Good enough, for the next few weeks.

Fascinating. I wonder how the millions of Chinese Catholics feel about this use.

Yep.

The part about lacking political education also means fascists are commonly identified as those who start world wars and drag people into gas chambers. Which is reversed to naively argue they can't be fascist before that point. Disregarding that this is of course not how the nazis started out either.

The uncomfortable truth is that far too many people are entirely comfortable with a far-right agenda and rhetoric. Especially if it gives them permission to look down on someone else.

Also poor political education has people thinking of fascism as 1) some almost mythological evil far removed from modern sensibilities, and 2) a problem of the past. Neither is true.

It's actually conservatism and classic white supremacy, but the sentiment is appreciated.

16 years of Merkel really had us fooled about the fact that her party would be almost begging to jump on the far-right populist train and cut the brakes under today's leadership.

Emphasis on "could've", as in the hypothetical.