What explains the rise of authoritarian personalities like Donald Trump

Studies show those with high right-wing authoritarianism are more likely to follow unethical orders

Since the horror of Hitler’s Holocaust, psychologists have investigated why certain individuals appear more prone to follow orders from authority figures, even if it means that they have to sacrifice humanitarian values while doing so.

Apart from the Nazi regime, this issue is central to military atrocities such as the massacre in My Lai during the Vietnam war, and the systematic abuse of detainees in Abu-Ghraib prison in post-invasion Iraq.

But it also applies to civilian situations such as the recent unethical behaviour of some members of the US border control in the