George Papadopoulos was ambitious and underqualified, the kind of wannabe who fills the lower rungs of many a political campaign. This foreign policy adviser to the Donald Trump campaign would not have been even a footnote in the history of the 2016 election before he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his attempt to connect campaign officials with Russian officials. Now, as with so many others, a marginal supporting actor in Trump’s ongoing drama takes center stage.

Early in the 2016 cycle, Papadopoulos, then 29, briefly advised Ben Carson’s presidential campaign. Interested in national security and politics but without much in the way of credentials or experience, Papadopoulos cast himself as an international