Well, in the case of Third Reich, they decisively sided with Nazi. They were not hands that fed them, but they were what police (and military) liked.

The police - especially the US police - often appeals to high school thugs who like authoritarianism, especially when it gives them power over others.

Its always been this way.

Its no surprise that some government systems more strongly appeal.

We must have a different definition of "thug" because the "thugs" in my high school didn't become police. They became the people who shoot 11 people in a weekend, steal cars at 15, and commit disproportionate amounts of - especially violent - crime.

Thugs start as small time bullies and escalate from there. They are smart enough to know what gets them to trouble and tow the line.

Thug: a violent, aggressive person, especially one who is a criminal

The problem here is you've taken the last part as the whole.

There were plenty of thugs as you say that have no social inhibition and get imprisoned. But there are numerous others that got along well enough and covered for each other they kept themselves away from punishment. There were cruel bullies in my school while committing vicious acts had enough of a following they could depend on them to blame the victims as the entity that started the fight. This type of person is well suited for the thin blue line.

Those are the ones that were stupid.

The ones that are smart behave well enough to graduate, and then go work as police, ICE, prison guards etc. Basically anywhere you can beat people and get away with it because "qualified immunity" or "the camera suddenly turned off right then" or...

I've been a part of a local right-wing militia several years ago. Out of ~20 people involved, we had two active cops and one retired. And the stories they told made it abundantly clear that most of their PD (Seattle) is like-minded.

So when push comes to shove, they will absolutely be on the side of the feds if Trump goes all in.