@randahl Anti-establishment populists allow people to indulge in fantasy politics (and fantasy history). They create a coalition of contradictions and absurdities that can only ever remain unfulfilled; but that anti-establishment element mixed with nationalist nostalgia makes people feel hopeful.
It is blind faith in a hopeful world-view, like religion, like first love. It's a mindset in which we want to be fooled because it feels so good.
randahl