Reagan was propped up in a similar situation back in the 80s as well, after a disastrous decade of financial chaos, also an actor, technically Trump is at least somewhat skilled as a thespian, and certainly was successful at reality TV

i think that their craft of creating spectacles has got more and more effective as their ability to surveill has increased... at this point the amount of surveillance completely nullifies any value in democracy at all, now it's just a bunch of advertisers figuring out what they can sell at the highest price for the lowest cost