Just encountered this passage in Proust, which neatly condensed my scarcely unique but oft-stated thesis of democratic (mobocratic) fickleness behind Barack Obama's extraordinary rise and gentle ramp of decline:
"[T]he instinct of imitation and absence of courage govern society and the mob alike.... It is in like manner that the populace banishes or acclaims its kings."
Merely invert those final verbs, and insert "and then" in the place of "or."