America’s two major political parties have absolutely failed the public.

Right now, President Joe Biden is doing everything in his power to try to kill the narrative that he’s, at best, too old and, at worst, needs to immediately resign from office because of some neurological decline.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump is a convicted felon over falsifying business records and is under investigation for absconding with classified documents, fomenting a riot in the Capitol, and a conspiracy to defraud the American public with a hare-brained fake elector scheme. Lest we forget, he’s been found civilly liable for sexual assault, the details of which were precisely described in leaked audio from an Access Hollywood tape in 2016.

This is the best we can do? Apparently so, which is why one of the most underrated stories lost in the weeds of this hyperdrive election cycle is just how outraged American citizens are across the political spectrum.

And yet? This is who we currently have to choose from for the next president. (Sorry, RFK Jr.: your candidacy isn’t serious, and your recent public comments about 9/11 and not eating humans have only confirmed your campaign as a joke.)

My largely conservative pals from suburban Kansas City, as well as my center-left Brownstone Brooklyn friends, both have essentially given up. They see Trump as the buffoon that he is but are gobsmacked by Biden’s consistent incoherence. But theirs is not an apathetic indifference; it’s more of an incandescent anger of disappointment and frustration.

There is palpable anger amongst the politically informed and conventionally wise set of the body politic. It is not the typical rabble found on the fringes, easily roused by extremist messaging, but the social contract-abiding and conventionally wise that exists across the political spectrum.

And yet, turn on cable news, and while you see poll results of distrust and dissatisfaction, what’s missing is just how pissed people are with BOTH the Republican and Democratic leadership and apparatus.

Democrats have long blasted the Republican Party for its fealty to Trump, opting for personal gain over a principled stance. Now, we see that shoe on the other foot, with Democrats sitting on their hands as if nothing can be done apart from a sudden conversion of Joe Biden to realize he doesn’t have what it takes anymore.

The political media ecosystem loves to focus on the horse race, the showdown between these two particular candidates, and their flaws. What’s missing in today’s coverage is the much larger story: Neither Trump nor Biden is the problem. They are mere symptoms of a larger systemic malady: America has turned into a gerontocracy that gives far too much power to those in power so they can stay in power.

This entirely applies to the access media landscape, which is working hand in glove with this system by showing more interest in relationships than speaking truth to a power structure—and bottom line—they fear upsetting. The media, particularly cable news, has little incentive to go after the system that gave us these two decrepit olds because they are firmly entrenched in it and benefit from it.

Need a real-world example, look no further than today. An embattled and defiant Joe Biden called into Morning Joe Monday morning to reiterate his obstinate stand of staying in the raise. Donald Trump is doing an interview with his ideological friend Sean Hannity on Fox News. Morning Joe seemed unwilling to press Biden, and Hannity almost certainly won’t press Trump because doing so would limit future access to powerful men, making clear what matters most: access to power not reporting the truth for the betterment of a divided nation.

Now, this sad development is not entirely the fault of the political apparatus or the press. Media consumers deserve some blame because we don’t click on stories of systemic problems, especially when unverified gossip and horse races are options.  (I’m starting with the man in the mirror…)

There has long been growing distrust in American institutions, and this particular presidential election appears to be as pure an expression of a failed two-party political system that we have today. While this divisive landscape has us blaming Biden and Trump for being less than, the political establishment deserves the most blame for leaving us in this situation.

But hey, maybe this is the thing that will finally unite a deeply divided nation.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.