We've been exposed to so much in little bits and pieces and now those bits are all coming together to paint a big picture. I think that one of the problems is liberal minds aren't inclined to jump to hasty conclusions, often not wanting to appear gullible like many on the far right. That is also one of the reasons that we can be slow to accuse republicans of cheating in elections, though we know that they have and do.
Meanwhile, there HAVE been warnings for many decades. The threat of this kind of authoritarian takeover has been with us for a very long time and a few prescient individuals have been aware of it. The warnings have come in books, articles, and movies. Back in 1935, Sinclair Lewis tried to warn people with his "It Can't Happen Here" book. Science Fiction writers have especially been on-the-money time and time again - I consider them our modern day prophets.
I bought House of Trump, House of Putin. I haven't started it yet as I am reading Virginia Giuffre's book Nobody's Girl.
Edit history
= new reply since forum marked as read