A lot of the US elite thought Fascism was pretty cool in the 20’s and 30’s. If you replace hatred of jews with hatred of the bourgeois, Italian Fascism pretty much ports over to the Obama administration intact. Obama even poses the way Moussolini did with the silly chin thing he does.
As a matter of fact, had Hitler not declared war on the Russian communists, the American left would probably still be defending the fascists and would have opposed our entering WWII bitterly. Until that declaration of war, the fascists were AOK with the American left.
Even Charles Lindberg. Yes a lot of Progressives liked Hitler and Mussolini in the 30’s.
You need to remember the state of things. We were in a Depression. The way to the future seemed to be two paths: Communism or Fascism. If you didn’t like the Communists, then Fascism seemed to be the way to go.
I’m not saying it was right, just that is what choices some folks though we had.