To this day I have a hard time comprehending how someone this stupid can even be in the running for PM

This isn't stupidity, it's intentional and calculating.

This bare-faced, obvious hypocrisy IS the point. It's right in our faces, and it forces his supporters to defend it. But it's the thin edge of the wedge...you defend this, and it shifts your tolerance window a bit, and the next one is a bit more egregious, and you defend that, then a bit more, and so on until you are defending felons and rapists who dismantle the government against your interests, because it supports your guy and hurts people you hate.

At the same time Poilievre's opponents become even more indignant and angry, and it further divides into two sides - the team, and the other. This is all intended to firm up the cult and further divide out the other.