A Russian oligarch advised Putin to set up two political parties that would agree on everything except abortion rights, to distract the Russian people from other issues.

It is not true that the Democratic and Republican parties agree about everything except abortion. But it was almost true in 2000. They tended to disagree about whether to openly praise and serve US oligarchs, or obey them in a veiled fashion.

Nowadays, most Democratic elected officials resemble what Republicans used to be, and most Republican elected officials are out to sabotage the country.

Fortunately nowadays we see an increasing number of progressive Democrats.