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While there are still serious concerns about how wishy-washy Trump is on Russia, that's a separate issue from "Russiagate" which was related to specific coordination possibly through blackmail. It might seem like any criticism of Trump's position on Russia is synonymous with "Russiagate", but when properly disambiguated I'd say not many Dems really believe in the crazier takes (e.g. Trump is a KGB plant).
I also think you're not really understanding what I (or the writers I linked) mean by "crank". A crank isn't just anyone who believes in stuff that isn't supported by science or evidence, it's specifically conspiratorial views like QAnon or "Bill Gates is microchipping us through vaccines" or "global elites want open borders to genocide white people". It's distrust of amorphous undefined "elites", who are perceived to have a secret evil agenda. Someone who believes in religion or astrology is wrong, obviously, but I wouldn't call them a crank.
It sure didn't seem that way back when it was discussed on the subreddit during Trump's first term. Maybe they honestly changed their mind, but it just feels like they got quiet after seeing they won't make a lot of hay with it.
"The police are hunting down innocent, unarmed, black men like they were animals"? "Patriarchy"? "Rape culture"? "Systemic racism"? Before you try to do a motte-and-bailey on these, bare in mind that there's no shortage of people actually believing the bailey.
Also how do true conspiracist beliefs enter into it? Were people who believed in Epstein's Pedo Island For The Elites back in, say 2018, cranks? Am I a crank if a believe in a conspiracy of Queer Theorist clinicians and academics to normalize and promote various forms of body modification? Am I a crank for believing children walk into gender clinics identifying as inanimate objects, and gender clinics are happily affirming them with little to no pushback? Am I a crank if I believe some global elites are coordinating to promote LGBT acceptance, including putting pressure on politicians through private channels, if the the pushback from the local culture turns out to be too high for them to take a stand publically?
If the term "crank" includes true beliefs I have to question it's usefulness. If it doesn't, how do you handle cases where the truth of a given belief is uncertain? Are people who thought it's plausible for Imane Khelif to be male cranks? What about people who think Epstein didn't kill himself?
How do your resolve these questions in a way that doesn't boil down to "people who disagree with me are cranks"?
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