Decades ago every major political party refused to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats, a party that literally grew out of a neo-Nazi group, because they recognized that they were a threat to democracy and decency.
So the SDs toned it down, went 'respectable', didn't change their values but started making it unacceptable for party members to voice their more fascist opinions - or at least voice them in more palatable ways. They gathered support at the polls, and finally several center-right parties made the deal with the devil. They could win an election and form a government if they cooperated with the Sweden Democrats! And they were losing support, so moving further to the right would surely halt that slide, right?
The center-right formed a government, and while they didn't give any ministerial posts to the SDs (technically not giving them a part in the government), in concession they let them write the governing agreement, which is radically anti-immigrant and racist. It was pushing the boundaries of their comfort levels, but what could they do? They needed the SDs to get into government!
Well, two years later, the SDs are even more popular because they've been legitimized, the center-right parties are slipping into irrelevance, and the Sweden Democrats just called for mosques in the country to be razed. The center right parties decry the rhetoric, but what can they do? They handed the reins of power to the Nazis and now they have to ride this horse.
It's a perfect demonstration of how if you cede some ground to fascism you're not co-opting it, you're empowering it. Now the government of Sweden is fascist-aligned, and the fascists are further empowered, and given what's happening in Hungary, in Italy, in the Netherlands, in the US, etc, etc, it's very scary.
