Trump Is a Classic Demagogue: Here’s Why that Matters

What is a demagogue? He is a politician skilled in oratory, flattery, and invective; evasive in discussing vital issues; promising everything to everybody; appealing to the passions rather than the reason of the public; and arousing racial, religious, and class prejudices — a man whose lust for power without recourse to principle leads him to seek to become a master of the masses. He has for centuries practiced his profession of “man of the people.” He is a product of a political tradition nearly as old as western civilization itself.

— Reinhard Luthin, Reinhard H. Luthin, American Demagogues: The Twentieth Century, 1954

Demagoguery is the special problem of democracy. Both words come from the same root, demos, or “the people.” Democracy, or dēmokratía, means “rule of the people.” Demagogue, or dēmagōgos, means “leader of the people.” And therein lies the problem: in a democracy, where the people have the ultimate sovereign power, they are supposed to be their own leaders.

But having power also means having the ability to give that power away. This is the design flaw in the whole system. If “we the people” have the power to do anything we want, we can give that power away to someone else — someone who flatters us and tells us what we want to hear. Those who flatter kings are called “courtiers,” and…