Truth holds no attraction when you can construct your own.

The tremors felt across the globe by the politically astute, regarding Brexit and the Trump election both signify a pull back from open door liberalism into a more traditional insular, nationalistic mode has caused the academic to ask questions, is this a swing which will bring back the competitive self-serving philosophy which produced two world wars.

The problem with political commentary is that it freely beats itself up with projections of doom and gloom. The political animal matches the 'inherent selfishness' that often lies within nations, given the vast scale of under-over achievement attainable within the society living there. If the liberal agenda turned its attention outwards on the disparity in distant lands and forgot the desperate plight of its own citizen, then the backlash, when it came, upset the cozy assumptions of decades. That we could ignore with impunity  the 'local yokel' or at least pacify him with trinkets.
Both in the States and here, that assumption has come crashing down and the psychological format that assumed that the "world view" was the way forward for prosperity, with the equally banal supposition that everyone would eventually prosper is shown to be flawed.

In this country the danger in not building affordable houses or attempting to limit the inflow of other people, particularly when here one celebrates the institutions of a 'benefit culture' now designed to address every minor disfigurement and a 'health system' proud to claim that it treats everyone equally, free at the point of need. 

With such an attractive touchstone our society holds enormous attraction in a world where, with very few exceptions there is nothing to compare and where sickness and real poverty are the norm.
Liberalism never dealt with the actuality. The accountancy was simply too boring to banish the bright light of philosophical expectancy.
Of course in their favour, the liberals light shone on the human condition, not from a parochial position but was inclusive of all human beings. 

It's antithesis, fascism and in its extreme state, nihilism, are on the increase, neither particularly attractive but reminiscent of the not too distant past. Nationalism has within it some of the elements of both as it seeks to identify the differences between us individually and collectively as a nation. It feeds the cult of being special and the jingoism is easily fed by a reprehensible media/press. We see it every day in the slanted commentaries and untruths peddled by people with an axe to grind.
Truth holds no attraction when you can contrive your own.