[mindslight]

I agree, but it goes much deeper than this. The pandemic provided a powerful distraction and an amorphous "other" to blame. Without the pandemic, after a first Grump term most voters would have seen his simplistic-destructive policies and ineffectual thrashing for what they were in the context of business as usual, and he would have been a one term failure.

The pandemic provided healthy doses of copium. It absolved Grump of responsibility for not achieving any of the reforms he promised in 2016 (having to deal with the pandemic instead). It created something that looks like a coordinated conspiracy, even though it is just people's obvious reactions to mitigate a pandemic. It created a whole bunch of "unprecedented" authoritarian actions by institutions even though you merely had to look back to previous pandemics to see precedents.

All of these effects also applied to Grump personally as well, as it seemed like the "deep state" was lined up against him (in the same way that one's entire family becomes "against them" as their dementia progresses), creating his obvious conclusion that the administrative state (ie the system that has brought us prosperity and stability in the post-WWII period) must be destroyed.