leftists are not popular with the american public
They clearly have no idea what leftism is. Leftist policies are VERY popular with the american public. As long as you don't use labels like "socialism, "communism" etc. People like this probably think leftism is just "woke stuff" and nothing else.
Trump didn't win the election; musk, thiel and silicon valley/big tech did. Trump was chosen by them to be president because he will let them develop their invasive AI technologies. They manufactured people's consent by making trump into some kind of savior of mankind. They instructed the other side (democrats) to be complete failures to drive that consent further home.
That's my little conspiracy theory anyway.