As citizens, it’s fine to question authority. To question our government. Pork spending. Massive influence of special interest groups. How our money is spent. How and why we send our troops in dangers way. On and on.
But, in Trump (and his followers), we had and have something entirely different. Trump, being an instigator of conspiracy theories from the getgo, has convinced his followers that everything is a conspiracy to get him.
Many still believe Obama is a Muslim born in Kenya.
Many still believe the Venezuelan conspiracy about our voting machines.
Many (most?) still hang on to the stolen election.
1/6 was a false flag operation.
The warrant on his home was a coverup for Operation Hurricane.
Fraud here, fake there, everywhere a hoax hoax. But only when he was criticized.
Anyone who criticized him was is/was automatically a liar and the enemy.
Trump openly and on the international stage took the side of Putin over our own intelligence agencies.
He openly lied about what he knew about COVID, downplayed it, openly shit on on one of the most knowledgeable and dedicated infectious disease experts, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands, if not more, Americans.
He gave tacit, even open approval, to white nationalists. Open racism, as seen on this forum and elsewhere, has become normalized.
His constant lies and distortions have normalized that behavior. His supporters ignore and/or condone it.
I’m not sure that Republicans, in general, don’t love or trust America. I think even Trump supporters, in their own twisted way, still love this country. But, they have allowed their minds to be poisoned by a toxic person. We’ve seen it before in cult leaders. Now, we’ve experienced it in one of our political leaders.