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Nearly 450 years ago, a French philosopher wrote a book that feels like a precursor to "The White Lotus," HBO's hit TV show set in a luxury resort that follows various groups of guests as tensions build among them. In Jean Bodin's "Colloquium of the Seven About Secrets of the Sublime," a fabulously wealthy Venetian nobleman named Coronaeus invites six guests to his home for a week of amusement and conversation.

Most liberals think they know how such a gathering would go: As soon as politeness permits, our illiberal guests will huddle up to trade tips and strike deals on consolidating and expanding their power. They might, for example, discuss which troll farms most effectively spread disinformation at home and abroad. They would likely sketch out informal trade and travel arrangements should one of their members face international sanctions. No doubt they would swap notes on the best financial institutions for offshoring wealth " personal and national alike, a line they conveniently blur anyway.

Such is the dominant view of the liberal commentariat.