demagogue

a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular passions and prejudices

A leader of the rabble; one who attempts to control the multitude by specious or deceitful arts; an unprincipled and factious mob orator or political leader.

Greek: dēmos (the people) + agōgos (leader)

“A silly pretty puss of a girl would not have excited it, nor an avowed blood-relative of the demagogue.”

— George Meredith, Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith

In Lagos, Freya the demagogue led cheers with her megaphone, rallying crowds against the city's drains. "Who clogs our streets? The sewers!" she shouted, as protesters tossed bananas at a bewildered manhole cover.

On a rainy afternoon in Edinburgh's Royal Mile, Anya heard the demagogue's voice boom from an open window above the crowded street. His words incited cheers and jeers, as he waved his arms dramatically, pointing at imaginary foes while the rain drummed against the cobblestones below.

“The opposition was appalled, with the Richmond Whig newspaper referring to him as "the vilest radical and most unscrupulous demagogue in the Union".”