Sadly, every country has a fairly sizeable population of ultra-nationalistic racists and fanatics. And they’re all likely to approve of such behavior in others, because they hate being marginalized in their own countries, where they are made to feel ashamed for disapproving of their own local minorities. It makes them feel validated to see other racists gain approval.
That’s probably why Trump publicly admires Putin. He can say “there’s someone with his public’s approval who isn’t ashamed to blame [ Chechens | Moslems | Uighurs] for everything that’s going wrong.” Even despots need to feel like they’re not alone.
