Why would you tie yourself to a lame duck?

I don't generally write much about politics anymore, because there isn't anything to say that hasn't already been said by someone else, probably in a more eloquent way. But I keep seeing ads here locally that I find totally baffling.

I still can't believe that Trump ever got elected, let alone twice. He's just such a dick to people, and totally out of touch with everything. He doesn't understand how anything actually works. He's solely responsible for the inflation we're seeing now, the war he said we'd never see, and he keeps putting these whack jobs in charge of things they don't understand. On top of that, his approval ratings are the lowest of any president in my lifetime, and there will most certainly be a rebuke of his tenure in the midterms. His influence ends one way or another in two and a half years, if his apparent poor health doesn't get to him first.

The point is that this is not a guy I would attach myself to if running for office. But a guy running in our congressional district is doing just that. His ads talk about aligning with him on everything, and hilariously he says he'll fight against politicians that try to enrich themselves in office. Man, read the room. He talks about being a "conservative outsider" like Trump, who is not conservative or an outsider. I can't believe that anyone still believes that.

Granted, our district is gerrymandered to include part of The Villages, which is stocked with old people that believe all of that shit and watch cable news all day. Worse, his Democratic challenger is pretty weak and not well financed. So the fake conservative outsider will win anyway, even tying himself to a lame duck sociopath.

It's really hard to understand how these folks get elected, because over and over, the outcomes are never good. They run on campaigns about who is the most deserving of citizens to have a shot at a better life, rejecting the idea that a rising tide lifts all boats. I'll never figure out how people vote against their own self-interest, other than the apparent belief that it's worth it if their appointees stick it to the people they fear or don't like.