Demagoguery is nothing new. America has always had its fire-breathers, Father Charles Coughlin, Senator Joseph McCarthy, Governor George Wallace, each exploiting fear and resentment to build a following. But today’s demagogues operate at a scale those predecessors could never imagine. They don’t need studios or rallies; they have livestreams, podcasts, and algorithmic megaphones engineered to reward outrage. They arrive faster, louder, and more frequently, wrapped in hashtags and monetized resentment.