@LSLGuy nailed it in the “current trump admin” (non-pit) thread:
Because average human nature is to be mean. A small outlier fraction of us are not.
Just like average human nature is to be incurious and unthinking and mostly stupid. A small outlier fraction of us are not.
For a long time the curious smart folks ran the economy to their advantage. And to some deree ran politics to their advantage. Which means their greater influence disguised their lesser numbers.
When the mean and stupid people get in power, we see how a world made in their image, not your or my image, works. It works badly and violently and thuggishly. And those folks are very comfortable in that milieu while being very uncomfortable in ours.
The “incurious and unthinking and mostly stupid” people are ripe for a Magic Messiah who will take over their brains and turn them into robotic sycophants.
Also this:
LSLGuy:
The desire to be an authoritarian dictator runs in about 1% of humanity. The desire to worship an authoritarian dictator runs in about 30% of humanity.
They have their messiah now and they are filled with ecstatic visions.