Hmm…Maybe it’s that trick they tried with Chávez that failed spectacularly, the first time he was elected. The Western press will try to sweet talk you into joining their club, a wink and a nudge, talk well about you to try and buy you. They will invite you to fancy dinners and conferences, they will smile at you and try to smooth you into accepting that this is the way things are, we run the show, and you can make bank if you just play along. At the same time, some more mainstream opposition to you, will continue to bash you, to attack you, trying to dig up dirt on you, to deface your character, to lower your standing.

The right plays both sides in a baseball game. They bat with bases loaded, but they also pitch. You know how ‘‘non-falsifiable orthodoxy’’ works, where they can turn any data against you, right? That’s one aspect of it, but the other is more important. The point is to manage the narrative. How would I do that if I wanted ‘‘full spectrum dominance’’ of the narrative? Easy. I will extend some laurels to you, while at the same time talk shit about you. That way, whether you cede to me or not, I ‘‘win’’, because I was ‘‘right’’ about you being part of the team, and I was also ‘‘right’’ about you not playing along. That way the narrative is maintained.

I would venture a guess that this is the game they’re playing.