I don’t know.
I do agree that crooks, incompetents and charlatans have been in American politics forever but I suspect that they had no real interest in destroying the society in which they lived.
The progressive Dims? Not incompetents, that’s for sure. But I do believe that they largely hate the US and wish to tear it down to replace with a socialist authoritarian utopia. Utopia for the elite. For you and me, not so much.
The progressives want us disarmed, private vehicles gone (except elite), and everyone on the dole and living in huge Soviet style arkologies. Males castrated