I think it is more complex than that - as in yes but also no at the same time.

The media used him to gain moar profitz, fo sho. Forget “equal time”, they git it to whoever says the most inflammatory stuff imaginable 😡.

Dems probably wanted him to win out over Ted Cruz, who may arguably have been worse, as in less amenable to being controlled. If you get a chance, watch that video of him where his family makes material for an upcoming election campaign, and the camerman only pretends to turn off the camera - you can get the real, unfiltered look at how they treat him and vice versa. He is legit scary.

And don’t forget the hand that Repubs had in all of this as well: it was supposed to be Bush (JEB) vs. Clinton, but he fumbled, but then they could not punt it down the road to try to win Congress rather than the Presidency b/c they had previously spent 8 years denying all judicial nominations during Obama’s Presidency. They HAD to get the Presidency, so ultimately they still backed Trump despite knowing what that would mean.

And it cost the Repubs dearly: most of their entire old-guard is gone now, having been replaced not with the newer Tea Party faction but now even the Alt Right. Very few have remained after Trump’s multiple purges. Those that are there are extremely volatile - see e.g. Matt Gaetz ousting the former Speaker of the House a few months ago, and Marjorie Taylor Green the Jewish space-laser woman who had literally advocated openly for actual civil war, plus also threatened to oust the next/current Speaker. Trump opened the door to these… and others just like them.

Dems in turn had extremely little chance to have won that 2016 election: when else in modern history has a 2-consecutive-term, 8-year Democrat Presidency ever been followed by another Democrat one, rather than switching over to a Republican in the White House? (Obama x2 > Bush x2 > Clinton x2 > Bush Sr. x2 and also Reagan x2 > Carter x2 > Nixon & Ford - but not since Kennedy & Johnson has that happened for Democrats). On the other hand, if they had not tried to take the White House, then Roe v. Wade was at risk - which as we saw, happened, and now women are dying, some areas are turning into “medical care deserts” where people would have to drive HUNDREDS of miles to get even normal birthing care - and women are being tracked in order to prevent their access to “specialized” care, including abortion but so many other things as well too that are not just abortions.

So whether they wanted him to be crazy and edge out JEB and Ted Cruz back then or not, yeah I get it, but that was back then - that does not mean that they want him now!? Maybe, but that’s a matter of opinion rather than fact, and I kinda doubt it, b/c there’s a highly realistic chance that despite him having been impeached twice that he may yet not only run but win again!?

There is actual proof for that. You can read wikileaks published emails, that are cryptographicly signed by gmail using DKIM.

The DGA basically tried to discourage a cult

Why would Democrats try to reach the MAGATs at all? If they are running anti-Trump attack ads they are targeting the “moderate” Republicans who don’t pay enough attention to know how bad their primary options are. They know they can’t affect Trump supporters. But there’s a bunch of disaffected people who identify as Republicans but dislike Trump.

and most of the population occupying the tiny sliver of political real estate between the most conservative Democrats and the least conservative Republicans

It’s not as big as the 90s, but it’s still substantial. Trump galvanized a lot of people into moving further towards the edges but the majority of Americans are politically apathetic. You only have to look at voter turnout to see that.