He is a cult leader. More than a decade in the making. Hes the leader of a cult

I think a lot of Americans like to feel special/different/superior and Trump helps feed that addiction

I'm not from the US and so it's officially not my business. But from what I've seen around the webs is that he has gathered a loyal following all around the US. Seems he has enough loyals on his side to stay in the race. But I don't know a lot about the political system in the US. Excuse me if I'm wrong here.

Ridiculously enough, it's still a neck & neck race and Trump still very much has a good chance of winning. And he really has no incentive to drop out, he absolutely needs to get back into power in order to quash all these lawsuits against him, because at the end of the day, that's the only thing that matters to him. Biden had the humility to drop out for the good of both the Democratic party and for the Country, Trump has no humility whatsoever and doesn't care if he tanks the Republican party or plunges the Country into some sort of Civil War 2.0 (not likely, but it's a possibility), none of that is a priority to him.

This is kind of similar to the Roman Republic in some ways. Holding on to power made some Roman officials immune to being summoned to court while they were in office, and our own Supreme Court has almost brought that practice back (give them a few more years for the rest). So the incentive for shitty office holders is to just keep holding on to office so that none of their illegal shit they do comes back to haunt them. That November sentencing will mean nothing to him if he becomes President again.

1. metacognitive myopia explained why people didn't/couldn't update their beliefs about the existence of "weapons of mass destruction etc".
2. dogwhistling the threat of sexual revolution "comrade kamala" (i.e., he's implying hypocrisy when he doesn't understand what lenin's use of the term "prostitute" meant).
3. playing the fool until you can't (i.e., making his base feel insightful and "seen" as playfully serious, homophilically/mimetically charismatic; e.g., his base feels like their inference-making is being promoted based on linguistic sympathy through the aura of charisma).
4. from (3) somewhere in his administration they're letting the would-be "fool" base do the grunt-work and creating cover; see "Optimal Team Formation Under Asymmetric Information".

Many other comments here have a share in the reasons, but a huge reason is he’s looking at more state and federal charges, and more lawsuits (which haven’t going well for him).

He NEEDS to run and WIN so he can make all these cases go away for good.

Billionaires and their desire to have real wage slavery (even more so than now) and to not have to pay taxes.

Ego. Trump's narcissistic, authoritarian personality won't allow him to retreat or surrender in what he sees as a popularity contest.

Donald Trump, the Man who called our Soldiers Losers and Suckers while Praising our Enemies and Residing over one of the Deadliest periods for our Secret Agents abroad, is a PATRIOT WHO LOVES AMERICA and KAMALA, who is LITERALLY the Vice President right and never Stole any Top Secret US Documents, HATES THIS COUNTRY!

BILLIONAIRE Donald Trump LOVES the Working Class while Prosecutor who went Lenient on First Time Offenders and Non Violent Offenders Kamala Harris HATES the Working Class!

Donald Trump, who Presided over the DEADLIEST YEAR IN AMERICAN HISTORY, will Protect us while LITERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER Kamalamala Harris WONT!

I believe the answer is "A lot of Americans".

Inertia?

Hatred of brown people and Adderall

So this is a community for venting and asking rhetorical questions now?

He has an army of cultists who are leaving in an entirely different reality to the rest of us.

Greed and jail is keeping him in the race. Followed by narcissism and the drive for power. (The last 2 are a requirements for a politician of any stripe).

how else could the Democrats win?

every election they pander more to the right and if someone does not run that is worse what would they have to campaign on?

progressive politics?

If you really want to know why Trump is still competitive, listen to Anthony Scaramucci, a.k.a. The Mooch. He worked for Trump for a couple of weeks before being fired by him. The Mooch is a long-time conservative investor-type who knows Trump well and can't stand him, so he has been helping the Democrats. Thr Mooch really understands Trump and his followers. I'm pretty sure he helped with Harris's debate prep, especially helping her understand how to get under Trump's skin.

He hosts a great podcast along with Katty Kay called The Rest Is Politics US (as opposed to the parent program The Rest Is Politics UK). https://tripus.supportingcast.fm

In particular, check out the last two post-debate episodes:

#27 Trump vs. Harris: What You Didn't See

#28 Why Kamala Harris Still Has a Problem

Why did the cubs have such a hardcore fanbase despite their legendary drought? A lot of people root for their team, not vote for their best interests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFgcqB8-AxE

Also, some people see abortion as a really big deal. The Vatican says they see abortion as an assassination, but also likes Harris allowing immigrants to come in.

You have to remember that the voters are human beings, complete with areas of ignorance, prejudices, and logical fallibility. Trump certainly is aware of that and exploits it to the maximum extent.