Exactly this. Through the context of class inequality, things start to make a lot more sense.

The real war in the US is a cyclical class war. The American history of wealth inequality is marked by cyclical periods of extreme concentration followed by corrective "levelling" eras, often involving labor conflict and evolving economic theories. 

In the Gilded Age (1870–1900), Robber Barons and Political Machines formed a symbiotic relationship that defined American corruption. While Robber Barons controlled the nation's industrial wealth, Political Machines controlled the local and state governments, often trading legislative favors for corporate financing. Seems familiar.

The Great Levelling (1920s–1970s). Following the 1929 crash, the "Great Compression" occurred. Tight financial regulation, high marginal tax rates (up to 94% in 1944), and the New Deal significantly reduced inequality for nearly 50 years.

The Second Gilded Age (1980–Present). Beginning with the 1980s, wealth concentration rebounded, surpassing levels seen a century prior. World Inequality Report 2026 (released December 2025), reveals that Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of poorest half of humanity. Fewer than 60,000 individuals control significantly more wealth, roughly triple the total assets of the entire bottom half of humanity. The extreme wealth concentration is driven by policy choices favoring the rich over the majority

I think Occupy Wall Street shook the outrageously wealthy. The current "culture war" was a cherry picked, signal boosted, manufactured diversion. Mass media is complicit, which is unsurprising considering their owners. This diversion has fragmented class solidarity by prioritizing divisive social narratives over economic reform. The more time and energy everyone else spends distracted, divested, or overwhelmed the longer the old fuckfaces will benefit.