Seems like an appropriate time to post this:
An extremly well made summary on how they he has risen to power. Still today, even here in europe many people don't get the fact that a) the germans were not more antisemitic than about every other country in the world, antisemtism was just more en vogue back then, b) the germans didn't want a war... they just wanted to find a way out of their economic crisis, and they were angry about the treatment of germany after WW1, which, in hindsight, WAS pretty unfair given there wasn't a single nation that didn't contribute on WW1 breaking out in europe, really. Germans might have "fired the first shot", but military leaders all over europe were excited about a new war, and politic leaders and the general public were misguided by raging nationalism.
And to be honest, "the first shot" wasn't fired by germany, it was fired on an austrian royal. If it was staged or not AFAIK is not clear to this day.
So the whole situation after WW1 was one big F*CKUP by ALL of europe not having learned a single bit from the bloody war they just got out of.
What I find more important is how many potential dictators seem on the rise currently, mimicking this slow and steady way of gaining power instead of the classic military coup. Erdogan comes to mind, which just had his "fire in the Reichstag"... no matter who set the fire... errh started the failed coup, he seems hell bent on using that to finally get the absolute power he worked towards for so many years.
Putin seems to do something similar, just at a slower pace, using more external than interal enemies as a tool to further his power.
What will happen if Trump gets to power? Is he smart enough to start similar maneuvers to stretch his power beyond what he should have? Is he able to to that in the US as it is today? If not, what has to happen to the US to make it possible? More mass immigration? A flailing economy? A senate that completly locks down the political process once more?
I fear the amount of protest voters in the US is a an all time high, there is no other way Trump could have become the leading candidate with all he has said and done (or NOT done, like paying for his own campaign). These same protest voters could do it once again, IF Trump is not just a big fan of Putin, but wants to follow his example.
Really hope Trump is just a little insane as some people think he is, and not as smart AND egocentric as some other dictators that rose to power in the last few years.