what's about to happen next week could be seen as a test of the fundamental decency of the British public. The idea of "rightwing populism" (21st century fascism) is that you know the Leader is lying, but don't care, because you want to be part of the winning team 1/
Faced with Corbyn, a man of almost unique integrity, at least among politicians, the establishment found put forward his dialectical opposite: a pathological liar & bigot, narcissistic egomaniac with no discernible principles of any kind 2/
the appeal seems to be, "sure I'm a bigot & liar, but at least I'm honest about THAT... or, well, no actually, I'm not honest about that either, but I might as well be, since I hardly make much effort to disguise it." 3/
the British public has shown itself quite open to conservatism, but historically, has tended to draw the line at fascism of any sort. They can be masochists but don't really see themselves as sadists. They like to be able to tell themselves they're ultimately decent people. 4/
but BoJo really isn't a decent person, and doesn't even seriously pretend to be. I find it hard to believe that, despite the hysterical concatenation of the press, they're really going to put him in charge of the country. 5/
