The population could have not voted for obvious bad guys consistently, and when half the voting population went further right the remaining half still couldn’t match it and many kept pushing for conservative, but not far right, candidates. Better options were in front of them at the same time but the US population as a whole has a deep-seated fear of anything to the left and they’d rather get fucked by the right than try anything new(new for them, successful examples exist beyond their borders, and sometimes within them but in other states).

Capitalism as a system is an extreme way to run things where money is king. It was created around the time monarchs were being killed off because the parastic nobles and merchants wanted an excuse to keep all their power so they switched from divine right to rule and power based in what family tree you sprouted from to “I totally earned the right to rule please don’t look at this any further it’s not the exact same with extra steps I swear”. You can have money in many other systems but it’s not used as the very basis for morality and your productivity for the owner class is not directly tied to your right to live. Even a small step away from capitalism is a huge improvement.