I wonder if you have actually had one of these conversations. They’ve never heard Trump say those things. They have no ideas what’s in his policies, or his speeches, or anything about anything. They just know what’s been reported to them, and it’s all Trump all the way.

It’s hard. Humans are wired a certain way. They knit together into little societies where everyone agrees about certain things. And if literally every single person including every flesh and blood person you talk with, and every person you are parasocially connected with on the TV and Facebook and all these weird news sites with names like realpatriotrollofhonor.com, all agrees it’s one way, and furthermore anyone who disagrees with any of it is the ENEMY and needs to be attacked and ostracized, it’s pretty tough to get to the truth on your own.

I think having a bizarrely fractured world in your head where this stuff all makes sense is much more common than just being a POS who loves authoritarians. I’m not trying to excuse any of it in any way - just saying what I think is going on.