I apologize for the tiny black distraction on my screen during a few of these videos.  I recorded several videos before traveling to Tennessee without realizing my mic was ever so slightly showing on the corner of the image.

Ending is my favorite part. "maybe you'll be different" and then the king winks and turns into the dictator. Gives me chills.

CGP did make a part 2 about the dynamics of dynasties. It would be a good addition.

Even though this video might not be directly about something historical, it can add depth to other videos about rulers throughout history. I think this fits perfectly for the channel. Good pick Chris.

"Control the coinage and the courts.  Let the rabble have the rest."

- Frank Herbert, Dune

When I clicked on this it said there were 52 views and the video was from 52 seconds ago. I find that weirdly satisfying.

Here from 2026.
I'm glad to see this video is still up.
I thought I heard that CGP grey community strikes anyone who reacts to his videos.

If you want to play around with this exact dynamic in a game, I highly recommend the 1978 boardgame Junta, which portrays it very well.

The game starts with one player as the president, with the others controlling the secret police or various military units. Everyone also has political influence with different factions, which sometimes comes with additional (potential) paramilitary forces.

Each round, the president receives a secret, randomized amount of money which they have to divide between themself and the other players. The president presents a division of money between the other players, who then vote according to their political influence. As the winner of the game is the one with the most money at the end, the president has to keep enough people happy enough to support them while grabbing as much as they can for themself.

If there's a coup there's a battle for control of various points of interest in the capital - the palace, the bank, the radio station and so on - and there's assassinations and various other shenanigans, but the core of the game is exactly about a ruler trying to keep enough key figures happy that they can stay in power.

In his podcast cgp grey mentioned that he was monitoring the ranking of the book in the amazon sales charts.
He was curios about the impact the video would have. Would nothing happen? Would it spike in the Top 1000? In the Top 100?
It got to place 1 in the non fiction charts and was sold out worldwide. He even got an Email from the publisher thanking him for forcing a reprint.

Given that we are at the dawn of AI, and in the middle of a, let's say "difficult" time, this bit right here gave me goosebumps:  33:51 - "...If a resource that dwarfs the productivity of the citizens is found... the odds of this gamble change and make it more possible for a small group to seize power because if the current quality of life is terrible or the wealth not dependent on then citizens then coups are worth the risk. When democracies fall, these are usually the reasons."

a video from cgp grey i think you would really like is someone dead ruined my life again. its about him researching his tale of tiffany video and the problems he runs into along the way. i think you could add something interesting to it.

Nicholas II is a great example of a ruler who managed to lose the support of basically every key group possible. As the 1917 revolutions grew close, Nicholas and Alexandra had even managed to lose the support of the House of Romanov — their own extended family were talking surprisingly openly among themselves about the need to replace the tsar with someone else from the dynasty in order to avoid losing power. They did not, however, go as far as to actually start plotting a coup, but it was a clear sign that Nicholas did not even have his own dynasty in his corner towards the end.

More CGP Grey reactions are always welcome. His content is just so high-quality and does a great job covering on history while also mixing it with other topics.

Your first thought for a monarch who lost their "keys" was Nicholas II, as a Brit my mind went to Charles I or King John. The Barons war feels like a perfect example of Keys falling away, though the army remained, the regional leaders and the church which provided legitimacy to a national leader in those days had slipped away, backing another candidate who would treat them better, allowing them more freedom and more "treasure"

This is possibly my favorite CGP Grey video.

It's even better when you know that while producing the video, he was practicing the dialogue while playing thunder sounds as background noise in an office building. An office building where he shared a wall with some stereotypical business guy (i.e. "Synergy!").

I love this CGP video essay, I like to refer to it as "machiavelli's prince for modern day"

Rules for Rulers is probably the best video on the internet. CGP Grey is a scary good explainer of things.

The Netflix series How to Become a Tyrant, was sort of like this but more drawn out and had a bunch of examples in history and it was really interesting. May be good if people want more content like this :)

18:13 reminds me a lot of the Tropico game series. Managing key supporters in a Caribbean dictatorship, balancing your standing with the superpowers and so on. Definitely worth checking out if you haven’t seen it.

"The Art of democracy is to make it easy to vote for you and very hard to vote for your opponent"