Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 7: 14 "Without using local guides, you cannot exploit the lie of the land."

A core principle of our project is this: when Master Sun Repeats himself, we listen again. With each of his ideas that he deems worth a second, a third, or of more looks, we look and learn, ever more deeply. Well guess what! These verses are repeated in Chapter 11, word for word.

#SunTzu 11: 63 - 65 is a precise, word for word repetition of #SunTzu 7: 12 - 14. I haven't checked my other translators on this point. Sometimes different original texts offer various choices to the translator. Minford points out this repetition himself, in his hardback version.

You must allow me a fantasy. I fantasize that I didn't have a day job, other than just studying Master Sun. If that were the case, I know what my workload today would be. I'd go back over this chapter so far, carefully, reestablishing the full context in verses 1 - 11. Then...

Next, I'd read the rest of chapter 7 through to verse 45, attempting to keep these three verses in mind as I did. One verse affects the way you read another. Context matters. And if these three verses are repeated in chapter 11, they must be massively important.

That's the part I know I can achieve in a day, maybe even just a morning. The next part I know in advance I'd fail at. Filled with confidence (and needing a second pot of coffee) I'd start attacking chapter 11, you know, merely its first 63 verses. My mind would get broken. When?

Knowing myself well, by now, I just looked. There's just no way I'd be able to get past 11: 20. Go look for yourself. There's so much there that you cannot think you understand it today. Alas. Studies are infinite. We never finish. You will certainly hear more about all this.

Okay, getting back to where we actually are right now, a quick glance at the first verses of this chapter tells us we're working on the fray, actual combat, and Master Sun is warning us away from illusory gain, easy advantage that tricks us into defeat. Check verses 1 - 10.

We then move into failure analyses, of which today's verse is the last. You led your soldiers there. You didn't speak to anyone. You followed your ego, thinking you didn't need any help. Lacking local guidance, you got lost, and then you lost the battle. You're an idiot. Shame.

Forget chapter 11, cut to chapter 13, on spying and the use of spies. A local guide is just another type of spy. Master Sun gives 1/13th of his book over to spying. You can't win without spies. He doesn't care how good you are tactically on the battlefield. No spies, no winning.

Focus now on the term "local guides" and contemplate guidance itself. You want to win battles? You damn well better get guides, be guided, seek guidance. There is a name for the virtue required: humility. You do NOT know the local lie of the land. Others do. Find them. Be guided.

Dig into this, pragmatically. No one knows, already, born to it, how to lead. It must be learned. You'll need teachers. You'll need introductions. You'll need others' perspectives on your team, on its mission, on the opposition, on your method to win, etcetera.

Are you one of my 100,000 small, high-performance MAGA team leaders? If so, who are your local guides, showing you the lie of the land? What battles can be won? Must be avoided? Where do you get your edge, your leverage, you winning capability? Can you network?

Master Sun spoke to me today, and commanded me, share who you really are Pasquale. I obey. I am one of the greatest networkers in the world. It was through my networking capability that I became an advisor to the Trump team in 2016, 100% from the outside, as a volunteer.

Who were my local guides? There are three I must mention. @TamaraLeigh_llc, @JoshuaMacias and @Al_Baldasaro. My brother Al - obviously a fellow Italian - is the star of today's story. Al was the volunteer leader of all veterans initiatives for the 2016 Trump campaign.

In the summer of 2016 I was volunteering analysis for a doomed candidate in Wisconsin, running for a House seat. Al also supported the same candidate, you know, we had foolish hope. That was how I met Al. In turn, having read my analyses, Al knew the lie of the land.

Al gave me the email addresses for three of the key members of the Trump inner circle. Sam Clovis, Curt Schilling and @GenFlynn. Part of my process was to always place my phone number at the bottom of every analysis. I will never forget the day I got that call.

"Hello," he said, "is this is General Mike Flynn calling. I'd like to speak with you about your analysis." Knock me over with a feather and find a hoist to lift me up again. I had never dreamed I'd actually speak to so great a man. And, if it weren't for Al, I wouldn't have.

Another time I'll give you the entire story about the work Al and I, and his wonderful wife @JudyBaldasaro did, and the role @TonyBronco played, as well as @KateScopelliti too. We were a team. But like I said, Al is today's hero, and he recently defeated cancer. He's incredible.

What is a guide? Just a friend who knows the lie of the land. There are friends everywhere, if you learn how to look. I know how to look. I know how to admit what I don't know, who I don't know, how lost I may at any time be. People love to help. That's networking.

Think of networking as a gentle chain, often broken, easy to repair. Here's an example: "Hi, my name is Pat, my friend Jack mentioned your name to me, and said you might be interested in... (fill in the blank with whatever you're working on). Is that true?"

"Awesome! Let me ask before I get started, is this a good or a bad time for you to speak to someone you don't know yet? No? Okay, can we maybe speak later today, or might you have some time tomorrow morning. Done, I'll call you at 4:00 this afternoon. Looking forward to it!"

Yeah, I know, that's some smooth stuff there. And yes, everyone instantly knows I am a professional, not just some guy trying to figure out how to talk. Yet, I promise, anyone can use the language above. Hell, you could read it as a script until you made it part of yourself.

The key is, as Master Sun has commanded us, find local guides if you wish to win. Without them, you cannot know the lie of the land. So, do whatever it takes. Go get you some local guides, build some friendships, follow their instructions, and get about your challenge! Go. Now!

168 verses completed, 254 to go.

To return to previous sections in our #WarForAmerica2020 and #SunTzuForMAGA series, don't forget to head over to @WarForAmerica21. You'll find the digital table of contents for this series, there. Please retweet each entry you enjoy.