Bullshit. Trump, his policies and his dopey supporters aren't even republican. They're populist and short sighted at best. No conservative philosophy exists with magaturds. I believe the magaturd embrace of his populist horseshit has single handedly fucked the republican party for a long time coming.
To me, the one word at the heart of this disaster is "fight". Let me try to explain.
The voices these people trust have been telling them, literally for decades, that the country is rigged against them and that their only recourse is to "fight".
And who are these people they trust? They're media figures, originally radio, who have to communicate in sound bytes. Short, simple, shallow, clear, direct. In between commercial breaks. The media cannot hold an attention span for long, so it must repeat (and repeat and repeat, pun intended). A message requires frequency, repetition, to connect.
From Limbaugh to Hannity to Carlson, media does not allow for long form, detailed, in depth examination of issues and possible processes for improving things. That simply takes too long. It can only spit out scary stories and quick fixes in short bursts. So, rather than a careful, reasoned, comprehensive analysis of an issue, its possible causes, and the pros and cons of various fixes, these people get only get the quick answers that keep them tuning in: FIGHT. One word, five letters.
And, by the way, there is more than one way to FIGHT. FIGHT can mean "advocate for your positions". So one can FIGHT with intelligence, curiosity and care. But promoting that doesn't get ratings. So these people have been conditioned for decades to approach problems emotionally, by banging on them with a stick. What is the predictable result? Trump, MTG, Boebert, etc.