You've missed my point for Palin and the Tea Party- Of course the individual is irrelevant, the action however, set a tone or a precedent for acceptability, showing the far right what they can get away with, ie- "we can run this woman because she is incredibly malleable and portray a certain image that people want." Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert are examples on the national level. Just under a month ago, in the US midwest I saw numerous billboards of blonde, thin female candidates holding guns.
Like I said, I don't know where you live, where you travel, or with whom you mingle, but the right leaning constituency has bought it hook, line, and sinker. The violent language, actions, and extreme conspiracies aren't going anywhere but further into the mainstream consciousness.
As for Miller and the others pulling strings, it will only get worse. Constituents on either side don't generally pay mind to the actual policy makers and speech writers. In the case of the right, Stephen Miller the gollum doesn't matter, the influence however is widely accepted.