They were spoiled by Obama and the promise of some utopia that only the left could deliver. I was in graduate school when Obama got the nomination and even the teachers were fawning over the shit he was spewing. "He's going to make the world green! He's going to bring peace to the whole world!" They chugged the kool aid hard and ravenously. It absolved them of their sins and self hatred.

But none of it came to pass. Things got worse. They blamed the right, they blamed racism, they never blamed him or punched left at all. They still expect these things and have invested too much money and emotion to back off now. So now they're farther left, expecting the next candidate to take up Obama's 8 years of slack. "Bernie will get it done, he's a true socialist, which is what we really needed all along!"

So they're entrenched now. They refuse to turn the microscope inward and look at what's driving them. That Trump can be outspoken and doesn't mind coming off as no-nonsense is enough. They'll crusade against whatever they directed at. Anything is less painful than admitting you're wrong, so long as there's false hope to foster or people you don't like to cancel.