The Demagogue

"The Demagogue" is a surrealist political satire following Roy Cohn in 1950s New York as he discovers a magical telephone that transforms his lies into golden butterflies. These butterflies implant false truths in listeners, causing Cohn to grow physically larger while his victims shrink. As his power expands, Manhattan itself begins to warp—buildings bow toward him, McCarthy appears as his ventriloquist dummy, and truth becomes a black-market commodity. The story culminates when the accumulated weight of lies tilts Manhattan 45 degrees, and Cohn, now gigantic, finally bursts into thousands of paper subpoenas that transform into birds and fly away.