I will bang this drum forever: in THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE FREE: THE GERMANS, 1933-45 Milton Mayer interviewed 10 ordinary Germans after WW2 to learn how fascism took hold. There was never a moment when everyone woke up:
Cops can shoot you dead & stay out of prison (Justin Rapp, many others)
Vigilantes can shoot you dead & get out of prison (Daniel Perry, Rittenhouse)
John Roberts annointed Presidents as de facto unquestionable executioners
It's hard to say we are free when my life can be snuffed without justice.