There are a lot of boomer conservatives fully in the tank for Trump & they defend him even when he does stupid shit. And that makes him dangerous whether this is all some sort of conspiracy or not. But I think it's more realistic to see that there are a bunch of extremely petty & narcissitic people who are all grasping for power. Many were mad that Trump kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-lago many years ago & disliked that he didn't want to climb their social ladder, so they went out of their way to insult him (Obama saying I'm something you'll never be, president), and I think that may have been enough motivation for the ego maniac Trump to want to show them up. And because Trump is not really a part of their cult, they don't have the sort of dirt on him needed for control so TDS is off the charts. I can't imagine them all pretending to play these roles with the sort of loyalty that would be required otherwise.

Trump is absolutely a part of the establishment. There is no question about that. I think they prefer someone easier to control, but will work with what they've got.

I’m not outright dismissing that Trump may actually be in the establishment, but if he were, why would they go to such lengths to keep him out of office? Why would they spend his entire presidency trying to get him out? Why charge him with all those crimes? I don’t have an opinion on whether the shooting was a conspiracy, a PR stunt, or anything else. So keeping that aside, it really feels like the establishment is greatly threatened by him. I’m not a Trump supporter, I try to look at everything he does objectively. Some I like, some I don’t. But the constant barage of Orange Man Bad really makes it hard to believe he’s establishment. Otherwise, you’re left with the conspiracy that they’re doing all this to paint him as anti establishment while he secretly is part of it. I don’t think the govt is capable of doing that to this level. All the conspiracies that seem to be true are sloppy with narratives that have tons of holes.

They are propping him up by making it look like they oppose him. Playing off distrust of the establishment. Everything done to him, everything said about him, is designed to push people to him. WEF theme this year is Rebuilding Trust. This is one of the tactics to bring the disillusioned back into their game.