@Silverbirchtwo explained it perfectly. That is what Trumpers think in a nutshell - and that is all their single brain cell can manage 😂
They love his swagger, just like voters in this country are cozened by a certain, floppy-haired tory. Oh, and they think he'll win and they want to vote for a winner just like people support a team/side because it wins regularly.
I've heard a few US republicans admit that when Trump ran previously, they abstained but that doesn't keep Trump out of the White House. It takes an actual vote for the democratic candidate and for many of them, as much as they did not like Trump, that was a step too far.
For many Americans, the issues are set in stone by party and the candidates are irrelevant because the party machinery determines how the votes go in Congress and that is what changes or maintains the laws, similar to in the UK. If you vote for your local candidate, you do so because you're expecting that person to represent your issues in Parliament.
US military personnel and hawks will always vote republican (tory) because they support defense spending; if you're serving it pays your salary. 'Business' will vote republican (tory) because that leads to lower taxes and decreased restrictions and erosion of rights for workers. Teachers will vote democratic because tax money supports their field and pays their salaries (similar to NHS workers and teachers in the UK voting anti-tory). If you support women's rights and respect diversity and are pro-choice, you'll vote democratic in the US (anyone who follows US politics will know how republicans vote about abortion).
Personally, I'll be organising an absentee postal vote for myself to support that yellow dog, Biden. Just like I did for that yellow dog, Hilary - another terrible choice to pit against Trump - even though it was futile. See if you can work out which state. Last time, Trump carried my state: the shame! I think Trump is horrible and I support the issues on the democratic 'manifesto' (as Brits would think of it)
I don't understand why the democrats can't find a decent, tall, young-ish (gotta be 40+ to be POTUS) , straight, white man to nominate - a John Kerry/John Edwards type without too much baggage (both of them were no worse than Clinton). With Kamala as his VP, he might have a chance.
Actually, as a lifelong democrat, I do know: the very thing that makes you a democrat means you support diversity and means you are too far up in your ivory tower to line up a simple winner like the ticket above. Instead you run Pete Buttigieg who ticks a lot of the above boxes but is openly gay and married to another man. Most of the US electorate will NEVER vote for anything other than a straight, white man. (I'm very glad Obama won but I have no idea how he pulled that off; maybe they were all secretly voting for Biden, his VP?)
Whereas, greedy republicans will simply run the candidate most likely to win - they're not trying to make a statement; they don't have any principles . They know that the Trumpers will hand them the keys to the White House and sweep many republicans to other offices, giving a republican majority across the country so they can pass shockingly draconian legislation even more easily. [Consider Texas where the state and local republicans have created some of the most repressive legislation in the western hemisphere.]
Also, the senior republicans will (arrogantly) feel like they can manage Trump for their own ends even better now that they've had 4 years' practice. They are all doing deals with each other. Maybe they'll even bring back that Neanderthal Pence - it worked last time because he made the traditional republicans (the old white businessmen) feel safe.