Yes, we absolutely are. We deserve everything we have coming to us.

Neoliberalism is the center, of the spectrum of acceptable political opinion they had established, and tried, but ultimately failed, to maintain.

To be clear the neoliberal technocrats never lost power. They are Republicans and Democrats both.

That was true in the late 70s, 80s, and early 90s. However, the Republican party became less and less neoliberal through the 90s, and by the early 2000s the Republican party had been taken over by the neoconservatives. There is overlap between neoliberalism and neoconservatism, but they are distinct ideologies. Then, in 2016, the Republican party was taken over by Trump, who is neither a neoliberal nor a neoconservative. Trump doesn’t seem to have a guiding ideology. Trump is a useful idiot for multiple groups (Christian conservatives, silicon valley tech bros, far right accelerationists, and foreign powers), all of whom are vying for control of the federal government, for various reasons.

The neoliberal technocrats didn’t deliberately steer toward the reactionary side. When the ship was moving more to the right, it was when reactionaries were in power, and thus “steering the ship.” In 2000, Al Gore, who is very much a neoliberal technocrat, was supposed to be president, but he lost in a kind of mini coup to George W Bush and the neoconservatives. The neoliberal technocrats wouldn’t take back power - control of the ship of state - again until 2008 when Barak Obama was elected president. They would of course lose control once again in 2016. They would regain control in 2020, but quickly lose it again in 2024. It is likely, I think, that the neoliberal technocrats have lost control of the ship of state permanently. I don’t think they will ever steer it again.

Extreme conservativism is not meant to be within the acceptable spectrum.

The acceptable spectrum is supposed to be centered around neoliberalism. Neoliberal technocrats have sought to steer the “Ship Of State” through narrow waters between “Revolution” (the far left) and “Reaction” (the far right). Neoliberals might be willing to steer, from time to time, nearer to reaction than revolution, but the intent is to stay as close to the neoliberal center as possible. Here’s a graphic that the neoliberals came up with to illustrate the concept.

Obviously, the neoliberal technocrats have failed, and the US federal government (the Ship Of State) is now nearly completely captured by various far right reactionary groups. But the mainstream media, in general, is still operating in the mode of neoliberal, centrist thinking. Which is understandable, since that’s the mode they’ve been in for more than half a century.

It’s intentional. As Noam Chomsky said:

The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum

There has been a deliberate effort to limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion to relatively moderate liberalism (the left) and relatively moderate conservatism (the right). The intent is to create the illusion that no political ideologies or possibilities exist outside of this narrow spectrum.

There are Republican voters who like Bernie and they have been showing up to his rallies for years.

Then Bernie should have run for the Republican nomination. He tried running for the Democrat nomination twice, and he lost twice.

I’ve felt that Bernie should be president since 2015, but he never stood a chance in the US. You have a 0% chance of being elected president in this country once the label of “socialist” has been applied to you.