I do not think we as EU and single members (Germany, Italy here) are in the position to lecture anyone, though? If segments of population we expect to vote dem have turned to Trump, it’s because he is more representative of their current expectations and aspirations, whatever they are.
I think everywhere fact and science driven political movements fail at convincing large proportions of the public. In some countries the situation is worse than in others but in the end, the psychological mechanisms the far right parties are utilizing are very similar and we need to find an answer to this.
In my opinion, the underlying issue is that liberals, greens, progressives or whatever you call them are very good at analysing problems but very bad at convincing people of their findings. They think if they're right it is enough to speak facts but in reality, large proportions of society don't build their opinions based on science. They listen to what friends and family members have to say, their societal circle so to speak, and the fear of being an outcast because your political views differ so much from the beliefs of your loved ones outweighs what unknown scientists have to say.
You have it much easier to convince people of your opinion once they grown to like you and found shared interests. In that sense, one of the major drivers of the recent success of right wing extremists is that sociel media has hardened the frontiers between groups of opposing political opinions enormously because they get exposed to differing opinions much rarer than it used to be the case. They don't know each other so they don't exchange and don't develop relationships. Their whole exchange revolves around the things they disagree on.
So if you want to win people back for your cause, you need to make it easier for them from an emotional perspective. Trying to convince somebody that their vote for a right wing party is just a political commitment but for many, it is much more than that. It means that they publicly humiliate themselves, that they admit all the angry discussions they had with their relatives and friends or the nasty stuff they said in private was wrong, that they will face backlash from their social circle, that they have to change their habits enormously, that they carry guilt and so forth. The further you shame them for voting what they voted, the further you drive them in the corner, the less likely it is you will convince them of your views because if is emotionally much more comfortable in their cognitive dissonance. On the other hand, wherever people exchange peacefully on non-political stuff, the more common ground they discover, the more compromises they find. The best prevention of extremism is connection. Villifying them won't help anybody, it only drives them further away and makes them double-down on their views.
