potemkin village (po-TEM-kin VIL-ij) noun

An impressive showy facade designed to mask undesirable facts.

After Prince Potemkin, who erected cardboard villages for Catherine II’s visit to the Ukraine and the Crimea in 1787.

fatidic (fuh-TID-ik), adjective:

Of, relating to, or characterized by prophecy; prophetic.

Fatidic comes from Latin fatidicus, from fati- (from fatum,”fate”) + -dicus (from dicere, “to say”).