Ideologies reflect fantasies shared by members of a society. A shared fantasy constitutes the heart and soul of a given culture. The leader’s role is to “divine” the cultural fantasy, give it voice. Through his language, the leader invents images and metaphors that contain the fantasy.

Ideas put forth by political leaders are orthogonal to “truth.” The coin of the realm in politics is fantasy: the leader’s ability to express his own fantasies and  induce others to share these fantasies. Successful leaders are deeply plugged into the ideological fantasies they put forth. No one was more moved by Hitler’s ideas than Hitler. By virtue of his ability to share his excitement and passion, the leader evokes a similar experience of excitement and passion within followers.

Ideologies act as a gravitational force, “pulling” fantasies into the world, sequestering energy bound to fantasies, giving fantasies a place in reality. Nazism was a dream that many people were having at the same time—a shared fantasy powerful enough to give rise to an ideology and social movement, genocide and war. 

Dreaming this dream most deeply, Hitler was able to articulate the Nazi fantasy and bring it forth into the "external" world. To know why Nazism achieved popularity, one answers the question: what did Hitler say that caused Germans to rise i[ and shout “Heil Hitler.”