The popularity of the Nazis therefore stemmed from an accurate reading of the public mood; the adoption of a program that combined a rather dissonant assortment of nationalist, socialist, and anti-Semitic slogans; and the fact that, in Adolf Hitler, the party had a charismatic leader..... However, it would be a mistake to see the reasons for the Nazi electoral successes of 1930-1933 as limited to the exploitation of antisemitism rooted deep in the national psyche. Besides his call for reducing the role of the Jews, Hitler offered the Germans a relatively coherent vision of national greatness, in which history and geopolitics destined Germany for the leading role in Europe. This vision swept many off their feet. They regarded the recovery of the territory lost during World War I, the integration into Germany of German-populated areas in neighboring states, and an as yet undefined form of hegemony over the other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, populated by racially inferior peoples, as right and just. 

In many "democratic" countries today, the leaders use their powers and abuse the rule of law (in what is known as lawfare), to suppress their opponents. The behavior of these leaders may be similar to what Hitler had done. 

Tan Kin Lian