!!!! This makes me ridiculously happy

[elisi]

trumpery
ˈtrʌmp(ə)ri/
archaic

noun
noun: trumpery; plural noun: trumperies

1.
attractive articles of little value or use.
"None of your woollen drapery, nor linen drapery, nor any of your frippery or trumpery. I hate ostentation"

synonyms: trinkets, baubles, cheap finery, knick-knacks, ornaments, bibelots, gewgaws, gimcracks
"tables piled with all sorts of trumpery"

- practices or beliefs that are superficially or visually appealing but have little real value or worth.
"he exposed their ideals as trumpery"

adjective
adjective: trumpery

1.
showy but worthless.
"trumpery jewellery"
- delusive or shallow.
"that trumpery hope which lets us dupe ourselves"

Origin
late Middle English (denoting trickery): from Old French tromperie, from tromper ‘deceive’.

Comments

[enevarim]

Or, in a more high-falutin’ version of the same vein, trompe l'œil, the flat painted surfaces that can give the illusion of infinite vistas until you get up close.

And didn’t Six have a lovely bombastic speech somewhere in Trial of a Time Lord about the shadow, not the substance?

[elisi]

the flat painted surfaces that can give the illusion of infinite vistas until you get up close.
It just fits too well, in every way. :)

And didn’t Six have a lovely bombastic speech somewhere in Trial of a Time Lord about the shadow, not the substance?
Quite probably! (/sadly has seen no Six)

[enevarim]

For that matter, Seven’s mockery of Davros “Crush the lesser races. Conquer the galaxy. Unimaginable power. Unlimited rice pudding, et cetera, et cetera.” would be funnily apt, if it weren’t so terribly serious.

[elisi]

I can see Hillary doing that, you know.