Prospects of future elite intervention in mass politics

[Cassandra]

Here's a thought I have been stewing over that I would like to share with the class.

Since the neoliberal turn, politics has become a charade (see: "culture war") and real power has been delegated to finance. The Federal Reserve and major investment banks now call all the important shots (read: "material"). All presidents of the past forty years have understood that this is the way things are. I think Trump understands this also, but he is so ego-driven he doesn't mind throwing a wrench in finance capital when it suits him (e.g. the "trade war"). Trump's unorthodox protectionism has opened up the possibility that the Republican base may choose to elect another protectionist; whoever comes next may actually be a true believer.

The elite in this country also face a threat from them left. Bernie Sanders's successive campaigns reconditioned the activist left of the Democratic party to think of themselves as "socialists." This is a radical departure from the previous era of center-left opposition. There is a real threat that the Bernie wing could overtake the party after Biden-Harris leave power. If the new socialist wing manage to push one of their own through as the nominee, all bets are off. A socialist president could significantly vandalize the mechanisms which allow for the easy flow of finance capital (e.g. higher taxes, more regulation, etc.).

Given these simultaneous threats from the right and the left to Power in America, I suspect the near future may present an opening for a radical break from the US's "democratic" tradition. Imagine either a right or left populist wins the Presidency and causes significant private financial losses through broadly popular policies. Might we see some concerted effort by elites to intervene in the political system in unique and highly consequential ways? I don't want to specify a particular form; everyone loves talking about "coups" at the moment but this could take other, more "legal" forms (perhaps a Second Constitutional Convention stage-managed by Goldman Sachs).

Thoughts?

[PSOL]

Do they even have the power to do that? Usually they hide behind the duopoly because being involved gets them embarrassed or under heavy (for them lol) scrutiny (seeBloomie) ?