Maybe it is due to the way people interpret things differently, but none the assessments you are making in your two posts about the original comment are things that I would have said or thought about that comment.
Those are the textbook first steps of the workplace psychopath.
Then comes establishing a network of patrons and pawns, confronting your rivals and the psychopatic ascension, where useless patrons and pawns are forgotten or even eliminated.
Obviously you and I interpreted the original comment very differently.