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It’s nothing new. Claim anything, promise everything, blame someone else.  The Greeks of ancient Athens didn’t have Republicans and Democrats, term limits or fund drives, but they did have politicians. There were Athenians who, seeking power, were willing and able to use language for their own ends. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it did not. Apparently, it worked enough to get into the mind of Euripides who wrote plays about the way people influence other people. 

Two thousand and five hundred years after Euripides lamented the way some used language to promote their own interests, the arena is still pretty much the same. The mob listens to their favorite channel, and uses statistics (echoing Disraeli*) to prove everything, The swamp may still be called a honey pot, and we don’t even want to think about what “great woes” might lie ahead.

* “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.” —Benjamin Disraeli