Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 4:17-19 "17 - His victories are flawless; 18 - His victory is flawless because it is inevitable; 19 - he vanquishes an already defeated enemy."

Today's focus is on #SunTzu 4:18

I have a very favorite castle. It is Arundel on the southern coast of England. It isn't quite 1,000 years old, yet, but it soon will be. During that time, it was almost never under attack. It is too well built and located and fortified. It is a very safe place to be.

During its almost millennium, it has been besieged by serious attackers, and changed hands of rule only 3 times, and in each case, not one person on the inside of the castle died. Surrender was negotiated to include lives, and was honorably accepted, no deaths. Safety defined.

I believe it was the third time that there was no fighting, at all. Knowing how difficult it was to defeat, the 3rd general discerned he could divert the water supply. The prince inside instantly realized he had to surrender and commenced negotiation. Inevitable defined.

It was only after the battle of Agincourt that its outcome could be understood to be inevitable. If you do some research, you will NOT come up with reliable numbers. Let's just say lots and lots and lots of French warriors died or were captured. Very, very few British died.

There's no question that the British Long Bow Yeomen gave them such an extraordinary advantage that the outnumbering French never had a chance. So also, in WWII when Japan faced China, the USSR and us, the US. We couldn't know at the time, but the outcome was inevitable.

What's the key to having a flawless victory that is inevitable? We've discussed it before, it's @GenFlynn's Doctrine of Credibility. When the enemy knows he has no chance of victory, why suffer any losses staving off the inevitable? Why not surrender without fighting?

I'm not sure if it might be in Von Clausewitz, or Von Moltke, or where, but I believe that the principle that all war is psychological is both well established and indisputable. You fight a war to persuade the enemy that the enemy cannot win. Persuasion is a psychological thing.

It's the same defensively as well. Sitting behind your high walls, with a year's supply of food and water in your well garrisoned fortress, you often enjoy flawless victories dissuading anyone to be so foolish as to attack. Outcome inevitable, you are safe.

Reagan did precisely that to Mondale. If you were watching, you knew the moment Reagan refused to allow his opponent's youth and inexperience to be an issue in this campaign, that Reagan was now invulnerable. He cracked even Mondale up, and Mondale knew. You could see it.

I'm happy to remind you that at the time, I was a Mondale supporter and hated Reagan. But I cracked up, too, and that was the first crack in my hatred of Reagan. It was just cool, you had to give that to him. Perfect delivery, timing, and tone, and an obviously certain outcome.

In the greatest bout in American Presidential history, the favored contender, HRC, had such advantage over DJT that there's no way to call his victory either inevitable or flawless. But, his complete rout over all his Republican Primary contenders demonstrated such, perfectly.

Well, perhaps not quite flawless as he did not rebuild the careers of most of the contenders he took down, but inevitable? Oh yeah. I often repeat the story of how I gasped when he told Low Energy Jeb! that his brother had NOT kept America safe. The towers came down on his watch.

It was only in that moment that I was able to imagine Trump, there in his safe-hold 67 stories high in the air, imaging an enemy captured plane crashing into his own high tower in the heavens. His safety could never be the same again, after that.

In that moment, he took the word "dynasty" and diminished it forever for the Bushes. HW left Saddam in power, W allowed Manhattan's devastation. The family lost all its shine and reputation for good luck, for credibility.

Not a flawless victory, but inevitable from that moment.

I once enjoyed a similar victory in my own local world. It was my first endeavor in political activism, although I didn't realize that's what I was doing. I was at war with a school superintendent, 1 of 19 in our local super-district, over a classroom for Autistic children.

To approve our requested budget, the vote had to be unanimous. We had 18 votes, but he fiercely and scornfully opposed us. He attacked us as being greedy for our children and using the system to give them unfair advantages. And he had a very shiny bald pate.

I was the leader, and the spokesperson for a total of 12 families and we'd been through a grueling process of putting our proposal together, in what ended up an extraordinarily successful teacher/parent joint initiative. I stood to respond, and explained what our lives were like.

I explained how none of us wanted our children to be Autistic, or to suffer through...extensive list...etc. Then, I explained we didn't want our children in a special classroom, either, another extensive list, upon which I concluded my comments with, I brag, a perfect attack.

I shared that we didn't want classrooms for our children, separate and expensive, any more than we wanted classrooms special for teachers who were bald. No one wants these things, they're just necessary. It took a moment, but I knew what would happen, and it did.

The first person to start laughing was the chief superintendent for the entire super-district. He didn't guffaw, he just started laughing easily. You could literally see the ripple of superintendents try to not laugh but fail. There was some literal knee slapping. No kidding.

And that's when the magic moment struck. In a lifetime of verbal battle, I never had such evil joy. My enemy's shiny bald crown was the last part of his head to redden deeply. I watched his blush rise up from his neck. I watched as he gathered his papers. I watched as he left.

I watched as he shot daggers from his eyes at his one dependent ally at the table, who, attempting to suppress his snickers, rose and left too. But I also accepted his ally's nod in honor with more joy than I'd felt in battle before.

I will always remember the vote count 17 - 0.

We were just 12 families. They were the most powerful group in our portion of the San Joaquin Valley. They controlled almost unimaginable millions of dollars of budget. Our victory was not flawless as one man's reputation was forever diminished. But it was inevitable.

I brag even further that I had only been studying Master Sun's counsel for 8 years at the time. And yet further, I'm kind of a natural at it. Yet, I hope I may inspire you. Please know that these battles CAN BE WON!

If you release yourself into the study, the battles will come to you, as will the victories.

At least inevitable ones, if not always flawless.

To return to previous sections in our #WarForAmerica2020 and #SunTzuForMAGA series, don't forget to head over to @WarForAmerica21.

78 verses completed, 344 to go. And also, be sure to purchase John Minford's translation, here:

amazon.com/Art-War-Pengui…