Chapotraphouse

I'd argue these things build on each other. Nobody should expect people who have been indoctrinated all their live to completely change their views at the first revelation that things aren't working as they were told. But seeing more and more evidence of the depravity of the oligarchs at the same time as their own standard of living continues to erode is forcing people to start questioning things.

The key part here is the material decline affecting people's lived experience. Back when the economy was more or less functional, people would read about stuff like Panama papers and shrug. It didn't affect them personally, there was nothing they could do about it, and they had their own immediate problems to focus on. Now, people are barely making ends meet, jobs are scarce, the cost of living is going up. And these are things people are now experiencing in their daily lives, and seeing the sheer depravity of the elites who rule over them is starting to push people over the edge.

If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.

"American Exceptionalism" is just this concept applied to the world stage

It is exactly the step of "comforting" themselves in thinking that there are those "evil countries" (not isntreal, mind you, that's a misunderstood blessing, my master told me) where it is infinitely worse. I just told my mom about a documentary about China and how it was quite poor (western docu) and she just went: Don't you know that they kill thousands of people every year? Like sure mom, the evangelical Zionist propaganda piece that wants your money to help settlers and foreign agents is sure telling you the truth (she did not want to tell me the source ).