> Maybe but we have also seen a swing in how politics works (gotten more extreme).

I've seen the same and done similar. I'm now in the unhappy position of voting against instead of voting for.

I'm in the same boat. I think everyone dramatically underestimates how many of us Trump refugees there are. Some of us are never trumpers and actually voted for Biden, some of us held our nose and voted for Trump. But the extreme right that fuels MAGA doesn't have as much support as people think, and the main reason why Trump stands a chance this year is because the left has made no overtures whatsoever to the center and center-right.

Going along with the… let’s say poorly supported by the facts notions that illegal immigrants are meaningful in terms of rising violent crime rates (which—to avoid accidentally contributing to the problem, no, they’re not rising) or fentanyl smuggling, and backing that not just with rhetoric but with policy in some cases is, I think, one thing the democratic campaigns believe they’re doing to reach out toward the center and center right. It’s definitely not aimed at democrats even a hair left of… idk, Reagan I guess, given the whole amnesty thing. So they are trying some stuff.

My father was a straight-ticket Republican voter his entire life and now he says he will never vote for any MAGA Republican. He hates the MAGA takeover of the party. Though it's anecdotal, I agree that there are far more Trump refugees than people think. I also don't know any Democrats who have done the inverse and moved to the MAGA camp.

Hopefully Trump's loss will be the final nail in the coffin for MAGA.

> and the main reason why Trump stands a chance this year is because the left has made no overtures whatsoever to the center and center-right.

People keep repeating this like it's some kind of obvious basic fact and I get more and more confused each time.

How much more "center" can you get than Joe Biden? Or Hillary Clinton? Or Kamala Harris? As far as I know, they're all in favor of arresting illegal immigrants, using military power to further foreign policies, moderate taxation, little to no drug legalization, mass incarceration for felons, barely any gun control, etc, etc.

What exactly is the "center-right" looking for that they're not getting?

Every time the media (and social media) brings up self-described right wing desires, they're pretty much entirely culture war issues, is that what you mean?