a really insightful and interesting, but also so obviously destructive, right? Because you got Saddam Hussein, for example, purges all the educated, accomplished people that he can find, basically, and then promotes this guy, Chemical Ali,. He wasn't exactly the sharpest guy we saw him on TV a lot. But again, you're making this fallacy that we probably make in the West all the time, that you're trying to do the right thing. You want trusted advisors that could never reach the top

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