*Beware of this deadly mix: oligarchic economics and racist, nationalist populism.*

The US has not reached the oligarchic stage, but oligarchy implies plutocracy (which already exists in the US).

Plutocracy makes political improvements on the most important issues very hard, and that might explain why people turn to twisted forms of faith that attack various scapegoats (immigrants, Muslims, Jews, blacks, vaccine companies, witches, …).