.instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness."
Origins of Totalitarianism

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The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that ... one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given ... proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism;