There's a more interesting story in “Star Wars: The Phantom Menance” than we ever got to see

The Star Wars prequel trilogy was more political than the original series. I mean, “Star Wars: The Phantom Menance” started the film with a blockade and trade negotiations. And I felt that the plot was more sophisticated than the original series, as the main protagonist, Senator Palpatine/Darth Sidious, arranged events to come out on top no matter what happened:

By convincing the Trade Federation to blockade Naboo, his own homeworld, and coerce Queen Amidala to sign a treaty legitimizing the Federation occupation, he has already won the day and now must keep up appearances with the Trade Federation so they don't rat him out. Having the Federation attack the Jedi, symbols of the Republic's power, he only strengthened his position. No matter what, all roads led to Valorum's removal, and the path forward for his ascendancy to the Chancellorship out of sympathy for his planet's plight was clear.

• Should Queen Amidala sign the treaty, Palpatine can lobby against this action in the Senate for Valorum's removal due to allowing this to take place.
• Should Queen Amidala escape into exile or be killed, Palpatine has himself a martyr to use for this same lobby. Should the Jedi be killed, the Republic would be forced to acknowledge the under-the-table actions Valorum had taken to try and avert this without taking a stand.
• With Queen Amidala's successful escape, she fell right into his lap for him to demonstrate the corruption of the Republic firsthand, manipulating her into calling for Valorum's removal, with public support on her side due to their plight.

XanatosGambit / Live-Action Films - TV Tropes

But the fact that Senator Palpatine is a Sith Lord is beside the point—it's the politics of the Republic that lead to this. And in the two hour video “I read all the Star Wars books, and now I understand the prequels,” Timothy Hickson does a deep dive into history of the Republic and how it ended up where two Sith Lords were able to basically take over the galaxy (“Kevin”—the name of the galaxy is Kevin) without having to really use The Force at all. He also goes into how the Jedi Knights are basically the Republic's CIA (not so much in the “intelligence gathering” aspect and more in the “secret wet works to get the Republic's way” aspect).

Any parallels with our current time is, I suspect, purely unintentional.