This is the death spiral that Robert Altemeyer talks about in 'The Authoritarians'.

Those with a high Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) are the leaders (Altemeyer commented that high SDOs seem like sociopaths - well, politicans, CEOs and lawyers are four times more likely to be sociopaths than the general population).

Then there are authoritarian followers who will follow those high SDOs so long as they are good enough at the performative 'I see you/I'm just like you/I'm who you want to be' dance.