The Asshole, the Autocrat, and the Antidote: A Manifesto for a World in Crisis

11 minutes read time.

The Whisper of Concern – From Absence to Analysis

It began, as so many modern political crises do, with a whisper of speculation in an information vacuum. The President of the United States, a man who thrives on the oxygen of constant media attention, had not been seen in public for several days. In the hyper-partisan ecosystem of social media, the absence was immediately filled with the most extreme theories: a debilitating stroke, a secret medical procedure, a cognitive collapse. The concern, however, was not entirely baseless. The ghosts of past presidencies, of Woodrow Wilson’s incapacitating stroke hidden from the world by his wife and Ronald Reagan’s slow cognitive decline shielded by a fiercely protective inner circle, haunt the modern White House. The public’s right to know about the health of its commander-in-chief is a fundamental and reasonable expectation.

Yet, a powerful counter-narrative quickly emerged, one grounded not in constitutional theory, but in the unique and well-documented psychology of the man himself. His Truth Social account, the direct and unfiltered pipeline to his ego, remained relentlessly active, spewing out a characteristic stream of reactive anger, particularly after an appeals court struck down his tariffs. The Felonious Punk is a notorious control freak, a man who, as long as he is conscious, is unlikely to cede control of his own messaging to anyone. In a bizarre twist of 21st-century politics, the continued, angry hum of his social media account served as the most credible “proof of life.” A more mundane explanation for his absence then presented itself, one rooted not in a failing body, but in a fragile ego: a noticeable bruise on his hand, poorly concealed by makeup, was likely the true culprit. It is perfectly in character for a man so driven by vanity to retreat from the cameras to avoid the mockery of a cosmetic imperfection.

This pivot from a grave constitutional concern to a pathetic matter of vanity led to a far more profound and useful line of inquiry, a theory of psychosomatic health that may explain not his fragility, but his incredible durability. The “asshole longevity theory,” as we termed it, posits that certain personality types live longer precisely because they don’t keep anything inside. The medical literature is unequivocal about the devastating physiological effects of chronic, internalized stress—the cortisol, the inflammation, the weakened immune system. But the asshole has a perverse but highly effective survival mechanism: he externalizes stress. The anger, the anxiety, the shame that would be a corrosive internal poison for a more empathetic person is, for him, simply projected outward onto the world. He creates stress for others, rather than absorbing it himself. He goes to bed and sleeps soundly, not because he has solved his problems, but because he has successfully made them someone else’s. To understand this presidency, then, we must move beyond a simple analysis of policy and delve into a deeper, more philosophical understanding of the specific moral personality type that now occupies the Oval Office.

A Theory of the Über-Asshole – Deconstructing the Pathology

In a brilliant essay for The Philosopher’s Magazine, the philosopher Aaron James provides a rigorous, objective definition of this moral personality. “The asshole,” he writes, “is the guy who systematically allows himself special advantages in cooperative life out of an entrenched sense of entitlement that immunises him against the complaints of other people.” This is the perfect philosophical architecture for the longevity theory. The “entrenched sense of entitlement” is the armor that justifies his actions to himself. His immunity to the complaints of others is the mechanism that externalizes the stress. The anger and pain of others are not registered as valid feedback; they are simply the irrational noise of lesser beings who fail to recognize his special status.

A review of James’s work by Mathew Meyer introduces a crucial nuance, distinguishing between the Pure Asshole, who genuinely doesn’t care what anyone thinks, and the Ass-Clown, who “seeks an audience’s attention and enjoyment while being slow to understand how it views him.” The Felonious Punk is a bizarre and potent hybrid of both. He is a Pure Asshole to anyone outside his in-group, systematically granting himself advantages and immunizing himself from the criticism of his opponents, the media, and the established norms of society. But at the same time, he is the ultimate Ass-Clown, possessing a bottomless, pathological need for the adulation of his audience. The rallies, the social media posts, the constant demand for praise—it’s all a performance for an electorate he has cast in the role of a lover whose affection he must constantly win. This creates his one critical vulnerability: while he is immune to the stress of outside criticism, he is pathologically dependent on the stress of maintaining his audience’s approval.

This hybrid, the Über-Asshole, is not just a personal failing; it is a political strategy. As Meyer notes, his supporters see him as an “über-asshole capable of managing all the other assholes.” In a world they perceive as being run by corrupt, entitled elites, his behavior is not a flaw; it is a weapon. He is their asshole, sent to do battle with the other side’s. When he sits across from Putin or Xi, he is not a president representing a nation; he is an individual alpha engaged in a personal contest of wills. A “win” for him—a photo-op, a vague agreement, the perception of dominance—can be a catastrophic loss for America and its allies, but that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that his audience sees him as the victor, the king of the world.

The Lex Luthor Plan – A Multi-Front War on Reality

To achieve this perpetual state of personal victory, the über-asshole cannot operate within the established, rules-based order. His pathology demands that he break it. His strategy, as we discussed, is not that of a traditional political opponent, but of a comic book supervillain. It is a “Lex Luthor-style plan,” a campaign of asymmetrical, multi-front chaos designed to overwhelm and paralyze the entire “DC Justice League” of established democratic institutions.

