it wasn't really about policy.
I think a wounded tapir could have won the election on the policy platforms Trump espoused. For some reason, the Republicans didn't slap those policies on such tapir, and Trump won.
I vehemently disagree with you, because it was the policies that made Trump popular, not the reverse.
Trump is a bit of an avatar, the people most enthusiastic about Trump project their hopes or fears onto him, and see him as their agent in a sense.
How he got there is not by fulfilling his campaign promises, but just by making the promises the electorate wanted to hear. People somewhere just re-elected a dog mayor of their town. Must have a solid platform, that doggo. Anyway, the machinations of the people that decide who we get to vote for have a lot more to do with Trump getting elected than even his campaign lies. But, anyone telling those lies would have beat the incumbents.
It's fine to disagree :)
Yes, but it's more productive when reasonable men can agree on evidence, and heave in the same direction.