How does a civllzed country go bugshit insane?

[Jedi Guy]

38. Because the sad truth is that "civilization" is a very thin veneer over human nature.

And human nature contains things like greed, selfishness, cruelty, hate, and all the other ills that are always with us to some extent. When civilization is in decent shape, those things are to a large degree suppressed, but when it isn't those ills bloom like poisonous flowers. This is true even when civilization is, by most metrics, in good shape but is perceived to be in bad shape.

Civilization in 1930s Germany was, by pretty much any objective metric, in rough shape. Hitler was clever enough to see this and he took advantage of it, with horrific results. Civilization in 2020s America is by no means in the same kind of shape, but Trump is still identifying and weaponizing the fears of his base, with the connivance of Fox News blowing everything way out of proportion.

That thin veneer of civilization is always just a few rubs of the thumb away from coming off, and the Hitlers and the Trumps of the world are very good at doing so. They speak to people's worst impulses, assure them that they're right to be afraid and it's okay to be angry and hateful towards the people who are responsible for that fear, and then they offer simple solutions to complex problems.

People like Trump have always been with us and, sadly, probably always will be.