I approach it from a different angle, that of Fromm, Adorno et al, who developed the idea of an Authoritarian personality and that of Altemeyer who reworks Adorno's F-Scale to make it statistically sound. A large swath of people don't want to think. America is notrious for persecuting "experts" and intellectuals. The belief is that the Common Man has the best view. This is why Gallup Polling is located in Nebraska, the Heartland of the Fatherland. Many Americans believe that the only book you need to read is the Good Book, and that college moves children to question the beliefs of their parents. america is a celebration of the lowest common denominator. Our society venerates the ill-educated dumbass while castigating the one who educates themself.

Dictators get to their place with the help of propaganda. Trump's use of proxies and Rush Limbaugh to distance himself from violence is reminiscent of Arendt's analysis of the use of Hitler's use of the SA and his further use of propaganda against the Jews.

Bonus points for using ganzer macher.

Angry and Short