Harky does something that most politicians today are too cowardly to do: he owns the defeat. No sugarcoating, no “temporary setback,” no “minor skirmish.” We. Lost. The. Battle. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a plan to turn this around into something motivational (the crowd certainly responds well when he mentions those filthy Peace-makers and their, ugh, death-defying chicanery). But some Rebels who might’ve been on the fence about him right now respect him infinitely more for not bullshitting when it counts.

To be a bit fair to modern pols, Harky doesn’t have to worry about some tweeter taking his admission out of context before he’s even done talking. “@Harky admits hesa losing loser who loses #bringonteflondon”

He is also coming dangerously close to genre awareness here (“We’re never going to be their equals unless we get some PLAYER CHARACTERS, dammit”), but considering how direct a role Byron and Syr’Nj played in defeating the army and him personally, it’s not surprising he attaches some importance to them.