[jollybean]

No, 50% of GOP voters are beholden to Trump and will do what he says. Liz Cheney is being ousted by him right now. Trump is backing candidates who support him against those who do not, making a lot of GOP afraid to speak out.

Oddly, if he does announce he's not running, he may lose influence.

Trump has to keep the appearance of power otherwise the structure will eat him alive, they hate him.

He'll have to keep fighting all the way to the grave.

[prox]

I honestly can understand that mindset “Whatever dude X does, however weird, obnoxious, or morally questionable, I am going to vote for him.”

I just can’t if you believe in democracy, however it’s still 50% that doesn’t, although 30% that just want to “win” is still weird.

[jollybean]

The politicians do it for power.

The 'people' are stupid and put their egos before reality.

They are also inclined to support people over ideas, and many of them legitimately believe the election was rigged because Trump and Newsmax/Foxnews told them so. So in a weird and perverse way, they are 'acting in good faith'.

'The Big Lies' are possible when people are already sensitive about it and 'want to believe it' i.e. they just need a reason to believe.

This is usually what we mean by populism.