>> It seems much more likely that I don't fully understand their perspective. I think two things are going on here: 1.) There is a radicalized minority of cons

>> It seems much more likely that I don't fully understand their perspective. I think two things are going on here: 1.) There is a radicalized minority of conservatives that believe in Q, storm the capital, etc etc. I think this minority is growing in size, as their publicity alone is lending them credence. It's easier to get someone to believe what they want to believe, than the truth if it goes against their world view, etc etc. 2.) The large majority of R voters are not off the wagon lunatics, and many claim they liked trump the least of all the R cannidates in 2016. But I think huge portions (*of both sides*) are so conditioned to whatever group of beliefs they hold, that they will never switch or compromise. So now we have a bat shit crazy president, because he out primaried several indistinguishable moderate opponents in 2016, and the whole R side (that is not stark raving mad) went with him, purely because they couldnt even start to entertain the thought of ever voting for a D. And now some of them are becoming radicalized, and it's kinda scary when people you know to be rational are asking you about election fraud... remember, its easy to believe what you want to believe... Below is something I posted some time ago, where I tried to outline how I thought many trump voters rationalized voting for him. >>. What I fail to understand, as a foreigner, is how someone can vote for a president who is an outright liar. Look no further than his last tweets as of right now. I don't fully understand it myself, but as it's been explained to me by trump supporters is: "don't listen to what he says, look at all the good policy, look at how hard he is on China, look at how many jobs there were pre covid, etc etc". Whether or not you see his policy as good, some people do, and they are willing to overlook his madness because they think he is achieving good things. (actions speak louder than words, etc) Some of his supports do bring up his appointing of tons of federal judges, and this what I would probably consider the most valid reason for voting for him (if one is aligned to a more conservative viewpoint), as his judges are more likely to enforce (or not) the laws that align with "traditional" republican political ideals, and that's the what matters to the voters. Or also because they've always voted R, and Biden= socialism (which is worse than satan worship according to some people's moral codes..), or Biden= Let our cites get burnt down by rioters. This goes back to the, it's easier to vote against someone than for someone. And now that I put this all in words, this second justification is probably what I heard the most during trumps 4 years, some peoples defense of trump always came down to, "but hillary would be way worse". Some level of cognitive dissonance definitely plays into it. Also having some subset of the population support a populist, pathologically lying sociopath is not necessarily a new or uniquely American problem. It's just that the problems seem to be amplified when they are American, cuz everyone is watching.