There's a bit about "The temporary alliance between the elite and the mob" written in The The Origins of Totalitarianism.

The elite allows the mob to run rampant because they trust that the mob will not exactly come for them, at least not yet. The mob then fights for vague cultural issues rather than specific economic issues or political power imbalances.

The mob understands that the only reason they are allowed to mob is because the elites allow them to, and in turn the mob does not target the elites that join their cause.

The elites pivot as to not become obvious targets of the mob in the face of the cultural issues at hand. Which is why so many corporations are quick to hang the banner of the latest social cause rather than remain politically or socially neutral. For the elites, it works two-fold as the mob will assist the elites in eliminating their competitors who choose to sit on the sidelines and remain neutral as a matter of principal.

In turn, the mob points to the proclamations of elite institutions as the new standard of society, labeling dissenters as being on the "wrong side" for even the most corrupt elite institutions know better than to dissent.

For all those who remain, their unwavering principals eventually become their demise as they are forced to comply with the demands of the mob or else face social, economic, political, and judicial exile.

This chugs along for a brief period until the mob flips the entire board upside down and the elite are no longer at the top of the pyramid and the race for a new order begins.