What I’m having some difficulty wrapping my head around is, it’s described that there is 1 sacred timeline, 1 universe, 1 realm. When there’s a nexus event it causes the timeline to split, which the TVA eventually prunes or erases. So where do these variants come from?

That’s actually a very common skill in Canada, you can’t get a drinking and driving license unless you can will a beard into existence. I think you also have to do it before you can run for parliament, so he was doing that because he’s a rather unknow candidate and it helped people know he is a legitimate contender.