The Cult of the Bully⁠↗

if we want to live in good societies⁠—where most games are positive-sum and decency is the norm⁠—there is no substitute for having a sufficient number of people who are actually good, or struggling to be so.

In different ways, Trump and Musk prove that it is okay to be terribly flawed⁠—and to aspire to no ethical standards whatsoever⁠—because you can always be washed clean by the attention of others. In this way, each man has become a kind of savior for people who don’t want to be judged. It is a mutual absolution and intoxication.