demagogue

After Pericles’ death from plague in 429 B.C., rhetorical and political authority is seized by Cleon, an upstart demagogue who is the “most violent person in Athens” and “the most persuasive.”

The conservative movement has been infected with grifters and demagogues.

We should beware of the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends — weakening our economy, our national security, and the entire free world — all while cynically waving the American flag.

Winston is a grifter and populist demagogue in the mold of Robert Penn Warren’s Willie Stark, though Mr. Johnson has also taken inspiration from the daily news.

Scaring people this way is a common maneuver of ambitious demagogues.