The crux of this is that these people feel sincerely entitled to a president who fits their personal preferences, rather than just trying to get the least fucked-up and harmful option in a busted system where bad interests have lots of power
The reason pundits like the contested convention thing is that it plays to their vanities: what if the smart people made a meritocratic decision about who’s best?
This is driven, in part, by being mostly isolated from negative reactions to their opinions over the years.
“Refusing to vote for then President arming a genocide of 40k and counting” is now a “personal preference” I guess. The vast majority of our votes are captive (like mine). It literally does not matter, so I can take my stand.
Oh, it's a personal preference. If your goal is stopping the genocide then your not voting doesn't make a difference in that, it just makes you feel better about yourself.
Oh, it'll make a difference. Trump urged Netanyahu to - and I quote - "finish the war fast" so he (and Kushner) can pave Gaza and built hotels. Some people are simply unable to imagine that things can get a lot worse.