I disagree with your assumption that democrats will be allowed power again. The subtext is, and always has been, we are going to do things like Russia does them. We are are going to ally ourselves with other authoritians and the only thing we will evaluate is strength. That is the strength of the ruling class's ability to control.
Sure we are talking about the same thing at the end but in my vesrion democracy as we know it will not survive and even the disaffected should have to come to terms with that. Whether they express helplessness or contentment is not something I can control but all of this will set the stage for what comes next.