I know what you mean . The notion that anybody still believes what he says is difficult to understand.
I don't find it difficult at all. He and his people are a lite version of what the Kim family has done in N. Korea and Xi in China. It follows a very predictable pattern.
Step 1: Acquire power by any means necessary. Death squads, cheating in elections, etc. Anything is allowed because the ends justify the means, and anything is possible as long as one gives one's self the moral authority. The hubris of thinking that one individual (or group of anointed individuals) know best how others should live their lives knows no bounds.
Step 2: Control the media and the schools. If you control what information people have access to, you control what they think because they don't know any better.
Step 3: Indoctrinate the kids for a decade or two with the idea that there are victims and oppressors, that the kids are victims (as long as they meet certain demographic / socioeconomic classifications), and the Great Anointed One will save them from the evil oppressors. Note: said oppressor can be a target demographic group (whites and/or "the rich" in the West), or could be an external enemy (America for N. Korea and China) - either way, the approach and outcome is the same: a populace that buys whatever the leader / media says without any critical thinking getting in the way.
You can tell who has the society's best interests at heart. If they want to control the flow of information (media / restricting free speech) and control the education of the youth, then you know they don't have the nation's best interests at heart in the long term. Those who champion the free exchange of ideas, want kids to learn how to think (as opposed to what to think), and encourage liberty - they are the ones who want the nation to thrive.
It's control, authoritarianism, and collectivism vs liberty, free association, and the ability to make personal choices.
It's easy to see in Russia. It's been happening since the end of the Cold War.