We are in perfect agreement on this. It's literally this:
but weaponized as a political platform.
And, apologies if I havent expressed this properly, regardless of physics behind the 'why', an absolutely huge percent of the right wing has essentially decided to set aside the traditional building blocks for subjective opinions and have embraced a top-down indoctrination from someone who makes the teachings of David Koresh look grounded.
I'm very comfortable saying that by every available definition, the right wing is a cult. And I base that on the extent to which they have embraced the ravings of madman as gospel (literally) and more importantly, by the sheer volume of right wing voters who subscribe to that perspective. Nothing fringe about it.