He needs his army.

Like I said to Sharon, I really didn’t understand “gaslighting” at the time, at all. And that’s like thinking, “I’m too smart to fall for propaganda” (or advertisting) — that’s when you may be most vulnerable. You don’t even really recognize it, and you question yourself later — “Did he really just say that in front of a whole roomful of people, and none of them said anything?” Well…no. Not even me. And then you talk to those people afterward. They’re just as appalled, and shocked, and disbelieving as you are, but none of you can quite believe something like that just happened, openly. Surely not — and yet, all of you, all but ONE of you, agree that it happened exactly like you remember it and it was just as inappropriate as you thought it was. But it’s not going to happen again, right? So let’s not blow it up into a big ol’ hairy deal.

And then the layoffs start. Anyway.