What causes some people to adoringly follow the lead of madmen? Hitler's adoring worshippers. David Miscavige's(Scientology.) The don?

I equate it to people who were not brought up properly.  I am serious.  There are no family values left.  I don't mean worship the parents when there is no reason to.  I mean that we are born to follow the people we trust to have our backs.  When those people are rotten apples or even just people who exist without any meaning to their lives, they breed people who grow up with no values at all.  They are looking for love in all the wrong places and when they see members of a group they admire, they want to JOIN.

Thus the Scientologists who will willingly sell their kids into slavery for the likes of David Muscavage.  They are not even allowed to see their kids without permission.  Not the die-hard believers.

That is the kind of power Trump types dream of.  He knows exactly who to appeal to. Undeducated.  Or Worse.  Educated who have no concept of any semblance of human values.  To them human values is about money and earning more than the next guy.

This is what got us into this mess.  We have a nation of deplorables running amok.  

Paul Ryan tweeting about some grade school teacher proud that she makes $1.50 more per week so she can easily pay for her Costco card for the year now.

This is the kind of brains we have voting for people like Ryan.