There's also the angle that many of those with Black-Hat stain prior to Trump were simply having to play by the rules and barriers established by the DS in order to survive, financially and possibly even existentially.

And then Trump.

And at first, the chaos that came with Trump early in the process. Will he? won't he? can he? can't he?

And once there appeared to be a survivable path to White-Hat-ism, some went for it and took the gamble that the clean-up would continue to progress.

Let us not forget, that back when Trump was still just Trump the business guy, he donated to the dems, attended some dem functions, etc. Why? Because he loves them and what they stand for? No. Because otherwise, he would have been shut out of a lot of aspects of his business.

The thing is, we won't know for sure until we know for sure. And that's the end reveal in the closing credits of this movie. But, a lot of us want to play that game of "well, once upon a time, dude did this shady thing, therefore dude is bullshit blackhat." on EVERYONE.

Gaslighting and shilling can be subtle and even accidental or just plain boneheaded cynicism inspired.

Gotta think. Gotta keep head up and on a swivel. Life is coming at us fast now.