Trump was elected for many reasons, but there were large disinformation / psyop campaigns associated with his 2016 campaign.
You don’t need to speculate, it’s documented that was what Cambridge Analytica was for - whose CEO was once Steve Bannon, a company whose original purpose was psychological warfare and which was bought by Robert Mercer for the specific purpose of winning elections.
Sounds like how one of Bradburys firemen would describe his job.