The powerful need no cunning because their interests have sedimented into second nature

Evidence

The insiders, however, whose realm has long since coalesced across party frontiers into ‘living-space’, no longer need the calculation ascribed to them. They are so dependably committed to the rules of reason’s game, their interests have so unquestionably sedimented in their thinking, that they have again become ingenuous. — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 234

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that the ruling insider has ‘become ingenuous again’ — cunning collapsed into unreflective reaction — is a genuinely paradigm-level inversion of the usual suspicion of the powerful.

Broader Connections

• Wholly mediated self-interest produces a second, disarming naturalness #corroborates (0.92) — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 234
• The Leader’s power becomes structural necessity rather than personal superiority #expands (0.80)