Joe sat beside Nelly as the loading bar finished. “George W. Bush: MasterClass in Politics and Power” blinked on the screen. The former president’s familiar drawl echoed through the speakers, half-folksy charm, half boardroom command.
Joe leaned back, arms crossed. “Get ready, Nelly. This is going to be a masterclass in gaslighting.”
Nelly laughed nervously. “You think he actually believes half the stuff he says?”
“Oh, he believes it,” Joe said. “That’s what makes it work. Politics is worse than the music industry—no producer, no label, just millions of critics with megaphones and zero mercy. You’ve gotta lead, not follow.”
Bush’s video paused mid-sentence, eyes frozen in an awkward smirk. Joe pointed at the screen. “That’s the face of a man who sold hope like a brand and fear like a product.”
Nelly shook her head. “And we’re supposed to learn from that?”
“Exactly,” Joe said. “Learn the moves, so we never use them. They’ll call our Jubilee plan insane—every banker, every billionaire feeding off people’s debts will panic. But that’s how you know it’s real.”
Nelly looked at him, her voice steady. “So what do I do?”
Joe smiled. “You lead. You don’t take the bait. You tell the truth so clearly they can’t twist it. We’re not here to play their game—we’re here to end it.”
The screen flickered, Bush’s face replaced by the words “Lesson 1: Defining Power.”
Nelly hit play.