i feel that the worse part about all of this is that his followers are so thoroughly propagandized that they'll support him in this endeavors no matter what and his opposition is also so similarly propagandized that they'll likewise blindly support anyone else who will seek the same goals, but get to pat themselves on the back due to the plausible deniability afforded by the significantly more subtle tactics employed in service to those goals.

it sucks knowing that there's nothing you can do but watch and wait while ahab and the whale do their damnedest to defeat each other and hope that the boat is still floating once they're done and; even then; the other surviving sailors will still blindly take orders from whomever is the victor.