So I say this sincerely, this is a very nice comment and I am happy to read it.
I am honestly pretty curious about the election when calmer about it. Most criticisms you bring up are, how should I put it, "symmetric" on both sides. Democrats and Republicans seem to be in differing segments of consensus reality. Both sides present facts and figures that strike me as cherry picked, deceptive, or biased. If one faction actually isn't committing those crimes (or is way cleaner on it) I sincerely think there's enough false information out there that it is hard to realize which side is right.
Politicians are corrupt. We've all been told this growing up. That said, there is some corruption that is both beyond the pale and wholly incompatible with American interests. Americans as a whole generally don't care if politicians skim off the top when things are going well and their interests are aligned. If they don't...well.
I noticed that my actual criticisms of Trump on this forum were surprisingly modest when I sat down and thought of it like "okay, what can I say that is relatively free of bias and emotion." I was talking to my father today about the "how do we know which side is right, since about half of us have to be wrong?" His answer was largely, and I don't think wrongly, "you have to use your intuition and logic." There's not really much else out there for normal people.
Your basic sense of morality is instilled in you as a toddler. You can either reject or accept that morality, but it will always be a part of you. It tend to center on a national morality too. Since the USA is composed of 11 different dominate cultures, you might see how that has an influence on people.
I'd say the biggest minus column in the Trump camp is probably the Never Trump Republicans. Such a massive fracture of the Republican elite that shares so much of liberal consensus reality despite what appears to be strong counter-incentives. Trump successfully retooled the GOP, and much of it failed to fall in line, which seems like a thing that fits the Democratic narrative better than the Trump Republican one. To specify which narrative:
Trump Republican (As filtered to me): The Never Trumper elites are a cozy network of selfish insiders who are terrified of social censure. These people are largely traitorous and afraid that their ability to benefit from corruption is over, and so bailed on the party.
That's not accurate to say the least.
Republicans and Democrats are composed of voting blocs. The Republicans are a much smaller group, but tend to win most elections because there are no contradictions within the party. The Democrats are sort of the default "opposition" party that is much, much larger--but is full of contradictions. Case in point; Unions and Greens being in the same party means that anything the Unions want, the Greens will object. And anything the Greens want, the Unions will object. Same goes with African Americans; their idea of Civil Rights is in an entirely different world for LGBT voters. You can't actually win on policy issues.
Now, what's happening to the Republican party is that it's going through a re-alignment of politics. Primarily it comes down to globalists vs nationalists. The globalists are for some reason or another, attached to the global market, to global power, and/or global culture. The nationalists believe that the United States is one of several competing states and it shouldn't be using its military and economy to advantage others. This arose after the fall of the Soviet Union, as the whole reason was that the US would be in charge of world security to keep the Russians contained, while the rest of the alliance gets to export their way back to a functional economy.
In regards to the Trump Republicans...they're actually the opposite. They hate the insiders. Hence the "drain the swamp" mantra. They're actually closer to the classic American isolationists before WWI or WWII. Now, that may seem racist on the surface when you see; Travel Bans that seem to target black people, trade wars intent on breaking down international relations, building a literal wall along the border of Mexico, banning abortions to hurt women, and deporting dreamers because they're Mexican or keeping children in cages.
But that's not how Trump Republicans actually see things.
The travel ban is to keep out potential terrorists. The trade wars were not only launched at Asian countries, but European countries such as Germany and Canada. The wall is to prevent immigrants, regardless of race or origin from illegally entering the country. Banning abortions is more of a conservative religious position. Deporting dreamers is because they were illegally in the country to begin with and on top of, were being exploited by employers. And Obama built those cages.
Liberal media (as interpreted by me): The Republican factions that are splintering off are the ones that care about math such as fiscal conservatives, the military-industrial complex, business interests, and general intellectuals. Those who remain are the ones who rely on the Republican apparatus for their goals to work, such as Pro-Life groups, the conservative faction in the Culture War, and white people who want to retool the welfare state to serve their interests.
Some of that is true, but it's not wholly true. First off, the Trump Republicans still retain intellectuals. Just of a different sort than what you're used to seeing at the forefront of Republican politics. The business people are leaving as are the fiscals conservatives, but the military voters are split. Some of them like Trump and some of them don't. It generally boils down to globalism vs nationalism.
I'd note also that a lot of the intellectuals I've followed (Scott Alexander and the greater RationalSphere, a ton of economists, Peter Zeihan) who seem to be significantly divergent from the Democratic goals if not worldview, seem as terrified of Trump as anyone on the more traditional left.
I can't say that I've ever perceived Zeihan as being terrified of Trump. Nor does he really blame Trump or believes Trump to be the main cause. Rather, Zeihan indicates that the core of the issue comes down to one fact; the current US foreign posture is not working for the United States anymore and it is attempting to re-negotiate that posture with the rest of the world. And it is coming at a time that the US's political parties are off-line because of political re-alignment.