Editing Demagogue (section)

===Establishing one-man rule, subverting the rule of law===
In executive office, demagogues have often moved quickly to expand their power, both ''de jure'' and ''de facto'': by getting legislation passed to officially expand their authority, and by building up networks of corruption and informal pressure to ensure that their dictates are followed regardless of constitutional authority.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

For example, within two months of being appointed chancellor, Hitler unraveled all constitutional limitations on his power.<ref name=mitchell /> He achieved this through near-daily acts of chaos, destabilizing the state and providing ever stronger reasons to justify taking more power. Hitler was appointed on January 30, 1933; on February 1, the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] was dissolved; on February 27, the [[Reichstag fire|Reichstag building burned]]; on February 28, the [[Reichstag Fire Decree]] gave Hitler emergency powers and suspended civil liberties; on March 5, new general elections were held; on March 22, the [[Dachau concentration camp|first concentration camp]] opened, taking political prisoners. On March 24, the [[Enabling Act of 1933|Enabling Act]] was passed, giving Hitler full legislative powers, thus ending all constitutional restraint and making Hitler absolute dictator. Consolidation of power continued even after that; see [[Early timeline of Nazism#1933|Early timeline of Nazism]].

Even local demagogues have established one-man rule, or a near approximation of it, over their constituencies. [[William H. Murray|"Alfalfa Bill" Murray]], a demagogue who was elected governor of Oklahoma by appealing to poor rural animosity toward "craven wolves of plutocracy",{{r|Luthin|page=121}} promised to "make an open season on millionaires."{{r|Luthin|page=110}} Despite having presided over Oklahoma's constitutional convention, Murray routinely violated the constitution, ruling by executive order whenever the legislature or the courts got in his way. When federal courts ruled against him, he prevailed by relying on the National Guard, even donning a military hat and pistol and personally commanding the troops—and seeing to it that the confrontation was filmed by movie cameras.{{r|Luthin|page=115–116}} Murray attempted to expand gubernatorial powers with a set of four initiatives, replacing existing income-tax law with his own, giving him power to appoint all members of the board of education, acquiring corporation-owned land, and giving him extraordinary power over the budget, but these were defeated.{{r|Luthin|page=114–115}}