re: Has it always been this fricked up, but they are now exposed for their corruption?

I think it has always been this corrupt, but we didn't know. We were given glimpses with WMD hysteria and by guys like Snowden, but that's it. Russiagate blew the doors off of everything. The orchestration and manipulation of it is the biggest political scandal in the history of the country and only one low-level attorney got a slap on the wrist. Darryl Cooper's (Martyr Made) thread on this that made him famous was fantastic.
LINK

I also have days that I try to wrap my head around the Ukraine impeachment. Biden and a bunch of other elites have been feeding from the trough there and Trump was impeached for asking questions about it. Biden joked about his extortion on video. The CIA and Schiff manufactured a phony whistleblower and ran a secret kangaroo court to justify it. That happened in the U.S. All with a compliant press.

There is really no check on this corruption other than some exposure from about 5-10 independent media types. Congress can hold hearings, but nothing happens with an FBI and DOJ that protect the regime.