The Revenge Reflex: What Happens When Human Instinct Meets Political Power
Why the Desire to “Get Even” Can Build Character...or Burn Nations
The Revenge Reflex: What Happens When Human Instinct Meets Political Power
Why the Desire to “Get Even” Can Build Character…or Burn Nations
The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #614: Thursday, October 23rd, 2025.
Let’s be honest: you’ve imagined it.
The satisfying moment when someone who humiliated you finally gets what’s coming. The balance restored. The scales even.
That flash of heat in your chest? That’s not sin. It’s design.
Every human being…saint…skeptic…or sociopath…was wired for revenge. It’s ancient software meant to warn predators: don’t hurt me twice.
But here’s the paradox that separates civilizations from vendettas:
When individuals learn to master revenge…they grow stronger. When governments don’t…they rot from the inside out.
Revenge: The Oldest Survival Instinct
Long before law…we had retaliation.
In tribal life, retaliation was reputation…it kept aggressors cautious and communities intact. “Eye for eye” wasn’t cruelty…it was early social engineering.
Anthropologists call it restorative balance.
I call it the world’s first insurance policy. It said: harm me…and the cost will come back to you with interest.
Fast-forward a few millennia.
That primal reflex is still here…just dressed in better clothes.
We tell ourselves we’ve evolved…but our nervous system didn’t get the memo. It still interprets humiliation as mortal threat and payback as proof of control.
That’s why you’ll hear even the calmest soul whisper, “They’ll regret that.”
And in the moment…revenge feels like justice.
The Thin Line Between Justice and Payback
Justice and revenge look identical until the end of the story.
Justice repairs; revenge repeats.
Justice is patient…it requires evidence…process…proportion.
Revenge is immediate…it wants satisfaction now…regardless of the collateral damage.
Campaign managers know that, “Emotion makes vote…but it also makes the mess.” Revenge is that principle on steroids.
In business…it looks like a CEO firing talent just to prove dominance.
In relationships…it’s the text you shouldn’t have sent.
In politics…it becomes policy…and that’s when humanity pays full retail for emotion.
When Power Turns Personal
The most dangerous form of revenge isn’t personal…it’s institutionalized.
History is a graveyard of leaders who turned resentment into governance.
Caesar purging the Senate.
Henry VIII dismantling his own church.
McCarthy turning paranoia into law.
Once revenge gains access to power…it no longer punishes enemies…it trains citizens to fear disagreement.
Because the logic of revenge is simple: if you’re not with me…you’re next.
The result is a system that stops rewarding merit and starts rewarding obedience. Bureaucrats learn silence; truth-tellers learn exile.
Every order becomes an echo of someone’s wounded ego.
The Seduction of the Scoreboard
Revenge sells because it’s simple.
People crave closure more than accuracy. They’d rather see someone punished than understand why things broke.
Leaders who promise vengeance don’t have to solve problems; they just have to name enemies.
The formula never fails:
Identify a villain.
Inflame a wound.
Promise payback.
Collect loyalty like currency.
And when citizens cheer that kind of leadership…they become co-authors of their own punishment.
Because revenge governments always run out of enemies…and start feeding on their followers.
Why the Personal Feeds the Political
Psychologists call it projection by proxy.
When a population feels powerless…it elects someone to carry its anger for them. They get revenge by delegation.
That’s why revenge politics feels so intoxicating: it lets millions outsource their pain to one loud avatar.
But here’s the hangover…once that avatar turns destructive…his supporters are emotionally trapped. To admit he went too far means admitting they did.
And pride…as you know…is a hell of a jailer.
The Crossroads We’re At
Right now…revenge isn’t just personal…it’s cultural.
Every argument online…every protest…every policy announcement carries the same unspoken challenge: Who gets to win?
That’s the wrong question.
Because revenge doesn’t produce winners. It produces hostages.
The real question is: who’s willing to break the cycle before it breaks the country?
The Cost of Political Retaliation
When revenge climbs the steps of power…it doesn’t arrive in uniform.
It shows up disguised as justice…reform…correction…or payback in the people’s name.
At first it feels righteous: “They wronged us. We’re setting things right.”
But power built on punishment must always feed. Every enemy conquered creates a vacancy that demands another.
You see it in economies that shrink because leaders would rather punish dissenters than reward producers.
You see it in institutions hollowed out until loyalty matters more than competence.
You see it in citizens who start whispering…instead of speaking…waiting for permission to tell the truth.
That’s not leadership. That’s pathology with a press secretary.
And once that pattern infects a government, it metastasizes. The message trickles down: If he can weaponize payback, so can I.
