Steering Column Woes and Questions - Connector, Lower Bearing, and Coupler

I did order that connector. It was good, but was only the female side, not both.

That coupler, however has caused me to invent an entire series of new curse words. I've now tried multiple size pickle forks which just resulted in stuck forks that took a small sledge to free. 2 foot wrecking bar just demonstrated how surprisingly much that bar could flex. Claw hammer. Sledges. Blackmail. Voodoo.

Nothing. Not a bit of motion. I'm stumped.