Why America Needs the Iranian Threat to Survive – Prof. Jiang Xueqin

All right. So let me conclude now by talking about these great figures that have emerged in human history and compare them. Okay. So as I mentioned at the beginning of the class without Rose Pier Napoleon would not have been possible. Right? So this chart shows us how you compare Rose Pier and Napoleon. Rose Pier obtained his power through virtue and dedication. He worked 18 hours a day. He was completely dedicated to the revolution. He had no girlfriend. He had no money. He was not being paid for his work. All he was doing was to ensure the revolution would succeed and because of of his dedication and virtue the revolution was was saved and they succeeded. Okay. So Wilpier the French revolution would not have been possible. He was a prophet of reason. He believed that everyone had the capacity to reason. So if you present the logical argument people would understand it. Okay. And that was both the source of his virtue but it was also the source of his downfall because he he could not imagine that his friends would conspire against him because they wanted to protect their own self-interest. Okay. And the third thing about Rose Pierre that's important is he saved the French revolution. Now let's compare him with Napoleon. Okay. Who's complete opposite Napoleon got to where he was because of political maneuvering. He was able to identify political patrons early in his career and he did whatever they asked of him and then together they launched a coup d'eta against the French republic and after ketas coupetas succeeded he betrayed his polo allies he amassed power for himself that's how he became emperor okay so Napoleon he's a great politician we think of him we think of him as a general but he's really a politician the thing about Napoleon that made him so successful is his mythmaking genius he understood that people are looking for myths and he knew how to present himself as a mythic figure like the messiah. Okay. And as a result, he destroyed the French Republic. Now, what's interesting is that if you look at human history, figures like Napoleon appear always at the end of a republic. Okay? So, the French so Napoleon killed the French Republic, but they have Julius Caesar who is of the same personality. Okay? Julius Caesar was able to identify political patrons very early on and outmaneuver them as they amass power. Julius Caesar was focused on creating a myth of himself as this unbeatable general and as a result he destroyed the Roman Republic. Later on we will study Hitler. Guess what guys? Hitler Hitler follows the same pattern. All right, Hitler was able to amass power because he outmaneuvered his local patrons and allies. We will we will study this. Okay, remember the Nazis came did not come out of nowhere. The Nazis were a force incubated by the German army in order to destroy the communist movement. And Hitler took advantage of this. Hitler got to where he was because he could have admit himself as a savior of the German people, right? And then he destroyed the Roman Republic. Why is this important? Because it's entirely possible we are living at another inflection point in history where the American Republic may be destroyed. Trump. Okay, how did Trump get get to where he is? Poker maneuvering. Why? Why? Why is he president? Because he has a mythmaking genius. Okay, that's really important to understand about Trump. Everyone's like, Trump is a terrible business person. He's lost a lot of money. Trump doesn't understand terrorists. He doesn't understand economy. He doesn't care. He he he understands mythology, okay? He understands how to capture people's attention. He knows how to instill an image of himself as a messiah in people's minds. That's what he cares about, right? He doesn't need to succeed. He needs to he needs to act and then he needs to present himself in a way that captures people's imagination. What does Trump spend all his time on? He spends all his time talking to the press. That's his job. Okay? Do you understand? His job is not to think about economics or military matters. His job is to talk to the press and create an image of himself as a messiah to the American people. Okay. So the question then is okay well listen if we see this pattern Napoleon Caesar Hitler are the same person the results are the same and Trump is similar to Napoleon Caesar and Hitler what's going to happen I don't know but okay and this is really important if in fact in the next 10 years and it will probably take 10 years if Trump actually destroys the American republic okay then a pattern emerges in history all right and if this pattern is consistent now we're able to control history because we're able to foresee and predict history. So that's the idea. Okay, that's that's it. Any questions? Was this clear to you guys? Okay, that's a great question. Okay, why did Napoleon succeed where Rose Pier failed? Okay. Okay. I I So the difference is this. If I'm Rose Pier, I believe everyone is capable of reason, right? Therefore, you have a responsibility to reason for yourself. You understand? I will give you ideas, but you must come to your own conclusions. You must act independently of me. Okay? And Napoleon is like, "No, no, no. People don't want to think. People want to believe. People want to obey. If I present myself as Messiah and I tell people follow me and I will lead you to paradise, people will want to follow me. Okay? And and and people love this confidence, right? This charisma, this confidence of Napoleon. Think of Trump, right? Maybe you and I think Trump's an idiot. But if you're a normal person, you believe that Trump, he is a genius because he's so confident, right? People are attracted to confidence. Does that make sense? People aren't attracted to logic or reason. They're attracted to confidence and charisma. Trump tells everyone, "Follow me and the world will be fine. We will make America great again." And you know, you're like, "Well, that doesn't