Being a Fiddler on the Roof puts you in a very precarious position requiring care and rest to stay in balance, like a tightrope walker in the middle of his traverse.

Befuddlement is much the same. In The Gaslighting of America, a conservative pundit from Fox News describes how Trump manipulates the truth with offensive gaslighting, a new way to manipulate and control what others see as the truth.

Gaslighting gets your opponent on the defensive, and forces them onto the ropes where they can continue to power their opponent into submission

Gaslighting creates a fog of confusion, mooring the gaslighted alone on an island with no way off. Every reality the gaslighted tries crumbles because the foundation does not add up. They think if they can just get enough perspective, get above the fog, they can figure it out.

Finding the way above the fog is hard, the fog can keep them going around the rim of the island for years, only when they head toward the center, up the mountain, can they get above the fog. Some take a spiral path up the mountain. Some have a Sherpa and take the shortest path.

Once above the fog the tangle of lies and truth is easier to sort out, but it takes more time to clean up the mess by far than it takes to make it. And the damage has already been done.