The damage authoritarian populism wreaks strengthens it. When authoritarian populism 1.0 implodes, power won’t shift back to the liberal centre - it will shift to authoritarian populism 2.0.
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This is very clear in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders' "party" is just making a bigger mess of everything it's involved in. His flock thinks it's because the other parties sabotage his efforts.
We see it in Turkey and Hungary: it becomes more like classic, oppressive authoritarianism. Both have long been viewed as "soft authoritarianism" or "competitive authoritarianism", but when their power is at risk, they resort to a traditional police state.
That felt very clear watching the English county election results coming in last week. We've lived in Farage's world here for a decade, and it's made us poorer, more isolated and angry. The reaction? More Farage!
Also, this is depressing. The only silver lining of Trump destroying my country was that, even though it caused massive pain (and death!) to millions, it would create a backlash. You’re saying this isn’t so. *sigh*
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