You’re still underplaying what happened.

Wisconsin as a whole does tend to lean blue. The margins aren’t large though. Last mid term Evers (D) won for governor but the same election Johnson ® won for senate. The Democrat opposition for that election was Barnes, who was definitely progressive leaning, but ran a terrible campaign that the DNC didn’t help until it was too late. We are still a swing state.

isn’t the result of conservatives turning on Trump

Nobody is saying it is. It’s that group of swing voters that have immediately changed from liking Trump to rejecting Elon and Trump. You’ll never turn his cult base, but you also don’t have to.

I agree with your idea, but I also appreciate that they’ve dropped the facade.

But it is a refute to the idea that there is a “voter mandate” for Trump. This was a state wide election that just a few months ago voted for Trump. It also isn’t as simple as the democrats keeping their seat. The incumbent left, so the seat was vacant. Not a “trouncing,” but you’re downplaying it too much.

I think you can throw Colbert on that list.

She’s still the one that the press asks questions.

You got that backward. Republicans have stupid constituents, and the democrats have a stupid party. Republicans have been playing the long game and reaping the rewards of decades worth of planning and posturing. Democrats can’t agree on a vision. The democrats strength is also their biggest problem. They’re a big tent party that’s inclusive to all and all ideas. In practice, that means they lack a single vision to fight for and never long-term plan. If they quit focusing on the fringe and instead focused on the class war, they could have that singular, uniting vision.

She took decades to change though. This dude did it in one term.