I was not aware of this part of the problem until recently but authoritarianism is built into the wiring of some people and threat perception activates it. So the crescendo from the 2008 economic meltdown and the attempt to help underwater mortgagees to the fears of Latino immigrants taking our jobs and Muslims bringing sharia to the heartland, not to mention recently stoked fears about LGBTQ+ and wokeness, have made enough people with electoral power lose their shit that someone like Trump is seen as a godsend:
[foreignpolicy.com]

Hopefully we retain enough checks and balances and state centered federalism to weather Trump 2.0.
[cambridge.org]

Project 2025 sounds scary.

It won’t be pretty.

Most rational thing I have ever read on this, and rings extremely true, sadly.
Since I was born in 1948, all the hope of a Better Life has been stomped out of America.
Reagan's (puppet for rich greedy folks, he never had actual thoughts IMO) "trickle down" was and is the most disastrous thing ever invented in what was previously the most upwardly-mobile society on earth, ever.