It is a conspiracy theory of course (and therefore wrong, of course), but some people are of the opinion that somewhere within the vast unknown/unknowable mechanisms of government, there are forces that deliberately slice the population up into various opposing mini-ideological camps so as to keep their attention focused on their fellow citizens rather than their government.
It could be simple emergence, or something else, but it is physically possible to wonder what the truth of the matter is, despite it typically not being metaphysically possible.
> The game theory here is simply not in our favor. It rewards the most reckless state actors with wealth and power, until it is too late.
There are many games being played simultaneously: some seen, most not. And there is also the realm of potentiality: actions we could take, but consistently "choose" to not (which could be substantially a consequence of various other "conspiracy theories", like teaching humans to use and process language in a flawed manner, or think in a flawed manner).