I think they are in touch. I think they really, really, really believe that this is the best of all possible worlds. They really think this is as good as it can be and change is not only undesirable, but impossible. Maybe that's why they're so terrified of Trump. Trump is change, Trump is an interruption of their West Wing fantasy. Politics can't be crude or ugly. It must be stern faced compromise, eternal triangulation. You can't have someone loud and crass come in shitting on the rugs and tearing down the curtains to reveal that all of their political drama is an ugly farce. It's unthinkable.