Genuine question. They seem like horrible people on multiple dimensions but presumably they're not cartoon villains that support the bad guys for fun. Are they paid off, compromised, or what?
Many of the SV fascists (and yes, this seems like a fair appellation to me at this point) also have anti-democratic tendencies via Curtis Yarvin and other such loons.
As for Vance, one can also find anti-democratic trends of thought among conservative Catholics in the US, under the euphemism of 'postliberalism' and/or 'integralism':
https://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2023/06/postliberalism-econ...
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-is-postliberalism...
You have to get through pages and pages of this tedious stuff to find out what they actually want, but the general tendency is towards some kind of Catholic/Christian state.
It's not about personalities, Mussolini was split between calling his dictatorship "fascism" and "corporatism", and getting there requires a number of steps which include international conflict and war as essential parts.
> Are they paid off, compromised, or what?
Both plus brainwashed, same as "the bad guys".
The Epstein files are going to be released. Around the same time we've heard Trump threaten US senators with execution, threaten to hand over Ukraine to Russia, attack a major supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene who then announced her resignation, and I have no doubt a shower of other crap I've managed to avoid.
Trumps behaviour is so predictable now if we pay attention to it with headlines like this, we must share some of the culpability for it.
[0] https://theconversation.com/trumps-attacks-are-worsening-why...
tromp•2mo ago