English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
What word describes someone who pleases the crowd and doesn't stand for what is right or justice? - I'm thinking of corrupt, but it doesn't fit well.
For example, Tom is a_______; he doesn't seem to have a firm ground on what is right. He only says what will sway the crowd to like him more. He doesn't care whether his statement are factually right or not.
Two possibilities immediately come to mind...
rabble-rouser (Cambridge Dictionary)
a person who says, writes, or does things that make crowds of people excited or angry, usually intentionally in order to make them act in a particular way
populist (Cambridge Dictionary)
trying to be popular with ordinary people and to represent their ideas and opinions
Note that rabble-rouser is much more informal, and is always pejorative, but populist is sometimes (though not often) used approvingly, and it can appear in quite formal contexts.
There are also lots of pejorative terms specifically relevant to politicians who will endorse anything if they think it will win votes - political opportunist, windsock, weathercock, chameleon,...
The existing answer has some good options, but I think another choice is
Demagogue (Cambridge Dictionary)
a person, especially a political leader, who wins support by exciting the emotions of ordinary people rather than by having good or morally right ideas
I think it keeps the negative connotations of rabble-rouser, but without the informality.
