That all said, I come back to your original point, how do people fail to recognize Trump for what he is? And if they do, why do they not see where it will take them?

To simplify that answer, I would say that most people are not able to deduce outcomes in the medium to longer term with any accuracy. It is not something that occurs to them. They look to their immediate needs, and they make no correlation between a weak character, a weak mind, and subsequent 'weak actions.'

This is a lack of a specific kind of creative intelligence. People have it in varying degrees, but conservatives, operating from the Amygdala either don't have it or they don't use it.

However, even liberals who recognise the failings of character of someone, and this could be the result of education (socialized) rather than any innate education, failed to recognize the dangers of climate change (which I understood at the age of 21 in 1972.

As for reaching 4 or 5 degrees above the designated point of survival, I have written many essays about climate change here, and my constant point is that weather and disastrous events will now happen with increasing frequency and intensity - fire, floods, hurricanes, and even sub-strata events and the fears with start to happen within the next three to seven years.

By that time, people will be screaming blood, but to no avail - they will still be driving cars, and building an amenable public transport system will be a little too late. There will be a lot of other outcomes which I have covered.

Einstein said that humanity was stupid. It took me a long time to realise that. Dunning Kruger applies.