I don’t think social media really is crowd wisdom at all. It is built to pander to our worst impulses (I think, knowingly and openly, right? The algorithm selects for engagement, not learning and growing), and I’d be surprised if it isn’t producing a feedback loop as well (perhaps as an unintentional side effect). The wisdom of the crowds hypothesis relies on a random sampling, we’re intentionally applying a skew toward the angry and shallow.

No, he means the thing democracies had turned to, when hardly differentiating parties were in fact a "uniparty" in economic, corporate, and foreign policy, and ruled by pissing on what the people voted for, which the current populist backlash is a reaction against, as elites (and supporters) lament as "too much democracy" and scorn the ignorant plebes (case in point) and pine for censorship and "expert" rule.

That wasn’t what I meant and I don’t think you really thought it was.