I think they are using the already existing potential, you can cause some effects, sure, but not of this magnitude. No one is ever held responsible, even after truly astonishing and costly failures. At the same time there's that alienating gibberish coming from the other side. It's a natural reaction to reject it, only amplified by opportunistic actors. But hell, we might be looking at the fall of the Republic and the rise of an Empire, perhaps with a Civil War in between, not sure what to make of it yet.