As Machiavelli warned, the ruler must not be taken in by flatterers.

“WHO should know that their staffers are flatterers, freeloaders and liars.”

In the opening scene of William Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” the titular character rewards flatterers and banishes those who dare to tell him the truth.

It doesn’t occur to Kushner that this flattery is strategic politicking by the flatterers.

“Can you trust me with such flatterers?—Does my vain spirit ever tell me I am wrong?”