Legerdemain:
- skilful hiding of the truth in order to trick people:
The survey suggests nearly half the electorate believes the president won through electoral legerdemain. - skilful tricks done as part of a performance:
There are traditional acts of legerdemain with bright scarves and floating balls [Cambridge Dictionary]
Noted in “When LBJ and Hubert Humphrey Teamed Up to Break a Talking Filibuster,” James Traub, Politico Magazine:
The Capitol Hill reporter William White, a connoisseur of parliamentary legerdemain, once described the Senate as “the South’s unending revenge upon the North for Gettysburg.” Southern Democrats mastered the fine arts of legislative warfare and brought them to perfection in the face of northern efforts to end the feudal condition of Black people.
