I am not offering an excuse but I'd like to explore a reason. One of many that led to Dolt45's popularity.

He makes stupid people feel justified, and there is no shortage of stupid people.

Additionally, grifters flock to crowds of stupid people, and encourage the stupidity as it makes for riper pickings.

Tribalism makes them feel all warm and good and justified and almost none of them question the good feeling. I mean, they feel like a group now, they got branding and songs and little ear tampon rituals.

We SORELY miss the necessity of ritual in our daily life and for some reason he gives his people rituals they like to participate in and he tells them they are all the good boys and girls and all the bad people that have been mean to them will get bopped on the nose.

It's very popular.

Hot Take That Will Make You Downvote Despite Agreeing with the First 80%: A large part of this is due to the demonization of religion by the left, and this has been going on for hundreds of years.

Humans have a religion shaped hole in them that can be filled with any number of things, but it is baked into our psyches and I don't think we are complete without participation in group shared values rituals.

Funny thing: Sports events hit all the exact same notes so before you ratheists come and reeeee at me, no part of anything I have written is dependent on the existence of a supernatural entity.