McCarthyism bamboozlement befooling bluffing calculated deception circumvention conning deceiving deception deceptiveness defrauding delusion delusiveness dupery enmeshment ensnarement entanglement entrapment fallaciousness fallacy falseness flimflam flimflammery fond illusion fooling hallucination harassment harrying hoodwinking hounding illusion kidding mirage oppression outwitting overreaching persecution phantasm putting on red-baiting self-deception snow job song and dance spoofery spoofing subterfuge swindling tormenting trickiness tricking vision willful misconception wishful thinking witch-hunt witch-hunting