Just because someone has a higher paycheck and a slightly nicer car doesn’t mean they have made it beyond living a paycheck to paycheck grind. Most of these people are living in a slightly more expensive neighborhood that eats up a lot of those slightly higher wages and they still have to budget for major purchases like a new car. Tesla owners aren’t a bunch of hedge fund managers living in mansions behind gates, separate from the rest of us. I don’t have a Tesla myself, but I live in a boring suburban neighborhood full of Teslas.

Not necessarily, it could be like Russia electing Putin into office. In 2008 he traded roles and became prime minister due to the consecutive term limits they had there, then he went back to the presidency and abolished that whole restriction so he could remain president for the rest of his life. Russia still has elections, but opposition candidates get disappeared. It’s more of democracy theater than actual democracy.