I get that there is nuance to why people feel some admiration for a strongman figure, but why not take the mask off and bring back monarchy and aristocracy, if people are getting tired of democracy and want to be ruled? Like those defending the rich and don’t want to raise taxes on them, in the hopes that they become rich themselves and would not vote against their own projected interest, do some people think they will become dictator themselves one day?
This is why I am a (constitutional) monarchist. I trust a nepobaby over someone who lied, deceived and cheated to the top.
Like all things, democracy is a game. You can cheat at that game.
How would you feel about a federated anti-authoritarian worker controlled egalitarian society, as practiced in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil war? That seems to be a very effective update to democracy which fixes most of the issues related to gaming it, and absolves the need for any type of centralized state control or leader.