Darth Plagueis book showed what was implicit before: the Sith were consciously and methodically dismantling the checks and balances of the Republic and encouraging rot as part of the Grand Plan. Hego Damask was essentially every conspiracy theory about Klaus Schwab, BIll Gates, etc personified in the Star Wars universe, using immense wealth and moving pieces around the board to manipulate the Republic to a takeover of the Sith and the eradication of the Republic and the Jedi who guarded it.
He gets the leadership of the Trade Federation all killed and replaced by Nemoidians, uses various pawns like the Yinchorri, etc to stage attacks, manipulates the vote on taxation for Trade Routes that have to be paid for and when the Jedi can't be in enough places at once, gets the Senate to authorize the Trade Federation arming their ships and so on.
The plot requires the Jedi to be outwitted, but they're not the only ones. Recall how Padme is portrayed as idealistic and smart Queen and Senator, but she's outwitted by the Sith Lords in every movie. In Phantom Menace, she says she won't condone any action that leads to war even though the Sith Lords have already determined to attack Naboo anyway, likely having her killed so Darth Sidious can gain the sympathy vote to be elected Supreme Chancellor and name Darth Plegueis as Co-Chancellor.
In Attack of the Clones, Padme leads the fight against the Military Creation Act, which would have given the Republic an army of citizens loyal to the Senate and ideals of the Republic instead of relying on the overstretched Jedi or the clones that have subliminal programming or a control chip (depending where in the old EU or Disney stories you fall). She claims it will provoke the Separatists to war, but the Sith Lords have already planned to use the droids to attack the Republic anyway and stage the war to catch the Jedi in the meatgrinder and separate them as a cohesive force which would have stood against them. Then she consents to an illicit scandalous relationship with an emotionally unstable Jedi which is instrumental in his fall. She turns over power to Jar Jar, all of beings, who empowers Darth Sidious with emergency powers that are never rescinded.
In Revenge of the Sith, she outright admits that relationship if discovered will cause her recall from the Senate and likely lead to his expulsion. In deleted scenes she helps form the Rebellion yet refuses to openly stand against Palpatine, neglects to check her ship for her secret rendezvous and so on. In retrospect, she was clearly bait as much as Anakin's mother was to string along his fall.
Perhaps in the centuries before the prequels, the Jedi should have put some of the pieces together and/otherwise maintained an Inquisition periodically to find, expose, and prosecute clandestine Sith...
The Disney EU with Acolyte, etc only reinforces that.
