Stop Normalizing Hate: Reactionary White Nationalism Doesn't Equal Populism

[applegrove]

by Eric Boehlert at Media Matters

https://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/30/stop-normalizing-hate-reactionary-white-nationalism-doesnt-equal-populism/214663

"SNIP............


How far is that from feel-good “populism”? Very, very far. “Far from populism, this is Revolutionary-era elitism drawn along racist lines,” noted Laurel Raymond at Think Progress.

Yet the problem persists.

New York Times headline, November 27: “Combative, Populist Steve Bannon Found His Man in Donald Trump.”

Washington Post headline, November 19: “For Trump Adviser Stephen Bannon, Fiery Populism Followed Life In Elite Circles.”


.............SNIP"

[Squinch]

1. Yay! Yay! Yay! We have to keep saying this!

[frazzled]

2. Well, populism isn't an ideology or set of principles

It's a political strategy of appeal to the masses, based on pitting "the people" against "the elites." That can be right-wing or left-wing—and they often converge, aside from details of who the people and who the elites are and what inalienable rights are thought to be in jeopardy of being usurped by the elites.

I'd certainly say that Trump employed a populist rhetoric, as did Bernie Sanders, even if their political aims differed in some regards (though they converged on isolationist stances on trade and foreign policy).

[applegrove]

3. So Trump agitated against the globalism and anti-racism of the democratic elites?

Last edited Wed Nov 30, 2016, 10:23 PM - Edit history (1)

That it was not the money or the power, they didn't like, but the liberal elites' openness? They were were duped into it. They were told that a country like the USA, which is dependant on immigrants, could survive and do better without them. It was a lie. Trump is not going to kick out 12 million people. Plus, as Elizabeth Warren points out, he has baited and switched on the populism that had anger directected at the GOP elites and their money and powerlust. It is continued trickle down as she said or the debt will blow up if he gives tax cuts to the middle class and the rich I say. The debt will blow up to a point where there are no social programs well into the future and specifically anything possible to implement in a future Democratic administration. He managed to equate the Democratic and Republican elites. And in the Clintons, it stuck. And racism was the axel attaching both wheels of both elites. Racism made the democrat elites as unpalatable as the money and powerhungry GOP elites.

[TwilightZone]

5. Drain the swamp...

is about as populist as it gets, frankly. The fact that he was lying his ass off about changing how DC works doesn't mean that it wasn't a populist approach.

Populist doesn't have to be positive. It usually just means anti-elitism, etc. The irony was that Donald Trump is the very epitome of elitism, so his populism act should have been laughed off the stage by anyone with half a brain.

[applegrove]

6. Okay. I'll buy. Now should I delete my OP?

[TwilightZone]

7. No, I think the point was supposed to be that populism without context is the problem, but...

they seem to be defining populism a bit narrowly for the sake of argument. I get the point, of course; I just don't think it's entirely accurate.

Certainly, the white nationalist and corporatism aspects of Trump's campaign are in no way populist. Telling (lying to) rust belt voters that he's going to magically restore their jobs is, though, as is claiming that he's going to get rid of elitist DC.

Edit: for the record, I agree with the underlying assertion entirely. The thought that ultra-elite Donald Trump is a populist is laughable. That doesn't mean that he didn't try to look like one, though. The fact that he managed to sell people on the idea blows my mind.

[applegrove]

8. Okay. Thanks for the explanation.

[uponit7771]

4. 1, Cowardly ass'd MSM is right up there with cowardly ass'd pollsters who aren't factoring in voter

... suppression efforts in the slim 100,000 / 3 states HRC EC loss