The quoted text from PG's link was excellently done.
I think that the following is a very important point that bears repeating:
'They're running a version of reality that suits their patronage network and they're trying to keep a body of the public within these bounds - they may lose a proportion of them to compromising reality but their purpose is to keep the bulk of them within the framing of a certain problem/solution set.'
This is what drove Russiagate etc. It's not true but that's not its purpose. They're not engaging in an exploration of the truth or best practice but in the maintenance of factional support. They're making fools out of their supporters -
alas poor Bob, I knew him well.
MSNBC are all about this, CNN is worn out now and flailing but is at the same gig, ABC & NBC are Prozac (and these two are the traditional respectable stalwarts), and Fox News isn't too bad but has episodes every now and then.
The beltway is behaving like that guy on acid in Apocalypse Now at the trenches in Do Long Bridge.
The question is whether Orwell was right about the direction of late technological society - are we being pushed into a constant state of war that isn't fought for the sake of victory but the condition of being in a state of war and the fixity of political position that this condition brings.
So, we won't see a sudden collapse like Sudan but a realignment of the relationship between the citizen and the state that will be precipitated by a series of crises, the first of which happened during the W years.
That's why I think that DeSantis is the hope of this election cycle - he's the most competent one available and is all-American. His success (if he wins office) is far from guaranteed, it's
a fiendishly difficult bind that America and the West is in now, but there's a chance - there won't be a chance if the army stays in the castle and amuses themselves with court intrigue.
The rest may have cup holders and chrome grills but lack a winch, 4WD and disciplined lines of thinking. The Navy is also going to be very important in the next ten years and he is likely to bring the sort of discipline to value for money procurement that Truman did during WWII.
Trump might do much better than one might expect, so there's a prospect there. He's a capable man but can he get over the hype and do the work? He's been through desperate times and held his head so it's in him. He's got to get it into his head that as President he's a resource for the republic, it's not a celebrity gig.
You can see the fear in the punditry of the scales of justice being unrigged. Trump kept to the forms before, there's a question to whether he says fuck it and looks to salve his injuries with an unemcumbered DOJ. Did you see how they used Guiliani (a historic figure in the history of NYC) as an example what happens if you buck the blob? It is a continuing disgrace.
I'd like to see DeSantis go into cabinet in infrastructure or something that is fundamental if he doesn't win the Republican nomination - he'd provide credibility and generate returns.
To be honest, I think that the Democrats are being run from Beijing - cui bono?