It's because the russians are busy resetting their disinformation campaign on VdL (this is the left-wing of it, the right wing exists as well among antivaxxers and other communities), because apparently Europe is not letting Ukraine fall even if trump doesn't care. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/04/19/imagined-common-enemies watch out for the "Eurofascism" buzzword.
But it's pathetic, VdL has no real executive power and the EU decision making is too decentralized to demonize single figureheads with their hamfisted attempts, like it worked with genocide joe.
Pre-WW1 and WW2 Germans were some of the most educated, informed and progressive societies in the world at the time and it didn't stop them blundering into jingoism and fascism, I don't think it is just that.
There is a large component of "the socialists/wokes are coming for you" which glitches regular people into protest voting to the right of center instead of for a left that actually represents their interests.
PS: there is also infighting between lefties, far lefties, "moderates" and liberals that can prevent them from aligning against fascist demagogues until it is too late.
PPS: also, if you just study a lot of STEM in college, your views on humanities may still be atrocious, like elonstans.
I knew it was going to be bad, but I wasn't expecting them to go "the founding fathers were woke" so soon, they must be really confident about their grip on their brainwashed base.
People need to see fascism in action in other countries to be reminded of what it is, too bad that it had to be the US, last time it was Germany.
Too bad voters can't live in a simulation showing the consequences of their vote before they do so, that way it wouldn't be necessary to stumble and waste resources/progress that we're going to need in the future.
Yea, I'm trying to look back to think of manufacturing powerhouses that also printed reserve currency and can only think of the British empire and the post-war Bretton-Woods US...so this could only work if the rest of the world is destroyed or colonized/vassalized :/
It's hard to reason seriously with online randos whose face you can't see. You need extra rules to ensure civility and fact-based constructive reasoning. And even then there will be the odd vatnik agitator throwing potential constructive debate in the toilet.