make any sense." Doesn't matter. Okay? He's trying to he's what Trump has done is create a mythology that has captured people's imagination and as such, people are willing to die for this. Does that make sense? That's what made Napoleon such a great military leader because he had this confidence and people just have to follow him. Okay? Does that make sense? Okay. Mythmaking. Okay. Myth mythmaking is all right. There's reality. Okay. Why is Trump a mythmaking genius? Okay. There's reality, right? Right? This these are things that you and I see every day. And then there's myths. These are ideas that we have about how society works, okay? About how the world works. Now, objectively speaking, Trump is a failed business person. His father was a great business person, Fred Trump, who built a real estate empire. And then Trump came along and took this empire over and he almost bankrupted this empire. Okay? And so Fred Trump was spending a lot a lot of his time thinking about how to make money, like how do I make a great business? How do I hire good people? How do I motivate them? How do I steal more money from the government? Okay, so he was focused on the very specifics of running a business. Trump is like, "No, people don't want that. People wanted to see a successful billionaire, okay? And what's a successful billionaire? He sleeps with beautiful woman, right? I'm going to find beautiful woman and I'm going to sleep with them." And the press is going to report it. And then people were like, "Oh my god, this guy is a god." Because all these beautiful woman want to sleep with him. Therefore, I should give him my money to spend to invest because he's a genius. Okay? What what people want is mythology of success. Okay, that doesn't make sense. So, what made Trump actually really famous is is a show called The Apprentice. The Apprentice, it's a TV show. It's made of and and and the show presents Trump as this extremely wise and forward-looking business person. And he's the opposite in reality. Okay. But what Trump understands, this is really important, is people don't care about reality. People want to watch a TV show that's exciting, that's interesting, that's fun. So if I turn politics into a TV show and everyone's watching all the time, they will always want me to be president. Does that make sense? Yeah. Because Yeah. Okay. So is perception more important than reality? And the answer is yes. Okay. And the reason why is reality it is very hard. It's very difficult. All right. People prefer simple ideas, simple myths that allow them to better navigate reality. That's why religion is important. Okay? So, what Trump's doing is he's creating a religion. He he's he's creating a religion about himself, right? And it's it's it's really the same idea as Napoleon. Napoleon says this, right? I saw the way achieve my dreams. I would found a religion. I saw myself as marching into Asia mounted on elephant, a turban on my head, and in my hand a new Quran that I would have composed to suit my needs. Mag is a new religion. Okay? Make America great. Again, don't think of it as a political movement. Think of it as a new religion. Now, I will explain to you why Trump is so powerful. Okay? I think Trump will be president of the United States for the next 10 years. It is very hard to remove him because like once you remove him, the TV show ends. Do you understand? Now, you have to go back to reality. People don't want that. People want to live in a TV show. Exactly. Exactly. That's exactly right. People want to live in a dream. Ex. Perfect. Thank you. People want to live in a dream because that's what makes life bearable. Okay. Does that make sense? Okay. That's a great uh question. Okay. So the argument against this is like and like Trump is a terrible economic leader and so with this tariff war against China with this with with all these policies is is this going to make the American person more poor. Okay. So less money spent the American won't be able to afford a house. Okay. So this is really important but you have to think about people's psychology. All right. So sorry so sorry let let me um write write this down because it's a very important idea. Okay. You have to understand people's psychology. People are not thinking are not capable of thinking in absolute terms. Does that make sense? Like if I if I I gave you a bottle of wine, okay? This bottle of wine. Okay? I give you another bottle of wine and I ask you to tell me which which is better. You're not able to do it. Okay? But if I told you this one is $50, this one is $10. You know this this has to be better. Do you understand? So people psychology is very interesting. But they people cannot think in objectively. Okay? People can only compare and contrast. So let's just say okay trade war the American consumer is losing ping purchasing power right so the person is getting more poor but if China is getting more poor in this time right so US goes down but China goes down even more people are happy do you understand okay I I I I I know this is terrible but that's this is true I don't have to make you rich I I just make some I just have to make everyone else poorer and then you're happy right make America great again make America America great again. Do you understand? Being great, it's just a perception. I'm better than everyone else and then I'm great. I don't have to be I don't have to be wealthy. I just have to be better off than everyone else. So the entire world is poorer. America is happier. Does that make sense? Okay. So that's that that's the logic here. Trump doesn't want to make America wealthy again. He just he needs to make make America a myth again. He wants to create the myth of a great America because the rest of the world is either at war or it's bankrupt or people feel hopeless. Okay, do you understand? And honestly, he's right. Okay, he's absolutely correct in this matter and that explains why he's doing what he's doing. Okay, does that make sense? Okay, great. Any more questions?

