I hope I don't offend anyone.
But this country was first settled by the dregs of Europe.
Boatloads of fuck-ups, who'd failed in their homelands, came here for a "fresh start".
Religious kooks, criminals, plain ol' idiots--just a stunning collection of losers.
It's a big country, plenty of room for all of those fuck-ups.
Go West, Young Fuck-Up!
And when you spend hundreds of years with the dregs intermarrying, well, then you have super concentrated dregs.
Oh sure, there were/are exceptions.
Not everyone was a dreg.
And, wonder of wonders, occasionally two dregs will produce someone worthwhile.
Occasionally. But the smart money bets otherwise.
More often, though, dregs just keep making more dregs.
Generations of them. Millions of them. Entire states full to the brim with them.
This explains MAGA. This explains Trump.
This explains how we got to here.
