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You’re right that the numbers who actually change their voting behavior off of this may seem unimpressive but “roughly half the country” means a very different thing in the modern American two party system than it does in typical day to day human life. 2008 was the most recent politically relevant election that was considered to be a true landslide and the popular vote result was 53% to 46%.
If I’m taking a poll of 20 coworkers to see where we want to go to lunch and 11 of them want pizza and 9 of them want tacos I would consider that a very close decision. But in modern American politics a vote that close is a blowout. A small percent of Trump voters switching sides next time or just not voting changes things dramatically. And this type of insane and economically destructive brain rot if it isn’t stopped immediately is the exact type of thing that will make that happen.
I absolutely despise the ethos of the modern left and have from the very moment I became aware of it when I was literally a middle schooler. But I’m not supporting a cult of personality whose leader is hellbent on crashing the global economy just because. If this keeps up and whoever gets the GOP nod in 2028 isn’t clearly intent on changing course I don’t think I can stomach it any longer. I don’t know how many people like me are out there but if even s small percentage of the vote defecting can make a big difference.
I don't really disagree with anything you've written here, although I have some quibbles around the edges. In 1984, Reagan won with a margin of over 18%. Close elections aren't an immutable fact of the US electoral system, they're just a modern result of (most likely) partisan echo chambers.
I agree even small victories can bring outsized vibe shifts. The most recent election was a good example, with Trump barely winning but everyone treating it like he won by a 40% margin.
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