In the 1930s, the US also flirted with Communism. Both, of course, are authoritarian. A willingness by a large part of the population to let government run their lives.
IMO, it's a weakness on their part. It's harder to live in a democracy.
Notice how much these assholes look like Trumpers?:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/skokie-legacy-nazi-march-town-holocaust-survivors/story?id=56026742
Skokie: The legacy of the would-be Nazi march in a town of Holocaust survivors
https://skokieheritagemuseum.omeka.net/exhibits/show/skokie-history-faqs/attempted-nazi-march-skokie
Unless it's based on sound principles of law, strong civil institutions, and clean elections democracy can appear to be a failure to people.
Democracy looked like a failure to Germans in 1932, and to Russians in 1999.