Well, I wonder how exceptional US exceptionalism is in this regard. I remember watching the Bush election - the whole world was basically saying, “US, why are you electing an idiot for president?” But that’s mostly just because everyone else was watching that election. I think that people caught up in elections - regardless of where they are - seem to be unable to look at the election like an outsider would and notice that one Candidate is crazy or stupid or fascist. If a politician really is very, very stupid or very, very racist or a psychopath, people within that election won’t be able to communicate that because it will come across as overly partisan. People from the outside will see it clearly.
I suppose I am proposed a corollary of Godwin’s law - that when the next Hitler does come along, none of us will believe it is really happening because we are too used to writing off such comparisons.
