H.L. Mencken on demagogues

The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots…  His public life is an endless series of evasions and false pretences.  He is willing to embrace any issue, however idiotic, that will get him votes, and he is willing to sacrifice any principle, however sound, that will lose them for him…  He may be, on the one hand, a cross-roads idler striving to get into the State Legislature… or he may be, on the other, the President of the United States. 

~ H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)

 

G. Edward Griffin on monetary collapse and false leaders

I'm encouraged by the fact that people are waking up, but I'm a little bit discouraged because, even so, many people are waking up to the pain.  They want to be relieved of the pain and anguish, but they don't yet - yet - understand fully what's behind it.  And I'm afraid that people in that state of non-informed awareness, but complaint - "I'm mad as hell and going to do something about it" - they don't know what to do about it.  For those people, they're sitting ducks for some demagogue to come along, the guy on the white horse, and he'll say what they want to hear him say, but he'll be no better than the guy before.  False leaders arise at moments like this.

~ G. Edward Griffin, "Brink of Totalitarianism; Get Out of the Banks, Own Physical Warns Jekyll Author," Stansberry Research interview, October 21, 2021