It’s actually not that hard to understand this fascination with Putin and similarly minded autocratic leaders such as Hungary’s Viktor Orban. “See, this is the thing,” wrote American Conservative pundit Rod Dreher last year (who has made a pilgrimage to Hungary). “Putin, Orban, and all the illiberal leaders…are all completely clear and completely correct on the society-destroying nature of wokeness and postliberal leftism.” Well, the Italians were right about trains, but you know how that went.

Dreher has criticized the Russian invasion, but like other populist conservatives he doesn’t spend much time examining allegations that Putin’s government murders journalists, poisons political foes, and imprisons people who participate in peaceful protests. These far-right conservatives like that he’s a nationalist, so-called patriot tough guy who doesn’t put up with open immigration, “fake” media criticism, or anything, well, gay-related.

Many conservatives seem willing to toss aside our nation’s constitutional protections and market economy in favor of post-liberal autocrats because they’re frustrated by our nation’s cultural tilt. Prominent conservative writer Sohrab Amari famously tweeted that he’s “at peace with a Chinese-led 21st century,” because “(l)ate-liberal America is too dumb and decadent to last as a superpower.”