Herod

Commentators sometimes compare dictators to Herod, the king who ordered the massacre of children in his quest to kill the infant Christ.

In Germany emerged so-called "Herod games" in which people would reportedly stage mock attacks on churches and assail bystanders with inflated animal bladders to ridicule the cruel absurdity of the Judean king.

He compared the scourge of abuse to the slaughter of children by King Herod.

“That reflects Herod’s obliviousness to the richness of nature. For me, he is one of these people who violate not only other people but the earth itself.”

But even as he grew increasingly ill, he could make Herod laugh during phone calls.