Spot on. I don't know what else to say, I've got my own position and takes, but they basically rhyme with yours.
I think it comes down to the power of propaganda, which reactionaries (previously called "conservatives") have been uncritically slurping down for decades. It's about turning off your reasoning and blindly following the party line. Hours of hate preaching on talk radio every day was merely a harmless way to blow off steam, right up until it wasn't. And now it isn't even confined to radio, but is across every avenue of "social media", where overly simplistic takes use up all the air in the room.
I think it comes down to the power of propaganda, which reactionaries (previously called "conservatives") have been uncritically slurping down for decades. It's about turning off your reasoning and blindly following the party line. Hours of hate preaching on talk radio every day was merely a harmless way to blow off steam, right up until it wasn't. And now it isn't even confined to radio, but is across every avenue of "social media", where overly simplistic takes use up all the air in the room.