Great essay. And your summary is excellent.
It would be well to read the story of Tiberius Gracchus in detail. Tiberius was a populist who, after a career in the army, entered politics seeking to redress great wrongs done to the citizen-soldiers by Senators who stayed at home and helped themselves copiously to the soldiers’ properties while they were fighting in distant lands. He had some success, but that was what led to his murder. The parallels with Trump will be even more striking. If our Swamp succeeds in destroying him, our government will evolve into a lawless contest among oligarchs who will take no notice whatsoever of the welfare of the general population. We will become commodities to them, to be bought, sold, and always exploited. The image of capitalism as Marx imagined it will come true after all.