While the opposition is focused on the immediate, linear crisis of a government funding battle, the über-asshole is simultaneously waging war on multiple, seemingly unrelated fronts. He fires at the Democrats in the morning by threatening to end mail-in voting. He fires at NATO in the afternoon by cozying up to Putin. He fires at the global economy in the evening by imposing chaotic new tariffs. Each of these actions is designed to provoke a response, to force the opposition to expend resources, time, and political capital. The “firehose” methodology ensures that the opposition is always in a state of reactive crisis management, perpetually one step behind, putting out the last fire while he is busy setting three new ones. The chaos is not a bug; it is the entire point.

The most potent weapon in this multi-front war is the deliberate and systematic assault on the nature of truth itself. As the philosopher John Corvino has argued, the phrase “That’s just your opinion” is not an intellectual argument but a “conversation-stopper,” designed to reduce a well-supported fact to a mere matter of taste. The über-asshole has weaponized this tactic on a global scale. He relentlessly blurs the line between fact and opinion, demanding that everyone agree with his definition. When confronted with an inconvenient fact—election results, scientific data, intelligence assessments—he dismisses it as the “opinion” of his enemies. Conversely, he presents his own baseless assertions and feelings as incontrovertible facts. He is attempting a hostile takeover of reality itself, creating a world where the only arbiter of truth is his own sense of entitlement.

This is not random, impulsive behavior. It is a well-thought-out plan, the blueprint for which is laid out in documents like Project 2025. It is a plan to decimate both democracy and any competing authoritarian systems, to create a new world order where the only poles of power are a handful of strongmen who can carve up the world’s resources among themselves, unconstrained by democratic accountability. It is the über-asshole’s pathology, scaled up to a global strategic doctrine.

The Kryptonite – Deconstructing the Illusion of Invincibility

Faced with this relentless, multi-front assault, it is easy to despair, to see the über-asshole as an unstoppable force. The Atlantic writer Tom Nichols found the perfect cultural metaphor for this feeling: Homelander, the evil, narcissistic superman from the television series The Boys. Like the fictional villain, the Felonious Punk is an immature, rage-filled egotist who demands adoration and seems to believe he can “do whatever I want.” His followers, much like the fictional character’s, often embrace the satire, seeing only the strength and not the monstrous critique. They are not missing the point; they are celebrating the very pathology that defines him.

But this is where the parallel must be deliberately and forcefully broken. The Felonious Punk is not a superhero. He does not have laser eyes. He is a mortal man, and he has a kryptonite. That kryptonite is the very architecture of the American system he is trying to dismantle: the Constitution, the courts, and, ultimately, the voters. As Nichols argues, authoritarians build their power by creating an aura of strength and inevitability. The antidote is to relentlessly and publicly reject that aura. This requires speaking plain truth every time he makes a bonkers claim, using ridicule and satire to pierce his nanometer-thin skin, and, most importantly, a focused, unwavering commitment to the ballot box.

The failure of the Democratic opposition, as we have discussed, has been their reluctance to fully embrace this confrontational reality. They have been bringing sternly worded letters to a street fight, allowing the über-asshole to set the terms of every engagement. They have been afraid to be seen as disruptive, to shut down the government to force a confrontation, to demand, in the colloquial term of the day, “Show us the receipts.” They have failed to diagnose their opponent, and so they have failed to fight him effectively.

The Superpower – A Passionate Call to Global Action

The rational mechanics of resistance—the courts, the vote—are the necessary tools, but they are not sufficient. They are the body of the resistance, but they are missing a soul. The true antidote, the real superpower that can defeat the über-asshole, is the one force his cynical, transactional worldview cannot comprehend: passion. A purely intellectual resistance burns out. It becomes tired and cynical. Passion is the renewable energy source for a democratic movement—a passion for truth, a passion for justice, a passion for protecting the rights of every human being.

This is the only response that matches the scale of the threat. The über-asshole is waging a global war; the response must be a global coalition. This is a call for a “NATO for Democracy,” an alliance of leaders and citizens bound not by a military treaty, but by a shared, passionate commitment to democratic values. It is the only way to counter the “firehose” of chaos. When the über-asshole fires at the American system, the German Chancellor must be there to immediately challenge him. When he fires at an ally, the Prime Minister of the UK must be there to push back. When he fires at the truth itself, the entire world must respond in a unified chorus. It is the creation of a “wall of mass humanity that DEMANDS reason.”

This is not a new idea. It is the echo of the great moral movements of history. This past week marked the anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. What is missing from our current political discourse is that soaring, unapologetic, and deeply passionate demand for justice and human dignity. For too long, the opposition has ceded the language of passion to the forces of rage and grievance. Reclaiming that language is how you build a movement that is not just against something, but is powerfully and passionately for something. It is how you remind people—red, and yellow, black, and white—that the principles of freedom, dignity, and the rejection of tyrants are not partisan talking points; they are the very soul of the democratic experiment. This brings our entire, multi-day conversation to its final, powerful conclusion. It all comes down to the human equation: e + a = c. Passion is the Energy (e). Without it, our agency is a cold and powerless machine. With it, we have the force necessary to create real, lasting, and meaningful change. Without passion, we are, indeed, screwed.

This essay is a synthesis of a multi-day philosophical conversation that drew upon the following external sources for inspiration and context:

• “The Meaning of ‘Asshole'” by Aaron James, The Philosopher’s Magazine
• “A Philosophical Smackdown” by Mathew Meyer, The Philosopher’s Magazine
• “That’s Just Your Opinion” by John Corvino, The Philosopher’s Magazine
• “The Hill,” August 24, 2025, on the Democratic funding debate
• “The Atlantic,” August 25, 2025, on the Homelander parallel