[zeestephen]

Re: "the Nazis didn't start out as the merchants of death they became..."

I disagree.

The Nazi leadership, and specifically Hitler, were mono-maniacally obsessed with the Jewish people.

Every historically important document that Hitler wrote from the early 1920s to his Last Will and Testament, written just hours before his suicide, attacks the Jewish people.

Hitler was a sociopathic criminal with exceptional political skills and fanatical willpower.

[ArtDodger]

The Nazis started using brown shirts to ‘nudge’ the undecided in the correct direction fairly early on. Once they attained control of the government, the brown shirts were discarded, and legitimate government agencies were used and created.
Here in the USA, Antifa, BLM and the woke academia are the brown shirts, and the FBI are the pliable agencies.