Overtly mean doesn’t work very well, but that’s the stupid form of mean. Covertly Machiavellian seems to work, as does the kind of initially ingratiating gradua

Overtly mean doesn’t work very well, but that’s the stupid form of mean. Covertly Machiavellian seems to work, as does the kind of initially ingratiating gradually controlling personality of a cult leader. The best kind of mean for todays environment seems to be Machiavellian coated in a superficial gloss of magnanimity via stuff like effective altruism, longtermism, or wokewashing.