demagogue

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.

Autocrats, authoritarians and demagogues, though, have little — if any — sense of obligation to the public good.

Fascists, authoritarians and demagogues of various ilk know this intimately.

But now that they have a full-fledged demagogue and cult leader running the country, it appears the American right is no longer interested in conservative Christian leaders of yesteryear.