Trump campaigned with an anti-elite/establishment message, so that's about the only way it could be considered "populist" in my mind. Trump's cabinet picks reveal he was never populist at all, but a manipulator... obvious to most people here!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism

In general, populism is a political style of action that mobilizes a large alienated element of population against a government seen as controlled by an out-of-touch closed elite that acts on behalf of its own interests. The underlying ideology of the Populists can be left, right, or middle. Its goal is to unite the uncorrupt and the unsophisticated (the 'little man') against the corrupt dominant elites (usually the orthodox politicians) and their camp followers (usually the rich and the intellectuals). It is guided by the belief that political and social goals are best achieved by the direct actions of the masses. Although it comes into being where mainstream political institutions fail to deliver, there is no identifiable economic or social set of conditions that give rise to it, and it is not confined to any particular social class.

One that's intended to be insulting. Sort of like saying one's trying to appeal to hoi polloi, to the unwashed masses. Which is obviously degrading and so utterly beneath the speaker's preference as to be not worthy of comment.

Sniff. Sniff.


I found Sander's campaign to be no less populist, but oriented towards a different subset of the populace. One that many sympathized with. Good people. The washed masses, so to speak.


Split country, split populism.

Maybe the Trump phenomena could be better described as a "Schadenfreude movement"?

LOL! I partly wrote that because there's all kinds of words that I don't think are really necessary. People who've mentioned the lack of an English word for "schadenfreude" to me usually make me think, "Who cares? We know what it means and we can describe the concept with just a few words."

In particulars the r platform issues appeal to a narrow group of people, the wealthy.
Now the royal 'Rump espoused populism for another narrow group, white males.

a real populist is • a person who holds, or who is concerned with, the views of ordinary people.

There was a populist party;
• (Populist) a member of the Populist Party, a US political party formed in 1891 that advocated the interests of labor and farmers, free coinage of silver, a graduated income tax, and government control of monopolies.

eom

It used to mean support for the common man - the 99%, if you will against the plutocracy or aristocracy. What the Republicans have done is use identity politics in a way to discount groups as not part of the "common man" leaving only their core, white dominated un-educated sheep. Ie, Blacks are lazy and felons and thus do not count; Mexicans are illegal immigrants and do not count; Liberals are stupid and thus do not count, etc.

In truth Populism is about class, not about race.

Shame as I used to call myself a Populist, but have stopped using the term with the corruption by the Republicans as I do not wish to be mistaken anymore.

I just call myself a Progressive 99%er...

L-

Repeal XXXX and replace it with something a whole lot better
Repeal XXXX and re-negotiate it with something a whole lot better
Build a XXXX and make XXXX pay for it
Put all XXXX's on a registry, while you fine upstanding XXXX's won't have to do the same since you're special
Team up with XXXX to defeat XXXX to save America from XXXX
Protect your XXXX rights or your XXXX's will be taken away leaving you vulnerable to XXXX

To be quite honest, I have no idea what the (D) platform is.

Or why it much matters. It's like arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Why?

Because what happens if an elected official representing (D) (or the disloyal opposition, for that matter) violates the all-important Party Platform?

Take Obama, for instance. If he violated the platform, did something counter to what all Good Thinking Democrats must necessarily support because of their oath of fealty to it, would he be immediately disbarred from the Party? Would he be cast into the outer darkness that is Kansas, forbidden from treading the Sacred Corridors of the White House, cut off from the Lines of Power?

Would a simple memo of excommunication be sufficient to cause (R) to rejoice, in his banishment from the presidency for his act of disloyalty to the Platform of Justice and Goodness?

Hyperbole aside, it just goes to show that the platform is a nice feel-good document with rather less importance than my HOA regulations. If I violate the dicta from my HOA, I get a nasty letter.

A politician violates the Party Platform, nothing much happens except that perhaps he runs opposed next election. But that only matters if his constituents give a rat's arse about the platform, which in turn means that they have a clue what it says.

But here's some of what Clinton campaigned on:

Universal early childhood education, expansion of health insurance with a reduction in premiums, 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, generating "enough renewable energy to power every home in America, with half a billion solar panels installed by the end of Hillary’s first term," a substantial increase to the federal minimum wage, equal pay for women, debt-free and more affordable college, free community college, "a $25 billion fund will support historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and other minority-serving institutions," the development of new green industries, massive infrastructure investment, etc., etc., etc.

But folks keep insisting that Trump won on populism, whatever that might mean.

"Trump gave them a choice between multiracial democracy and white primacy."

Trump could violate virtually every campaign promise and it wouldn't put a dent in his level of support. But if he were to do a 180 on civil rights (by coming out in support of Black Lives Matter, for instance), his support would crumble. Bigotry, particularly racism, is the tie that binds. Without it, the Republican Party wouldn't be viable. Bigotry is the glue that holds their coalition, including millions of poor white folks, together. It's what gets Trump supporters to either celebrate or overlook his various scandals, including his history of sexual predation.

Anybody with more than a couple braincells knows the GOP/Trump is all about plutocracy. IT's the M$M's job to help fool the people. and some people seem so ready to take it in the rear, it makes their job all the easier.