Representing more than who they are?

Competition drives us forward and backward.

Recently, a conference was choosing some speakers, and a friend who i have worked with promoted and supported for years wanted to have the stage for themselves, decided to eliminate competition by casting doubt on the addition of me to their event. And said a classic catch-all statement, that when I hear it used against someone else, made me suspicious and endeared me more to them, but when I heard it against me, made me very angry, as I know what I said and how I represented and call him out, those words were parsed and made me want to choke my former friend.

I went out of my way numerous times to help connect with resources, media promotions and worked diligently to support.

I would love to hear others opinions on how to deal with this situations, as we are all going to get betrayed at some point for some elusive prize and we are going to deal with manipulators who will use a similar if not identical term so they could advance their objective. This happens in government, business, families and how do we cope and adjust to deal with the hate? How have you successfully worked past those differences and work with the frienemy, and how to do you know those you trust can be trusted?