The decline of Europe is not inevitable, despite how much Americans love to joke/proclaim that the continent is doomed to become an open-air museum. Sure, it's possible that things have to get worse before they get better, but believing that "it's over" is just loser talk. It's never over, but the old world also won't recover by itself...
With people like him I’d say it’s about a combination of being contrarían in general, being surrounded by yes men, and looking up to rich assholes.
More generally, we can all fall for reactionary crap if we don’t see it for what it is and if it speaks to some grievance we have. We need to be smarter and look at historical patterns, the fascists never helped any workers, they just got countless people killed, and letting them rise to power eventually leads to someone, either you or someone you care about, being next.
With people like him I’d say it’s about a combination of being contrarían in general, being surrounded by yes men, and looking up to rich assholes.
More generally, we can all fall for reactionary crap if we don’t see it for what it is and if it speaks to some grievance we have. We need to be smarter and look at historical patterns, the fascists never helped any workers, they just got countless people killed, and letting them rise to power eventually leads to someone, either you or someone you care about, being next.