Perhaps. But I'm just going to come out and say it. A lot of voters were looking for a racist. A white, male, racist. And that's exactly what they got.

I'd put it slightly differently. A lot of voters weren't necessarily looking for a racist - but they were looking for someone that didn't think that they, or their beliefs or the institutions they supported, were racist. Certainly that's the larger number than the ones who actively wanted a racist.

And once you elect a fascist, history tells us that you are not rid of fascism again until it is violently overthrown.

Does history tell us that? Right-wing conservative populist-nationalist groups lose all the time. Trump lost in 2020. Berlusconi lost in Italy. A similarly right-wing populist conservative government was elected in Poland, and voted out in 2023. Etc.

I don't think Trump will try to stay in office when his term ends, and I don't think that the GOP nominee (whoever it is) is a lock to win. I do think that unless the Democratic party figures out a way to stop bleeding support, especially among younger men of all races, they can certainly lose that election.

Trump's brand of right-wing populism is winning elections here for the same reason right-wing populism is flourishing all over the world. It has a lot of political appeal. A lot of voters like it. There were never very many voters in the "socially liberal, fiscally conservative" box that certain third-party hopefuls (like Howard Schultz) thought were out there. But there were a lot of "socially conservative, fiscally liberal" voters out there. Trump wrenched the party towards those folks and away from former leadership - and that helped him build the base he has.