First of all, there are Hitler comparisons that are ludicrous (omg he’s the new Hitler) and there are those that are applicable (his rise to power, for example).
In 1932 a German conservative politician named Kurt von Schleicher believed the country was under threat from an imminent communist/socialist takeover (not national-socialist but Karl Marx workers-of-the-world-unite socialist) since over 40% of the electorate voted for them. He believed that Weimar Germany was suffering a “cultural assault on conservative and Christian values” that manifested itself through the “blatant actions of the decadent and liberal culture and newspapers” of the late 1920ies in Germany.
Believing that the only way to thwart them was to form a broad political front to oppose the left, he reached out to Hitler and his national socialists, believing that the Nazi party, who was dropping in popularity would draw votes from the extreme left and help the conservatives stay in power.
He disliked their demagoguery and populism, but hey, everything is better that the left, right?
Here things get a little bit murky - through backroom deals and some arm twisting , simple political inertia, conservative party discipline and even an inheritance tax break for the former chancellor’s son, a new German government was formed. The Nazis only held three out of eleven cabinet posts and after some tense negotiations the conservatives meekly acquiesced to Hitler’s appointment as the chancellor, a largely ceremonial role previously occupied by a senile WW1 general Paul von Hindenburg. Von Schleicher believed he had the situation under control.
Although everybody disliked Hitler personally and his inflammatory rhetoric, it was believed that this short-lived government will help conservatives ward of the challenge from the left and that the nazis will collapse in a few months due to factional infighting and lack of a coherent political plan.
The amazing part came next - in the next few months, through a frenzy of legislative and political action, Hitler literally dismantled the entire country - German Weimar Republic and created the German Reich. New laws (including racial ones), new flag(!), new name… all in a matter of weeks. Hitler simply steamrolled through everyone, including the all-powerful Army.
It’s a point of intense interest to historians how someone could have literally dismantled the entire country while the majority of the people (less than a third voted for the nazis in the last two elections) and the entire political class stood by and watched, blindsided by the sheer bravado of Hitler and his close confidants.
So yes, Hitler’s rise to power is a salutary lesson that cannot be overstated, especially in democracies in the Western hemisphere.