Demonizing people who disagree with you makes them dig in their heels and elect the dangerous candidate and party, in spite of their best interests. Demonizing those people feels satisfying and necessary in the moment, but it ultimately backfires.

The so-called enlightened people can’t be counted on to vote. (I say this as one of those so-called enlightened people, albeit not in your country and therefore unable to shift the balance with you.)

Until you folks figure these two things out, this is your new reality.

This is absolutely right. There’s been an arrogance and complacency from moderate parties in the West over the last 20 years, assuming that the electorate will just automatically vote for them regardless. Now they’ve got to try and get these people back from the extremes, which is going to be harder to do than if they hadn’t taken them for granted before.