To speak on Trump briefly, it IS true that Republicans were similarly foolish in nominating Trump, in that any other person they might have nominated would likely sweep the floor with Biden, given how unpopular he is. But at least for Republicans, they can say their voters chose Trump (however bewilderingly insane that choice is).
(The rest of your post is good, and I may respond to it as time permits, but this particular point is touching on being a factual error on a topic that should not be downplayed.)
How death threats get Republicans to fall in line behind Trump (January 2024)
Trump’s most fanatical followers have created a situation where challenging him carries not only political risks but also personal ones. Elected officials who dare defy the former president face serious threats to their well-being and to that of their families — raising the cost of taking an already difficult stand.
As a result, the threat of violence is now a part of the American political system, to the point where Republican officials are — by their own admissions — changing the way they behave because they fear it. For Richer, the price back in 2021 was high — and enough to prevent him from safely participating in his own party’s politics.
“Violence and threats against elected leaders are suppressing the emergence of a pro-democracy faction of the GOP,” writes Rachel Kleinfeld, an expert on political violence at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Absent threats, Kleinfeld argues, a move to Trump from inside the party — perhaps a more serious challenge in the presidential primary — might have had a better chance of getting off the ground.
In her paper, Kleinfeld notes a striking example of this effect at work — a comment by Kim Ward, the Trump-supporting Republican leader of the Pennsylvania state Senate, on what would happen if she spoke out against the former president.
“I’d get my house bombed tonight,” Ward said.
As someone who is generally pretty far-left-leaning myself, I think there is a great deal of perfectly fair criticism of Biden's re-nomination, about machine politics, donors, inside baseball, and fear of rocking the boat. But I don't believe a major factor in his re-nomination was threats of violence from his supporters targeting his opponents, with Biden's own not-so-subtle approval. (Doubtless one of our blue posters can find an example or two to the contrary - we are a country with over 300,000,000 people - but what I'm speaking of is pattern and practice, and that is only found within one party this election.)
