rotating villain 

In American democracy, when the majority party has enough votes to pass populist legislation, party leaders designate a scapegoat who will refuse to vote with the party thereby killing the legislation. The opposition is otherwise inexplicable and typically comes from someone who is safe or not up for re-election. This allows for maximum diffusion of responsibility.

WTF??? Senator Lieberman now opposes the same health care compromise he himself suggested. Just when everyone thought Democrats had enough votes to get this done. Guess they made Lieberman the rotating villain...

rotating villain by brmull April 4, 2011

Rotating villain 

A criminal tied down to a lazy Susan.

Example:
Officer: I just went down to the county jail and saw a rotating villain. It’s pretty rare that we see that form of punishment anymore because it’s pretty medieval.
Child: Wow cool.

Rotating villain by Coolcat11:11 September 4, 2021