machination

Ostensibly concerning the life and times of Nick Shay, a waste-management executive, the 827-page novel encompasses mob hits, CIA schemes, the machinations of the art world and much more.

That’s how power obfuscates unseemly machinations: by claiming to be doing the opposite.

And both put ideology aside and turned pragmatic in their machinations to placate Trump, despite his long history of demeaning Mexico and Mexican immigrants.

"It's essentially about the political machinations that go on... people with competing interests and competing ideologies."

Neither the stage production nor the musical can do much with the melodramatic Madame Morrible, the headmistress at Shiz who becomes a key player in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz’s fascist machinations.