Something common I see in all these parties is strong disaffection with the current state of their countries and a longing to an idealized past they promise to bring back, to make countries great again…

The past cannot come back, neither will it come back just because some people want it to. It’s completely futile, but people are not rational about this, they’re completely emotional and tribal.

Yes, societies are going through the five stages of grief:

• denial (that there are problems)
• anger (vote for a strongman) <-- you are here
• bargaining (maybe we can partially go back to the past)
• depression (this sucks, nothing can be done about it)
• acceptance (well, let’s look forward and make the best out of it)