Welcome to this throwback edition of the award-winning Best of Left podcast, where we remember the past and choose to repeat it.

We've been watching the authoritarian playbook we followed to the letter since Trump's inauguration day,

and now we're days away from a cartoonish military parade in Washington, D.C., fit for any run-of-the-mill, buffoonish

military dictator wannabe.

So we thought we'd look back at this episode from December 2023 that attempts to explain

the dynamics that lead people to support fascism, even when that's not really what they want.

Sources today include The Readout, democracy paradox, democracy now,

on the media, and the broadcast. And we begin tonight with a dark moon rising around the globe.

Just before we all broke for the Thanksgiving holiday, we received disturbing

news from the Netherlands. The Dutch people handed anti-Islamic populist Hirtvilders a stunning

and resounding victory. What he offered his country was a referendum on leaving the European

Union or Nexit, a complete hold on asylum seekers and a migrant pushback at

Dutch borders. He's also called for the de-Islamization of the country, which includes no mosques

and no Islamic schools. It was a stunning swing for the country, which is one of Europe's most

socially liberal and has pr in itself on tolerance.

Now, many of you probably don't know or remember Wilders, but he has been in opposition force in the country for years, and he's best known for his bottle blonde hair.

He's also well known for his Islamophobic rhetoric, which has made him a magnet for extremists and popular among

ultra-nationalist leaders worldwide. He once compared the Quran to Mime Kampf. His victory comes as Europe

and the rest of the world go through this spasbotic tug of war between liberalism and

ultra-nationalism.

Roughly a week ago, the Argentine people elected self-proclaimed anarcho-capitalist libertarian Javier Millet as president.

In 2020, as he announced his entry into politics, Malay told the world that he wanted

...