Populism and Right-wing Politics

Jeet Heer deals with the tangling of 'populism' and right-wing politics.

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Baffled by Donald Trump’s popularity, some observers have sought to make sense of it with a familiar—and often misused—political label. “Trump is not really a Republican, he’s a populist,” historian Geoffrey Kabaservice told the Guardian. Sarah Palin, who herself often been described as a populist, wrote of the xenophobic real-estate magnate, "Trump has tapped into America’s great populist tradition by speaking to concerns of working class voters." And countless journalists have applied the P-word to Trump.

What is a populist, precisely? Is it someone who understands or represents ordinary people? Someone who speaks truth to power? Or who simply speaks the truth, unvarnished?

The term is a notoriously slippery one, yet there is no reason it should ever be applied to Trump.

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