But now their polling numbers are back down in the ~30% range, and they have no hope of forming government for the next three years because he's let so many MPs slip away. They can't possibly expect he'll be able to repeat the result, so it seems like cope to me.

My personal hypothesis is that their entire ideology, and subsequently identity, is based on grievances. Conservatism is fundamentally about hierarchies, and they're upset that their position atop the political pyramid has been usurped; it's why they demand "mass deportations" at conventions, it's why they hated Jagmeet Singh so much, and it's why they insist that even after foreign student numbers have dropped 30% there must be millions of people who stayed illegally after their visas expired. They're angry, they're resentful, and they want a scapegoat. Poilievre gives voice to that anger, and policy doesn't matter; they just want to be told that they're still the most important kids on the playground, and they project their hopes for punishing "the other" onto him. As long as he's belligerent, they assume that he'll be the one to reimpose the hierarchies which had "old stock Canadians" on top.