At the beginning of 2020, I was thinking that this was the best time to be alive. Yet everybody seems more miserable than they've ever been. I was also thinking that maybe we needed another 9/11-type event to wake us all up. Well, maybe this pandemic is a 9/11 moment, and we aren't waking up. People are becoming even more partisan. The virus itself is partisan. The reaction to what we should do with China is partisan. I don't believe we should use China as a political weapon.
The contempt I often see among the American people, quite honestly, fueled me to stay in this job longer. After ten years, you always evaluate. I do it every time I run. Am I the right guy at the right time? This thing has fueled me. My desire isn't to go out there and whack the Democrats on it. They'll whack us and we'll whack them, but nothing will change. I want to inspire people again. I want them to look at the contempt in their heart. It comes from fear. Don't be afraid. Fear leads to conflict. Conflict leads to destroyed societies.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "At the beginning of 2020, I was thinking that this was the best time to be alive. Yet everybody seems more miserable than they've ever been. I was also thinking that maybe we needed another 9/11-type event to wake us all up. Well, maybe this pandemic is a 9/11 moment, and we aren't waking up. People are becoming even more partisan. The virus itself is partisan. The reaction to what we should do with China is partisan. I don't believe we should use China as a political weapon.
The contempt I often see among the American people, quite honestly, fueled me to stay in this job longer. After ten years, you always evaluate. I do it every time I run. Am I the right guy at the right time? This thing has fueled me. My desire isn't to go out there and whack the Democrats on it. They'll whack us and we'll whack them, but nothing will change. I want to inspire people again. I want them to look at the contempt in their heart. It comes from fear. Don't be afraid. Fear leads to conflict. Conflict leads to destroyed societies." in the context of "p. 137" to mean that wisdom is timeless.