I think lots of presumably educated people underestimate how fascist Trump can be. It's not that they don't know how fascist ideology works, it's more like they can't come to terms that the worst predictions about blatantly fascist Trump get are still not pessimistic enough.

And also, I don't think the "appeasement" of fascists come purely from not realizing that they're dealing with fascism. It's more like a tight rope where you know you're fucked but if you play it right you can reduce damages. While I'd love to tell Trump to eat shit, that can't be our foreign relations policy.