We actually got lucky during the cold war in that the other side was fundamentally quite stupid and bound to lose their power from a lack of economic performance.
Now there's a new crop of autocrats freed from the constraints of ideology. It appears that democracy isn't actually necessary for economic development and they're raising a crop of apolitical hedonists – well-fed, entertained an thoroughly harmless for their grip on power. When a bit more loyalty is needed, a little round of in-group -> out-group hatred usually fixes it.
China, Russia, Turkey, Victor Orban, and now Donald Trump: they're betting that people prefer "democracy on rails" to the sometimes scary or frustrating life in actual freedom.
(Oh, and the EU is obviously perfectly democratic, that just doesn't depend on your or anybody's (populous does not recognize...) opinion)