"Charismatic"

Back in 2007, I was in a crime book club. I don't enjoy reading crime books, but I'd heard that they argued a lot and 2 of them were German, so I thought that I could improve my arguing in German as a newcomer to Switzerland. It was true and even when I didn't partake, I got to hear a lot of arguing in German, which was quite helpful.
We never discussed the books until after dinner, so during the first hour or so of our get togethers we'd eat dinner and discuss politics and religion. (I wish that I was joking.) As the 2008 elections heated up, the subject of Obama came up and I got my first chance at germanic repartee when the two German members mentioned their knee-jerk reaction to seeing a population whipped into a froth by a charismatic leader. I got it and everything, but Obama was whipping people in a super positive way so I didn't get their fear.
I get it now.
This blog has begun to resemble an ostomate or infertility blog in the past year and I've never really written about politics, but I've been thinking about that book club dinner as the primaries and debates are raging back in the motherland. The two Germans in my book club never said the word "Hitler" because they're German and not trolls on the internet, but we all know that that's what they were talking about, yes? That name has been tossed around will nilly and it feels like it's lost its powere, being associated as it is with people who believe seemingly anything and express that belief online. But when I see the things happening at Trump rallies and hear the things that he's saying to froth up his supporters and the elections in Germany, which feel so fear-fueled....