mostly shocked how high conservatives (and i mean a lot of them) can career-climb, unable to realize the explicit threat profile 2 elections prior.

My working theory is there have been two kinds of Trump supporters since he came on the scene 9 years ago. The willfully blind, and the truly dumb.

The truly dumb are mainly the cannon fodder. They're holding tiki torches and waving all sorts of flags and attending the endless rallies and invading public buildings. They buy the Trump garbage, both literally (as in various and sundry trinkets) and figuratively (all of the lies and BS he spews).

The willfully blind are the career climbers you speak of. They see the problems Trump poses, but are so confident in themselves they think they will not fall victim to the Trump tornado of havoc. They figure they can continue to career climb with Trump, so they turn a blind eye and continue to press on, seeking ever more power and money.

These willfully blind end up in one of two places: they get caught in the havoc and, being high up in positions of some power, end up making the news headlines when they get shocking criminal convictions. Or they end their willful blindness before it's too late and are now endorsing Harris.

As to the cannon fodder, they stay poor, wasting their money on Trump Trinkets and traveling to his rallies. They waste their time on the internet, endlessly posting and reposting whatever Trump garbage comes of his mouth hole or whatever gets amplified on their favorite web sites and TV channels. They remain ignorant of anything in life that doesn't directly affect them and cannot conceive of anyone having different choices or preferences to their own. The dumbest end up breaking laws and getting convicted for doing dumb stuff in cases that almost never make the news.

--Peter