Journalists at mainstream media organizations wallow in a zero-sum world: There can be only one evening television anchor and one top editor at a newspaper.
In a zero-sum world, you may envy or blandish others, but you cannot trust them, because you can assume they are seeking to aggrandize themselves at your expense.
In a profession offering a limited number of powerful slots--100 senators, 50 governors, 1 President--politicians live in a zero-sum world, where the gains of one necessarily come at the expense of others.