Distinguished Princeton historian Sean Wilentz was recently part of a group of historians (and others) that Joe Biden invited to the White House to discuss the fate of American democracy. Marco Rubio called the group “elitists” and “snobs” working against...
populism
The populist 1896 campaign of William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was the first American presidential candidate to turn political campaigning into an art form. Economist Johannes Buggle explains at the Broadstreet blog. Here’s a taste of his post, “Do Local Campaign Visits By a Populist Politician Matter...
When Harvard grads attack the American “elite”
Someone recently left a message on my voicemail asking me if I saw myself as part of the “liberal elite.” He is one of the regular callers who leaves voice mails whenever I write something here or elsewhere that they...
January 6, 2021: What does Kevin McCarthy and the GOP have to hide?
Kevin McCarthy and other GOP House members are threatening American telecommunication companies that have received subpoenas from the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 insurrection. What do they have to hide? Here is Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene: It’s...
Why are some conservatives going to Hungary?
Tucker Carlson is broadcasting this week from Budapest. Why? Damon Linker explains at The Week. Here is a taste: Fans of Carlson’s top-rated prime time show on Fox News learned Monday that he would be broadcasting all week from Budapest, where he would...
Who is J.D. Vance? Apparently a lot of Ohio GOP voters haven’t read Hillbilly Elegy
In his book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, J.D. Vance interpreted Appalachia for a largely educated, non-populist reading public. He was able to do this because he left Appalachia for Yale Law School. He...
Should the first 50 pissed-off people to get to the microphone at a school-board meeting be running our schools?
Rich Lowry of The National Review writes: To paraphrase Bill Buckley, it’d be better if the schools were run by the first 50 pissed-off people standing in line to get to the microphone at a contentious school-board meeting than by the...
Christian nationalism and populism on January 6, 2021
“I’m probably going to lose my job as a pastor after this.” Tyler Ethridge was days away from starting a new job as a youth pastor at an evangelical church in Florida. But before the former Texas high school football...
Gordon Wood on a “distant democratic world that eerily resembles our own”
Historian Gordon Wood wonders if we are in a new “Age of Jackson.” Is Wood making a historical analogy? This is unusual for him. Here is a taste: Many people have compared Donald Trump’s presidency to that of Andrew Jackson...
Webinar: “Understanding Religion and Populism”
I am happy to join journalist Kalpana Jain of The Conversation and Ann Peters of The Pulitzer Center for this conversation at Georgetown’s Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs. The webinar is open to the public. March 5,...