Where's James Bond When You Need Him
– The Price of Olives for Our Martinis Is a Sign the Villains Are Winning
I’m writing this on a historic day. It’s the first time a sitting US President has attended the Super Bowl. Maybe it’s just me, but did anyone else have visions of the German Chancellor attending the 1936 Olympics come to mind when they heard the news?
Minds and memories work in curious ways. My mind wandered from pre-war Berlin to James Bond’s early movies. (The debate is over; Connery was the best bond.)
Whenever I see an old Bond movie, I always wonder who the heavily armed nitwits defending Dr. No’s island or Largo’s lair are. It also bothers me that the evil villains seem to have an abundance of resources without any real plausible explanation as to how they accumulated their wealth.
With these thoughts spinning around in my head today, I decided to do what all my college students do with questions they are struggling with.
I used the “call a friend” option and turned to my old pal ChatGPT and asked if it thought Trump was using the Super Bowl like Hitler used the Olympics.
Chat said the comparison was “an overstatement”.
Chat also confirmed why my students who rely on it usually fail.
It made a mistake.
It said the comparison was an overstatement was that Hitler used the ‘36 Olympics as a propaganda tool to promote Nazism but Trump’s Super Bowl appearance was a “calculated move in an election year”.
I reminded Chat that 2025 isn’t an election year. The election is over. Hitler was Chancellor in 1936. Trump is President today.
ChatGPT is not a Canadian invention. I know this because it didn’t say sorry.
It did say that the fact he was already elected made Trump’s appearance at the Super Bowl more interesting. “He’s staying in the spotlight for reasons beyond an election campaign.” (duh!)
Chat also said Trump wasn’t at the game because he likes football.
(He certainly doesn’t know anything about it. Trump picked the Chiefs to win, but at the time of writing, it’s 40-6 Eagles. Better stick to golf, Donny, it’s easier to cheat at.)
“It’s more accurate to say that this fits a longstanding pattern—Trump operates in a way that prioritizes his personal brand, power, and influence, often with little regard for the broader impact on institutions or individuals.”
Trump might be President on paper, but Time Magazine seems to think Elon Musk is running the show.
Chat and I started to discuss what Elon Musk’s motivations might be.
That’s when the discussion started to get uncomfortable.
“Musk wraps his actions in grand narratives about saving humanity, his real motivations seem to center on power, control, and personal legacy—often at the expense of workers, regulators, and anyone who challenges him.”
His takeover of X is a good example. What was framed as protection of free speech has given him unchecked control over a major information platform.
This is characteristic of Musk’s ventures. Although he has grand narratives about saving humanity, his real motivations seem centred on personal power and control, often at the expense of anyone who challenges him.
As Chat offered examples and opinions on Musk’s motivations, my mind filled with images of cartoon villains and their plans for world domination.
I mentioned this to Chat. It agreed.
It called Musk an eccentric billionaire with grand, world-altering ambitions and an army of devoted followers.
Chat said the difference between Musk and a cartoon villain is that the villains usually operate in secrecy, while Musk does everything in plain sight and is not held accountable.
Another difference, it said, was that the cartoon villains always had a singular end goal. World domination, for example.
I asked Chat how it knew Musk didn’t have a similar singular end goal.
“Fair question,” said Chat.
A common thread in all of Musk’s ventures is that they place him at the centre of power. That includes space travel, artificial intelligence, social media, and even neural implants. He lets people believe he is a benevolent genius, even as his actions suggest otherwise.
The scariest thing Chat said during our interaction was this:
“He doesn’t need to conquer the world in the traditional sense when he can shape how people think, work, and communicate. In that way, his goal might be even more ambitious than the classic “rule the world” trope—he wants to control the systems that define it.”
In fiction, Bond is the lone agent who sees through the villain’s deception, resists their influence, and works to stop them. But in the real world, there isn’t a single person filling that role. Journalists, whistleblowers, regulators, and activists are trying to hold powerful figures accountable, but they don’t have the same cinematic clarity of purpose—or the gadgets.
The question is whether we can outmaneuver figures like Musk, who have more money, more influence, and far more resources than any fictional villain ever did.
To save our democracies, the real-world Bond won’t be a single secret agent—it will be a collective effort. The sooner the good guys gang up to eliminate the threat, the better!
Stay safe, Always Care
THANK YOU!
This week, I posted a note on Substack. It was to my many friends in the U.S. I said Canada wasn’t blaming them for the tariff threats. We blame the people who were taking power from the people and who were threatening to take it from us, too.
The response was humbling and overwhelming!
Well over a thousand of you clicked the “Like” button. Almost 150 “Restacked” it, and 50 commented. The comments were overwhelmingly positive. Over 100 people subscribed to the Always Care Community.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This truly gives me hope that our democracies, our sovereignty, and humanity will be OK!
All my posts are free, but…
I would be eternally grateful if you would consider a donation. As today’s title suggests, olives for martinis are expensive these days! (And I really could use a good martini right now!) Click the icon below to donate. Thank you!
Hi! I’m Paul. I was born, raised, and currently live in Canada. After high school, I embarked on a gap year in Europe. It lasted four decades. I went to university in Norway and started my hotel career in the basement of a five-star hotel in Oslo. The manager who hired me told me I was too old, too educated, and had too many opinions to be a security guard. He also told me that the only other person who applied for the job didn’t want it.
Thirty years later, I left that same company. It had grown from a small regional hotel chain in Scandinavia to become a large, global, multi-brand company. I moved from Norway to Denmark to Belgium. The company awarded me their highest individual honour for leadership, and security professional peers selected me as the world’s most influential corporate security executive.
I’m a hospitality professional. I’m a security professional. If you ask, I will tell you that security was my job, and hospitality was my business.
Today, I’m an educator and a consultant passionate about hotels, hospitality, and keeping people safe during their travels.
In addition to the Always Care Community, I also write for Risk Resiliency’s Keep Travel Safe. If safe, secure hospitality, hotels, and travel are important to you, please follow us there!
Written with the clarity of hindsight, the accuracy of a faded memory, and countless creative liberties, this is a newsletter of how life has made me an emigrant, an immigrant, and gifted me experiences I never dreamed possible.
Thanks for reading. Your support is my motivation and I’m genuinely grateful that you’re here. Please share, subscribe, and connect with me.
I'm in the Kansas City metro area, and I can tell you there is no joy in Mudville this morning 😂 Trump even screwed up the Super Bowl.
I didn’t even put together Hitler and the Olympics, but you’re absolutely right. Great post! Thanks for sharing 😊