The world outside North America stares in bafflement...

Indeed.

People forget. Try travelling to a country where they treat people in a respectful manner by default. Then you remember - Oh, that's right - Living in a continuous state of fear and anxiety is not normal.

Much of the commenting here is about what is legal and what is not. This all assumes that the rule of law is respected.

As robots gradually take over blue collar work, and AI takes over white collar work, the idea that if you work hard you will do well, will begin to seem quaint. The word "work" will have to be replaced with "own". e.g. He sat down for a beer after a hard day's ownership.

Luckily we are in a time where science and experts are respected and valued, so this will be immediately taken up and acted on.

Rather than not meaning anything, descriptors in country names tend to be an indicator of the opposite. That the DPRK has a D in the name, is not so much a descriptor of the nature of the country's political system, but a sort of defiant stance against an obvious lack of democracy.

Much in the same way that really strong people don't brag about their strength, or very intelligent people don't brag about their intelligence.

And this post is not an invitation to suggest new country names for the US!

Your sig. is a good summary of the change in moral direction in the US.
A sort of swing from New back to Old Testament.

I wonder what the effect of Trump has been on American exports in general. Yale Budget Lab suggests a reduction in GDP of 0.4% - a drag on the domestic economy from tariffs alone. But I suspect there are aspects of the Trump administration other than its use of tariffs which encourage consumers in other countries to steer away from US goods.

Be that as it may, I think the concern still stands. You might expect a small percentage of any populus to be so cavalier with their vote, but the fact that it is half the population in the US indicates some sort of serious deficiency.

The underlying problem, surely, is not so much the current leadership, but the fact that a good half the US population thought he would make a good president. They thought it at the start, when his reputation was already known, and they have thought it since then, through all he has done.

I don't think calling them disgruntled is a sufficient excuse. That leaves either an intellectual or a moral deficiency.

I wonder how much it would take to cause a revolution.

The labouring classes have been disgruntled for a few decades now, arguably resulting in a Trump presidency.
If the same happens to the white collar workers, that would make a significant proportion of the American population who are not happy with the way the economy, and "system", is treating them.
At what point do the masses start scaling the gates of the rich...?

I don't imagine a literal surge of looting and robbery, but there might be more support for taxation of billionaires.

That seems reasonable. ... although we do consider photography creative, and have copyright on photographs. "Pointing and clicking" might be oversimplifying the photographer's creativity, but it would be interesting to compare that level of creativity with the "prompting" that a person uses to generate a "AI art".

80 million is still baffling to me.

I was told about a Trump voter who, on hearing recently that a Minnesota lawmaker said that transgender-identifying minors need pornography for sex education, exclaimed that *this* was why they could never vote Democrat, and they felt that this reaffirmed their vote for Trump. Now, I can understand that a person of certain (quite reasonable) political persuations could be appalled with the stance of the Minnesota lawmaker. But I feel that if I was an American voter with those political persuations, Trump's lack of rectitude would appal me a great deal more, and the fact that the Minnesota lawmaker is a relatively minor figure in the scheme of things would also play a part in my overall evaluation. I don't think it is simply a matter of the different weight we put on different types of morality. From where I sit, Trump seem unashamed in his unscrupulousness. It's hardly comparable.

So my view of Americans as a fundamentally upright people (with exceptions, sure), who are kind and friendly, and principled, strains against that 80 million figure.

I think you have a good point. With previous US interventions, the administration would frame the action in terms of principles, and aim to gather international consensus. I just can't see that with Trump - he seems devoid of principles. But what baffles me is this: I still see Americans, in general, as a people who value principles, and doing the right thing, and I just can't understand how half of them could support him.

... now before I begin, where are my Meta AI Display Glasses...?