[toomuchtodo]

Polite rewrite:

“The events that have transpired demonstrate that Jack Ma experienced a disconnect between the power, freedom, and relevance he believed himself to have had and the reality exerted by the Chinese government. This could be viewed as a lack of foresight, exceptional hubris, and inability to interpret ground truth on Ma’s part.”

[systemvoltage]

I must add that OP asserts the Chinese authorities iniquitously and deliberately allowed Jack Ma to acquire power through the success of his enterprise which was struck down swiftly as we are witnessing today. Thus, OP's insight is that the CCP employed an insidous tactic of bait-and-switch, exemplified by the unfolding situation, in order to further their authoritarian interests. Jack Ma's inability to excogitate his own demise is why OP thinks that his mental state is abnormal.

[gorbachev]

Personally I believe it just took CCP some time to figure out how to deal with these uppity billionaires. They couldn't use their normal playbook on how they deal with political opposition, because he wasn't opposing the politics of CCP, or how they deal with the powerless, because he wasn't powerless.

Now that they do, heads will roll quickly. The smarter ones will come voluntarily hat in hand and offer tributes. The dumber ones will disappear for a month, and then offer tributes.

[systemvoltage]

For the most part, the world is run by billionaires. They’ll look to China with even more caution.

[jb775]

Didn't Jack Ma go missing for like 3 months while this was playing out? I think right after he made a few comments critical of the Chinese gov.