Check out Prof. Jiang Xueqin's recommended books to supplement his ideas: ► The Divine Comedy (The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso) by Dante Alighieri: https://amzn.to/3NZSkzt ► Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: https://amzn.to/3ZQfsmy ► Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins: https://amzn.to/4kskgs4 Check out the Prof. Jiang FULL curated reading list here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yUE3DASNii2uPBuEcJKzF4iOjVPaU0nVThyaDUPPZWo/edit?usp=sharing The lectures featured on this channel are delivered by Prof. Jiang Xueqin. 🔗 Original lectures & channel: @PredictiveHistory History often turns on the contrast between virtue and ambition, between the prophet and the mythmaker. In this lecture, Prof Jiang Xueqin draws a sharp comparison between Maximilien Robespierre and Napoleon Bonaparte to illuminate a recurring pattern in republican collapse. Robespierre rose through moral dedication and intellectual rigor. He believed in reason, in civic virtue, and in the capacity of citizens to think independently. His commitment preserved the French Revolution at its most fragile moment. Yet that same faith in reason proved politically fatal; he underestimated ambition, conspiracy, and self-interest. Napoleon represented the opposite archetype. He mastered political maneuvering, cultivated powerful patrons, and—once secure—discarded them. More importantly, he understood myth. Where Robespierre asked citizens to reason, Napoleon asked them to believe. He crafted himself as a messianic figure, projecting confidence and destiny, ultimately dismantling the French Republic he claimed to defend. Prof Jiang situates Napoleon alongside Julius Caesar and Adolf Hitler—figures who emerged at moments of republican exhaustion, consolidating power through charisma and narrative rather than institutional fidelity. The argument then turns to the present. Donald Trump, in this framework, is not defined by policy expertise but by mythmaking instinct. Like Napoleon, he understands spectacle, media, and the psychology of belief. Politics becomes performance; governance becomes narrative. Voters, Prof Jiang suggests, are drawn less to technical competence than to confidence and identity. Even economic hardship can be reframed through relative comparison—greatness becomes a perception, not a measurable condition. The larger warning is structural. When republics weaken, figures skilled in myth and maneuver often ascend. If the pattern holds, history may not repeat mechanically—but it may rhyme. The question is whether institutions grounded in reason can withstand leaders grounded in spectacle. Turn on notifications to stay updated! 🔔🔔🔔 Here, we transform original content from interviews, lectures, podcasts, and keynotes featuring Prof Jiang Xueqin to provide viewers with a more immersive and engaging experience. Our goal is to educate and inform as many people as possible about Prof Jiang Xueqin’s unique economic insights and critiques of global capitalism. We also strive to make Prof Jiang Xueqin’s ideas more accessible to individuals with hearing impairments by providing professional transcriptions for the majority of our videos. By enhancing the original content with cinematic editing, improved clarity, and added context, we aim to amplify Prof Jiang Xueqin’s message and help more viewers understand the economic and social issues he addresses. Fair Use Disclaimer: 1. The videos have no negative impact on the original works. 2. The videos we create are for educational and commentary purposes. 3. The videos are transformative in nature. 4. We primarily use audio components and only minimal video footage when necessary. Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “Fair Use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. All rights remain with the original copyright holders. Disclaimer: • Content Context: This video contains discussions of theoretical perspectives and unverified information sourced from public discourse and various news outlets. It is presented solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be regarded as conclusive fact. • Intention of Content: We do not intend to defame, slander, or discredit any individuals or organizations mentioned. The content is designed to foster thoughtful discussion and critical thinking. • Non-Endorsement of Violence: We do not condone or encourage any form of violence described in the content. References to such actions are provided only for historical or analytical context. Our channel is not affiliated with Prof Jiang Xueqin or any of his organizations and is purely made for entertainment and educational purposes. The content we share is based on facts, public commentary, and interpretations and should not be taken as financial or medical advice.