She put my recent thoughts into words: they simply can NOT admit that they were wrong about Trump, especially since they've curated their new identity around him.
After all, many sacrificed their family life on the altar of Trump. If you make a stand for bigotry that's so rancid it drives your kids to sever contact, you have to believe it's in service of something higher or else come to grips with your own moral failings. I know which one I believe is more likely.
It's the rotten core of the anti-intellectual ideology that the right has been pushing for decades.
This. I can't solve this, and neither can any other individual person.
It will take a wide spread implosion, but they've got a resilient ecosystem that will just switch messianic figures out once Trump is no longer able to hold public sway.
Anti-intellectual theology as well. "God and Country" evangelical churches from the smallest to the largest find it absolutely crucial to brainwash their congregations against higher ed and critical thinking.