While being largely correct, looking at his popularity misses the forest for the tree.

Trump is very much a symptom, not a cause. He is simply the kind of personality most fit for the media environment.

The media environment on the right has essentially eschewed journalistic standards for political and economic velocity.

Fringe theories get introduced during podcasts, which then get brought up by guests on Fox. Members of the government point out that the news media is talking about fringe theory X, which then gets repeated by the news media. Eventually the government opens up an investigation or creates a task force to address the issue.

It is not that people don’t come up with objections or counter narratives on the right, it’s just that they don’t get platformed.

Verification is the expensive part of journalism. If you eschew verification. You can be more efficient. Today the right is simply the more “efficient” political consensus manufacturing machine.

This is foundation upon which the rest of the events occur. This is why there will always be space for another character to appear.