They don't want to consolidate power, they exist to diffuse and obfuscate class tensions by pretending to offer something of value to the working/oppressed classes.

Which is why when you start trying to piece together a broad framework of what they are fighting for conceptually, its incoherent and piecemeal, only seeking to address the cursory glance and give a sense of resolution.

For anyone looking at the broader flow of history and the base contradictions in society within the imperial core, the liberals have no answers and give no airtime, to them the days of real ideological conflict are over, the end of history. They claim that the American system can resolve these problems with calculated tweaking, no major changes. They are the force vying for equilibrium and risk-management of imperialism.

To a reactionary, they can sense the basic nature of the base societal contradictions, but they simply choose the side of maintaining their whiteness as an identity and superior class position, choosing to cling to their suspicion of "people" and their ideas of humans as inherently evil, and the rest of their fascist ideological conditioning. They are open enemies of their own class, and will jump at the opportunity to do the Bourgeoisie's dirty work.