I see a lot of blaming here and it reminds me of the situation here where the PVV (Wilders party) became the biggest party over night last November. A controversial and many times even racist party became the biggest in a country that has traditionally been very tolerant in every sense of the word.
So what does that mean right, why did so many people vote for such a extreme party?
The truth here is that they (the voters) definitely did not became fascist over night, but due to the failing of all the other parties the years prior, the radical option suddenly became the most logical option for many.
So Wilders became popular because the rest failed, not because he was better.
Scanning the messages here over the last days I miss the mea culpa guys. Trump being big is partially because democrats fucked things up, not because everyone who votes on him is a absolute idiot or some trash human being.
The migration problem, the debacle in Afghanistan, the trans madness in some cases, not being open about Biden’s mental health, you can fill the rest in you guys live there.
I don't see blame, and no one said ALL voters, but there are definitely large subgroups of voters that fit into each of those categories that
@Bjerknes outlined. It's just an observation. Trust me, there are equivalents for Democrats as well.
I think you're also attempting to view our election through a Dutch lens, but it doesn't fully work because of how different our elections are. Just as an example, you mentioned an "extreme party," but there really are only two here that are seen as viable. The parties that failed everyone...are the same parties that are in every election. Even for Trump to win the nomination, everyone in the background is still the same. Mitch McConnell has been a senator since 1985, now all of a sudden I'm to believe that people see him as "the good guys" out for the common man because they put their weight behind Trump after he won? It's all a show, and that makes me hate them even more. Trump insulted Cruz during the race multiple times in 2016, he took shots at his WIFE. Then after the election, it's all smiles and friendship, spineless bitch. If Trump loses, watch how they turn on him again. You don't have this problem because you had what, 15 parties in your last election? People refuse to vote third party because it's "throwing away your vote," a phrase that I LOATHE. Then of course you get the people that treat it as they would supporting a sports team, but that's another issue.
Those things you mentioned all really came to the forefront AFTER 2016 though, so they weren't really in play back then. The thing to realize here is that this portion of the Republican party was ALWAYS there. In fact, it was even bred and grown. You could have watched conservative news outlets like Fox News long before 2016 and see the similarities to today's rhetoric. But imo it seems like it went beyond what the party anticipated and instead of them controlling the narrative, the narrative now controls them through whoever steps up to do so.
@acmilan's
post here touches on it a bit.
Sorry if this isn't fully coherent but I was kinda rushing through it.