Fascism mostly works by distracting people from the real issues and giving them someone or something to direct their negative feelings towards instead, a seemin

Fascism mostly works by distracting people from the real issues and giving them someone or something to direct their negative feelings towards instead, a seemingly simpler solution to their problems. What or who that is, seems kind of arbitrary to me. It just has to be something people can get riled up against comparatively easily. Conspiracy theories (e.g. around vaccinations) are a good staring point for something like that. Put another way, if you want power, you can just listen to what issues (regardless of whether they are real or even plausible) people complain about, and tell them you agree with them and are gonna fix that. And by the way, it's also why they can't have nice things, are in danger, or whatever else you can find that riles them up more. The point is, they'll follow you. If you "well, actually" angry or otherwise irrational people instead, you're kinda painting a target on your back. Someone following the other strategy can now use _you_ as the scapegoat.