I think these kinds of figures who get public notoriety are kind of easier to spot... the confusion is in the intimacy of a long-standing, easy-going friendship where we supposedly share values in a deep sense. But yes, whytes propose daft things convincingly enough and the world loses their mind and joins them... eg the young woman who got millions of dollars of funds for a fake procedure taking a speck of blood and diagnosing diseases with it... a proves sociopath - Elizabeth Something in the USA.