I think it's because they are forced to do everything opposite of what Trump did, and need to make it work. It doesn't.
After you've spent 5 years bashing everything Trump and criticizing his policies, and he's still standing with unwavering support, you have to prove that your way is better. It's the only option they hadve. No one's buying what they're selling on a logical, pragmatic level, so they've resorted to force feeding it because they can blame stubborn, selfish people for their own failure.
Imagine if Trump gets back in and fixes everything they fucked up in a couple of months. You could put the rule by political elites paradigm in the Smithsonian as an a exhibit of how they did politics back in the day.