there's a ton of argument about how much typical Germans supported Hitler. but certainly during the war you have to consider that support was solidified in part by terror.
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wartime losses and shortages very much eroded Hitler's support. whether large scale murder of civilians contributed to that is pretty unclear. these things can harden opposition too.
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support for Hitler in any case was more about german nationalism, racism, and the way he appealed to nostalgia/partisan commitments rather than some sort of peculiar psychological spell. same with trump.
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this isn't exculpatory. it's just pointing out that, a) a lot of people don't support Trump, and
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b) Trump's supporters aren't mentally ill or spellbound. They like him because he articulates a particular (and evil) American identity which they find congenial because it offers them certain kinds of benefits, including the destruction of those they see as upstarts and enemies.
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I wrote about average german culpability here fwiw. Richard Evans wrote a really thoughtful book pushing back against the universal culpability argument.https://psmag.com/social-justice/nazi-germany-politics-power …
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It's a metaphor
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Contemporaneous accounts of Hitler’s speeches were pretty lackluster. “The crowds cheered when he threw them red meat,” yes, but he also drifted aimlessly and rambled about sleights for hours.
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The Svengali narrative is a way of escaping agency as much as it is a warning...
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That said, I'm not sure I disagree with the idea that massive destructive consequences were the only way to get these people to abandon what they were doing.
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I mean... not really. They stuck with him past death. They were willing to continue fighting even after they'd decisively lost the war.https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germany-surrenders-unconditionally-to-the-allies-at-reims …
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