Thank you for your response.

On one hand, there are indeed signs of USA morphing into a oligarchy. On the other hand, Mr. Trump is facing a lot more resistance than he ever faced with his private companies. He is not running things the way he really wants to run things. Mr. Trump is 73 years old. There is no obvious successor to his movement. He is an aberration indeed, and USA will survive him — even past 2020. But the next populist leader (who could come from the left) might be 45 years old, have a good background in psychology and sociology, build a competent oligarchic team around him, and have a long term deliberate plan to dismantle American democracy. That will be scary.

In my book, I have outlined the futile approach of hoping the people become more knowledgeable. For starters, it is a no-win situation: if you and I come to some conclusion, we can say that we have done our homework and those who disagree with us have not done their homework. They need to become more like us. But those “fools” are thinking we did the wrong homework and need to become more like them.

I don’t think there is a deliberate plan YET. I sincerely believe that Mr. Trump entered the Republican primary mostly for media attention. He was thinking of finishing in a respectable third place, then go back to his tall buildings. Somehow his rhetoric resonated with enough people, and here we are.

All the turmoil in American politics can be explained by the instinctual nature of political parties. Parties may have an outward ideology, but inside, they are composed of ambitious people competing against each other for status, influence and power. This dysfunction spills into governance and general society.

The media feeds off this dysfunction for its own profit. CNN and Foxx are not competitors. But they are shaping the value systems of their preferred tribes.

If we insist on governing ourselves with political parties, we should expect more turmoil. That wise and competent dictator is not here yet, but could be.