You are right, and that's part of the problem. I'm a Democrat, and (not unrelated) highly educated with a science background. Guess what goes against everything in my nature: poorly-founded accusations, conspiracy theories, black-and-white statements about causality. It's my nature to put things as I did above. And I don't really want to be on the side of a left-version of this whacko conspiracy theorist. But I agree that caution and nuance and adherence to know facts don't work on social media, or in today's political or media environment. I don't quite know how to solve the conundrum. What supposedly "normie" Republicans did was hitch a ride on the extremists in their coalition to consolidate power. It worked, and now they are reaping the whirlwind, but at the moment, they are winning.