Pretty soon agencies feud..states feud…families feud…and a country that once prided itself on freedom learns to flinch before it talks.
When Payback Becomes Policy
There’s a point where the scoreboard overtakes the mission.
Every success is measured not by progress…but by pain inflicted on the other side.
In that environment…laws lose moral gravity. They become weapons of administration rather than instruments of fairness.
Investigations…pardons…regulations…each reinterpreted as ammunition for the next round.
That’s how nations bleed out slowly: not from invasion…but from corrosion.
Because revenge governments are always at war…even in peace.
The battlefield just moves indoors…to agencies…courts…and news cycles.
The Human Mirror
Before we start congratulating ourselves for recognizing it…look in the mirror.
That same hunger lives in all of us.
We feel betrayed. We want someone to pay. We scroll through headlines like soldiers picking targets…hoping justice will look like suffering for “them.”
It’s human. It’s honest. And it’s poison if we feed it too long.
Because revenge…personal or political…always collapses back onto the person who carries it.
It keeps your adrenaline high and your imagination low. It narrows vision until all you can see are enemies.
The longer you hold that fire…the more it burns your own oxygen.
The Temptation of Revenge in the Resistance
Let’s be real: many who fight for democracy now feel that tug…they voted for chaos; let them choke on it.
It’s satisfying…but it’s suicidal.
Because the very people drifting away from the demagogue are doing it in shame and confusion.
They’re raw…defensive…half-ready to admit the mistake…and if we meet them with scorn…we drive them right back into the arms of the manipulator who promised to defend their pride.
You can’t recruit the wounded by mocking the wound.
If democracy is to heal…its defenders have to out-mature its attackers.
That means separating revenge from accountability.
Accountability demands truth…repair…and protection for the future.
Revenge demands only that someone else hurt as much as we do.
One builds coalitions.
The other builds bonfires.
How to Transmute Revenge
Acknowledge it. Pretending you’re above the emotion only makes it sneakier. Name the anger…feel it…then decide what to do with it.
Refocus the energy. Every ounce of rage can be redirected into creation…organizing…writing…building…teaching. The same chemical that fuels vengeance can build vision.
Refuse the bait. Authoritarians survive by provoking overreaction. When you stay calm and strategic…you starve them of oxygen.
Protect the converts. The moment someone breaks rank with extremism…guard them. They’re the bridge back to sanity for others still trapped inside.
Keep the long view. Revenge thinks in moments. Movements think in generations.
The Evolution of the Instinct
In politics, some would call this control of emotional leverage.
Others would call it turning hot emotion into cold strategy.
They were both describing the same law of psychology:
The person who controls the emotional frame controls the outcome.
If democracy is a marketplace of ideas…rage is the counterfeit currency.
It spends fast…but it bankrupts credibility.
The evolution we need isn’t to lose the revenge reflex…it’s to master it.
To recognize it as the warning light on the dashboard of justice…not the steering wheel.
Solidarity over Score-Settling
The enemy of progress isn’t our anger…it’s our fragmentation.
And nothing fragments faster than the thirst to punish.
The next chapter of this country will be written by people who can sit across from someone they once hated and say,
“We both got played. Let’s make sure it never happens again.”
That’s not weakness. That’s strategy.
It’s how empires rebuild after civil wars…how families rebuild after addiction…how movements rebuild after betrayal.
Because solidarity is the one thing revenge can’t metabolize.
The Final Turn
Revenge whispers, They deserve it.
Wisdom answers, So do you…and you can’t have both.
Every civilization eventually decides whether it wants catharsis or continuity.
The strong choose continuity. The smart choose conversion…turning enemies into allies and fury into forward motion.
That’s the only kind of payback worth chasing now.
I’ll be back soon.
-Jack
P.S.Next week I’ll release a private brief for Inner Circle members called “The Anatomy of Vengeance.”
It’s a deep dive into how politicians…advertisers…and propagandists weaponize the revenge instinct…and how to recognize and neutralize those triggers before they hijack you.
If you’ve ever wondered why outrage feels addictive…or why the loudest voices keep winning while the calm ones disappear…this briefing will make it visible…and reversible.
Join the Inner Circle to get the full transcript and my field notes.
Because understanding revenge is the first step to ending it.
It's what trump has done his whole life, Jack. As he was yelling "Where's my Roy Cohen" when looking for his second AG his first term. Everyone warned what would happen if this guy got re elected, and here we are. Great article, And will reStack ASAP 💯💯
Much needed article, thanks Jack. Protect the converts is essential. I have one son who has come back from Maga and another who is beginning to realize he was played. I spend a lot of time convincing my husband that revenge is not the way to go.