Often political leaders at the top need to maintain some diplomatic composure and have the privilege to leave their dirty fights to subordinates. As a result we often don’t realize how much of an asshole these leaders actually are. A good test is to check what they allow (or encourage) their lower ranked allies to get away with.
I would say these are straightforward examples of the idea: they are both not assholes at all, because they did not protect/shield others being assholes. To the contrary: they (to some extent) actively worked to get/keep assholes out of their network of power.
Someone like Modi, in contrast, can easily be mistaken for a rather mild, kind old grandfather figure. But some of the people that operate under his protection are insane, fascist assholes.
Understood. I thought you were saying they were implicitly assholes.
My thing is always, the asshole is the idiot who continues to elect the officials. In democracies, the power truly lies in the hands of the people. Yes, it’s disheartening when politicians engage in dishonest and fraudulent practices, but the responsibility of holding them accountable largely falls on the voters. Outside of autocratic systems, if a leader fails to uphold their duties or engages in harmful practices, it’s up to the electorate to use their voting power to initiate change.
Almost as if the politicians are a reflection of their electorate. This reflection is disconcerting, especially when considering the current state of U.S. politics in particular.