Editing Demagogue (section)

{{short description|Politician or orator who panders to fears and emotions of the public}}
{{about||the song by  Urban Dance Squad|Demagogue (song)}}
{{confusion|Demigod|Demogorgon}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
[[File:José Clemente Orozco - The Demagogue - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[José Clemente Orozco]]'s painting ''The Demagogue'']]

A '''demagogue''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɛ|m|ə|ˌ|ɡ|ɒ|g}}; {{etymology|grc|''{{wikt-lang|grc|δημαγωγός}}'' ({{grc-transl|δημαγωγός}})|popular leader, mob leader}}; {{etymology|grc|''{{wikt-lang|grc|δῆμος}}'' ({{grc-transl|δῆμος}})|people, populace||''{{wikt-lang|grc|ἀγωγός}}'' ({{grc-transl|ἀγωγός}})|leading, guiding}}),<ref name=OED /> or '''rabble-rouser''',<ref name=OED-rabble/><ref name=MW-rabble /> is a political leader in a [[democracy]] who gains popularity by arousing the [[common people]] against [[elites]], especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, [[Appeal to emotion|appealing to emotion]] by [[scapegoating]] out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other [[rhetoric]] that tends to drown out reasoned [[deliberation]] and encourage fanatical popularity.<ref name=LarsonDefn /> Demagogues overturn established norms of political conduct, or promise or threaten to do so.{{r|Signer|page=32–38}}

Historian [[Reinhard Luthin]] defined ''demagogue'' as "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."{{r|Luthin|page=3}}

Demagogues have appeared in democracies since ancient [[Athenian democracy|Athens]]. Demagogues exploit a fundamental weakness in democracy: Because ultimate power is held by the people, it is possible for the people to give that power to someone who appeals to the lowest common denominator of a large segment of the population.{{r|Signer|page=31–71}} Demagogues have usually advocated immediate, forceful action to address a crisis while accusing moderate and thoughtful opponents of weakness or disloyalty. Many demagogues elected to high executive office have unraveled constitutional limits on executive power and tried to convert their democracy into a [[dictatorship]], sometimes successfully.