Ben Wilson

In small intimate circles, I never know what to say.

so it's like he fed off this intensity off this this like rock concert feeling of this crowd the cheering he needed that to get him going um and he became a different person but in private he was much more reserved many people came away sort of unimpressed um of him in small group settings or one-on-one conversations you know he just seemed much more normal whereas in front of a crowd he seemed larger than life

His speeches were often long.

They could last two hours or more.

And as Kershaw said, the themes didn't vary very much.

They weren't highly original in terms of their ideas.

Although I think that is kind of a bogus criticism.

Like, would you say that

Obama or Biden or Bush or Trump or anything like had super original ideas.

That's just not the role of a politician and a political leader, right?

Their role is to galvanize public support behind preexisting ideas.

So anyway, he's almost uniformly incredible in front of big crowds.

In front of small groups, as I said, he's often not as impressive, although he can be.

That one is kind of variable.

You just get mixed reviews.

Some people come away pretty impressed.

Other people come away not impressed at all.

Other people with sort of a mixed opinion.

One journalist who interviewed him during this period wrote, quote, Hitler spoke with great simplicity and with great earnestness.

There was not a trace in his manner of those arts which political leaders are apt to employ when they wish to impress.