Right after the 9/11 attacks, one of the TV channels here started sending Fox News during the night (previously they had no 24/7 programming).
This was the first chance I got to really watch US news for more than a few minutes at a time, and the experience was quite eye-opening.
From what I can gather, it's way worse these days.
Still, no, I just won't understand why anyone "in the land of the free" would vote for someone so blatantly against freedom.
I've tried to 'disarm' this in some of my ex-friends with actual facts to show that they've been duped into many of their sources of anger. But it's like they don't want to know. Like you say, they want to hold on to it.
I don't see them anymore because I can't deal with that negativity.