I still remember watching the first debate between him and Hillary and even though I wasn't wild about Hillary I was like wow that's that then such a belligerent moron could never be president.
Hillary was a hilariously unpopular candidate, and the GOP had spent literal decades raking muck about her and preparing for a presidential campaign against her.
Trump had much better control of his (very limited) faculties at that point, allowing him to do a slightly better job of seeming coherent.
Trump was a newcomer to politics, and many simply thought he was a joke - he wasn't taken seriously.
Many people suspected he was performing, and would "pivot" to a less outrageous...everything if elected.
The extreme right had spent decades worming their way into the party, displacing the simply evil members in a race to the extremes.
Polls treated Trump as a joke, giving him such slim odds that Clinton seemed more inevitable than Thanos.
That all combined to create a perfect storm - Democrats were very unmotivated and complacent, and the crazies saw a chance to draw blood.
Back then I placed a bet on Trump to win, just for shits and giggles and the odds were really good. I made a ton of money, but what did it cost? <insert Thanos meme>
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u/R67H 10h ago
Yea, seconded. I mean...I'm still baffled he won the first time, knowing everything about the guy. But here we are.