Thanks for a well-reasoned article. One small complaint I have is that when we confine our view to one nation we miss the larger and more insidious picture. Sure, the USA is eating itself from within - but so are many other nations, and all for the same reason. As the article correctly states, "news" organizations (which, sadly, include social media as ordinary people can't distinguish between an algorithm-generated piece of nonsense and a real-world commentary) are entirely motivated by the need to generate revenues. Because ordinary people find complex reality too difficult to encompass, simple-minded sensationalism and easy-to-chant soundbites are the currency of success. The fact that this is corrosive is irrelevant to those generating the sensationalism, because who cares about longer-term effects when that quarterly bonus is so juicy?

We therefore see populism everywhere: Brexit, Bolsonaro, PiS, AfD, Le Pen, Meloni, etc. etc. and they all use the same playbook: invent imaginary enemies, blame these enemies for everything, whip up more and more resentment and anger, militarize the police, undermine the fundamental rule of law. As ordinary people are in general totally ignorant of any matter of importance and lack the intellectual capacity for coherent thought, simple-minded lies and empty slogans work brilliantly ("take back control!" "make America great again!").

And how does all this lead to the unscrupulous gaining power? It's because representative democracy, as presently instituted, requires no demonstration of adequacy by voters and no demonstration of competence by candidates. Not surprisingly, the outcomes are ever-more disastrous.