They understand perfectly, the majority of them are sociopaths. They're not stupid, but rather very smart and good at bullshiting a dumbed down electorate who believes their bullshit and it is a recipe for what we get. Virtually everything they do is to screw over the public in one way or another, to control and manipulate the public through the use of coercion, fear, and force. It's all the symptoms of a dumbed down, indoctrinated, doped up society. The vast majority of public is literally living in fear of the sociopathic scum.