I recently watched a Great Courses class on the lessons of Lao Tsu's "The Art of War". One of the lessons was laying out what kind of ground battles were to be fought - high ground, difficult ground, etc. The one that comes to mind now is Existential Ground. It is good not to force an opponent to fight on what they see as Existential Ground - that is, they must either fight, and win, or die. They have no choice but to fight to the death.
How does this lesson apply today?
One lesson is in Iran. The Iranian Theocratic sociopaths are fighting for their lives, literally. Trump and Netanyahu have literally killed the top leadership in Iran. Those left are fighting to the death. They have no choice. Trump is fighting for headlines. What the hell does he care what the long-term results are? Just give him a headline and let him get the hell out. Screw the rest of the world, the Pedo in Chief doesn't give a Tinker's Dam about the world.
Another lesson is the mid-term elections. Here, the Pedo in Chief is doing battle on Existential Ground. Either he wins, or he gets Impeached, and perhaps spends the rest of his life in prison. No rules apply. No laws apply. For him, and for his MAGA Cult, this is fight or die. This is an existential battle. They are doing all they can to win, and the only way they can win is through cheating and violence. Both cheating, violence, and threats of violence will continue to escalate.
But this battle is on Existential Ground for Democrats, for the Rule of Law, for Democracy Itself as well. If Trump's fascist takeover of the election succeeds, democracy in the U.S. may never recover. Military intimidation at voting places, disenfranchising of multiple non-fascist voting peoples, false counting of votes, fascist takeover of the courts, all the corruption of fascist rule become the new America. This is not an election. It is a battle on existential ground.
An interesting example of an Existential Ground battle is Caesar's defeat of Pompey, which ended the Roman Civil War and let Caesar become dictator. I am watching "Rome" on HBO, and Caesar's forces were severely outnumbered. The fictional Caesar welcomed the battle because his outnumbered forces would have to fight for their very lives, while Pompey's forces were fighting for much lower stakes, and indeed they apparently fled at a crucial time.
Military experts may know more about this than I, but it demonstrates the principle that those "fighting for their lives" cannot afford to lose, so watch out.
