Why it’s hard to have much hope:
Rabid anti-Semitism coupled with an addiction to implausible conspiracy theories is a very strong predictor of national doom; Nazi Germany isn’t the only country to have followed these dark stars to the graveyard of history. Many liberal minded Americans (though loathing both anti-Semitism and chowderheaded conspiracy thinking themselves) don’t like to look this truth in the eye. It leads to some very uncomfortable reflections about the potential for democracy in many countries beyond Egypt, and casts a dark shadow over the prospects for the development of a stable and prosperous Palestinian state. It suggests that there are narrow limits on what we can expect from diplomacy with Iran.
There’s a lot of delusional thinking in the White House along these lines.
The best cause for hope is that so many of the “bad guys” seeking power are too incompetent to actually use it effectively and will just lead their countries into disasters that will probably result in public disaffection from their fantasy ideologies. Is that too much to hope for? Could you imagine how much worse things would be if Pakistan or even Iran had its shit together? Or if the Saudis were megalomaniacs?
Problem with that is that people turn even more to religion when things get really bad, or do you just like to see lots of other people suffering?