As someone who grew up in Eastern Europe, I had a completely identical reaction. We had so many similar populists and idiots in power, one cannot help but recognize the obvious pattern.
Many people in America seem to be convinced that their involvement in the democracy ended after voting in the elections, and cannot conceptualize how to deal with an adversarial government. The scale of the protests and pushback Trump administration has received is laughably small compared to the scale of America as a country. People are lacking a basic political immune system, or even a sense of self preservation.
And the most puzzling part is that the entire situation is 100% self-inflicted. It usually takes a major war or a sustained external campaign to inflict the kind of damage Trump administration has done to the country in such a short period of time.
There has been a sustained campaign of propaganda, stoking division and culture wars. There has also been a sustained class warfare and concentration of wealth at the very top as most people can't seem to get ahead. Both political parties sold out their constituents a long time ago and the supreme court has been stacked with several criminally corrupt and treacherous villains.
Many people in America seem to be convinced that their involvement in the democracy ended after voting in the elections, and cannot conceptualize how to deal with an adversarial government. The scale of the protests and pushback Trump administration has received is laughably small compared to the scale of America as a country. People are lacking a basic political immune system, or even a sense of self preservation.
And the most puzzling part is that the entire situation is 100% self-inflicted. It usually takes a major war or a sustained external campaign to inflict the kind of damage Trump administration has done to the country in such a short period of time.