The thing that most confounds me about people's diehard support of Trump is...why him, of all people? Lord knows he's far from the first racist/sexist/xenophobic person to be in politics, and he's certainly not the first corrupt person in office, either. He's also not the first politician who's told people things they wanted to hear, no matter how untrue they were. And so on.
But while other politicians like him have had their supporters, they never seemed to develop this insane cult-ish fervor around them of the sort that Trump has. What the hell is it about him specifically that has people so hellbent on following him to the bitter end?
As for the talk of QAnon and such, I don't know if this could even be possible, but honestly, whenever we do get actual competent people back in office, if such a thing were possible, I'd be okay with them passing some sort of new law or something that states that if you belong to or support some kind of wacko cult like that one (or Scientology, or things of that sort), or are part of or support white supremacist/neo-Nazi groups and organizations, you should be barred from ever being allowed to run for any kind of political office. Just stop these people from even getting their foot in the door to begin with.
Well, I think there are many factors here. Interestingly, a good place to start are some of the documentaries that have come out lately. Netflix - Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator ... Netflix - Wild, Wild Country... HBO - The Vow... Netflix - Jeffrey Epstein, Filthy Rich, and obviously anything to do with Scientology.
But what do most have in common? The people leading the cult, like Jim Jones are sociopaths, or even more likely are clinical narcissist/sociopaths. They have a particular skill in being able to both easily con people, and their lack of any true empathy or guilt, coupled with a sense of grandiosity completely consumes people that are susceptible to these cons. Listening to Epstein and Bikram speak, is like a mirror image of Trump. It's uncanny and surreal.
Then couple this again with a population with simmering racist attitudes that have been held back by societal norms/expectations, made worse by a successful black president for 8 years, that just ate away at them.
Then double it up again with Trump being a "known" quantity from years of press coverage and TV, all from superficial media touting how successful and powerful he is.
Then there is human nature. The stronger people push back at what you believe in, the stronger your belief gets. And you see that the only way that people usually leave a cult, or snap out of their brainwashed state, is if something happens to them personally that suddenly opens their eyes. ie. a death from Covid, having an LGBTQ child that has lost rights in some way, you're a manufacturing worker that gets your plant shut down that Trump promised he would save, you have a child or sibling in the military that Trump calls a sucker or loser, etc...
But beyond that. They are IN. And no one can shake them. Two main driving factors. They revel not in Trump's successes legislatively, because that would be insane. But they revel in the fact that Trump trolls the media and owns the libs. He spits in the face of the people that they feel look down on them. And second, he legitimizes their racist hate and fear. Something no other president or candidate has done quite so outwardly, while also possessing the sociopath/narcissistic personality to sell it.
As for your last portion. I think we can all agree that's a slippery slope that no one wants to go down. It is up to voters to purge any whack jobs. I would say we did ok up until these last 4 years. But I hope that we can rest with some sense that the majority of Americans still side with decency, and will keep flare ups of bat shit crazy at bay.
