I feel this. My in-laws voted for Trump because Biden was going to outlaw Catholicism in the United States. Absolute lunatics.

Yeah, like I went down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole because of all the fuckery around 9/11 but then left the Alex Jones part of it when it became clear he didn't really gaf about changing anything, which meant he either didn't believe it or was working with them instead of against them (leaning more towards him just making shit up, though I did still believe that things weren't what they seemed with how society was run). The nail in the coffin for me was a very high production value video explaining what was going on that ended with a "but I have an answer, wait for the next video to find out!" And I'm thinking "wait, cliffhangers are engagement bait, not something you should say after talking about how the elites want to reduce the world population to like 100 million. He's just in it for the money, also how the fuck is he producing such high production quality videos?"

It wasn't aligned with either US politics "side" and subscribed to the "it's all an act, they are all buddy buddy behind closed doors" point of view, but I came out of it around the end of the Bush era, was happy to see Obama win but disappointed in how his actual presidency went (he seemed to have the resolve of a wet noodle when it came to actually fighting for the right things.

It was baffling as fuck when the conspiracy theory crowd was aligned behind fucking Donald Trump, of all people. Seemed like the poster boy for the elites rather than a saviour. I didn't watch a ton of the apprentice but none that I did see gave me any kind of positive impression of him. He just seemed like the asshole type of boss.

Pizzagate was also stupid as fuck (why the fuck would a pedophile ring for rich people operate out of the basement of a public building?). And gamergate was one of the lamest whiny things I've seen (though not sure how much of that came from the conspiracy side, it might have been going after a different audience).

Like I get how it feels going down that rabbit hole, things that were confusing can make more sense and there's truth at the core of it, but you need to continue using critical thought or you just end up becoming someone's tool. The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend!

They aren't stupid, they are selfish and ego driven, and they base success/goodness on the number in their bank account.

The fact the most Americans sell their morals is a part of the culture and something that needs to change before things get better.