The followers, that is? Perhaps not a majority, but certainly a substantial minority, organized and mobilized. The crimes and the criminals are obvious, I certainly don't mean to provide excuses for them--its clear why the demagogues are invested; but why so many followers? And not just here, it is happening in democracies throughout the West, the USA, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, all over Europe, Asia and South America, and throughout the rising economic powers of the Far East and even in the Third World--even countries from beyond the former Iron Curtain? Surely, they should recognize tyranny and propaganda, they bore that weight for decades.

Sure, maybe the Russians are mounting a clever psychosocial propaganda brainwashing operation against mass populations using mass media and fake news, and exploiting the long discredited xenophobia and racism of the middle classes. But this is a world-wide phenomenon. Fascism is breaking out all over, it can't just be a few Russian geeks huddled over keyboards. or a handful of skilled demagogues exploiting strictly local grudges and hatreds. Authoritarian fascism is sweeping the world much more effectively than it did in the 1930s.

We need to find out why. This isn't just Trump.

The Soviets sought to organize the working classes of the world, but there is no Comintern any more, and the targets are no longer the proletarian masses. Now they're succeeding in mobilizing the bourgeosie, an unholy alliance between the working poor and the propertied elite has emerged, and it threatens to engulf the entire planet.