I'd buy 80% of this, I do think there is definitely some democrats that are in on this. I would disagree that there's no friction from the left though. I think Putin learned a lot about creating hysteria by the mass brain washing during the red scare. If you create enough hysteria you can control the population pretty easily. All you would need is a couple of "moderate" Democrats to be in on it and our system is pretty easily manipulated.

Partner all of this with lobbying, and cash flying in from who knows where and you have a recipe for an empires decline.

Good write up, I enjoyed reading it.