A scene from The American President, the 1995 Aaron Sorkin film about a widower in the White House running against a right-wing demagogue is instructive. Michael J. Fox played an aide who told the president, played by Michael Douglas, that “in the absence of genuine leadership” the people will “listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.”
Hmmm.
(Sorry, I did see the movie and I do remember this line, but I lost the reference where I found this. My apologies.)
Benedict Arnold 