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Faux Populism Role Reversals part 1 [1]
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Date: 2025-04-24
This article is one of a number wherein I’ll provide examinations of the Root Causes of the current situation that we’re facing with Trump 2.0. I’ve been using the term Faux Populist since about 2015, but it’s an older phenomena than that. In post-modern politics it showed up here in a major way around 2010 with the advent of the Tea Party (the Far Right is big on Revolutionary War memes which is why you’re likely seeing so many yellow Don’t Tread on Me flags popping up). The use of Faux Populism is likely the single biggest factor in the rise of Donald Trump and all that has resulted from that. Although it’s also important to note that this trend is not limited to the United States.
Let’s dive in with some definitions…
Faux Populism — A political movement or position which attempts to portray itself as focused on ordinary people and their plight, but is instead driven by ultra-nationalist and authoritarian goals. In building their movements, Faux Populists typically ‘co-opt’ traditionally Liberal / Left-leaning positions and mix them with harsh Right Wing ones — such as the persecution of Ethnic groups or immigrants.
I wrote that definition myself as I couldn’t find a suitable one elsewhere — but I think it is consistent with both the current post-modern Faux Populists as well as the crop that plagued the world during the 1930s (Hitler and Mussolini). This definition is in contrast to what American Populism consisted of from the late 1800s.
American Populism — In the United States, the term "Populist" originally referred to the Populist Party and related left-wing movements of the late 19th century that wanted to curtail the power of the corporate and financial establishment. Later, the term "populist" began to apply to any anti-establishment movement. wikipedia and here: www.britannica.com/...
There was a Protectionist and sometimes Nativist component to American Populism; but none of the Ultra-Nationalism that is now present. Because of the history involved and differing goals across these ‘flavors’ of Populism, people are often confused as to what is meant by the term. More confusing for voters though is how modern Right-Leaning Populists have cherrypicked key issues once associated with their Left-leaning opponents. That has played out in a variety of elections and is likely the main reason that Donald Trump was elected President twice. Let’s look at just some of the issues that the New ‘Faux’ Populists have co-opted:
Protectionism (both in terms of Tariffs and ending Outsourcing) .
An explicit objection to Globalism as a concept (America First).
A distrust of large interests (government, big companies).
This then translates into a distrust of key processes (e.g. voting integrity).
Concern for the little man (in 2024, the GOP absolutely pummeled Biden over inflation while he refused to acknowledge it).
An appeal to Fairness (through the dubious mechanism of Reverse Racism referred to as Meritocracy).
This situation has led to some pretty strange scenarios recently, including:
Steve Bannon attacking Elon Musk and also calling for taxes on the rich.
The rise of RFK Jr. (which most people on the Left still don’t understand).
Trump championing the re-industrialization of America while some Democrats have been forced to defend Globalism.
and many more.
The reason though that we call this Fake Populism is because all of these positions are of course the opposite of what the new Populists are actually interested in. They are merely using our rhetoric, stealing our issues and pretending to be us in order to gain the support of many millions of people who should be voting for Democrats. This actually started in a more limited fashion during the Reagan years when he managed to steal away a lot of votes through rhetoric and promises that sounded Democratic, but weren’t (and he knew that language having been an FDR Democrat himself for many years).
Today’s Populists though are more deliberate and the efforts are being coordinated globally. For example, every Far Right Populist movement shares more or less the exact same argument on immigration . The talking points (and in some cases financial support) for both the propaganda campaigns and the parties themselves often comes directly from Russia.
Did the new Populism begin solely as Russian Astroturf ? Probably not, the Tea Party — which sprang up due to resentment stemming from the Great Recession — seemed legitimately tied to the GOP (they now call themselves the Freedom Caucus). But part of the genius of the Russian efforts over the past 15 years has been to identify likeminded groups and individuals across the globe and empower them.
In my next article in this series, I will take you back to 2010 to examine the Tea Party, review what they accomplished and highlight our missed opportunity to stop them.
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