Interesting observation from his recent New York Times column: Populism thrives on a zero-sum mind-set. The central story that populists tell is: They are out to destroy us. Populist leaders invariably inflame ethnic bigotry to mobilize their own supporters. America’s populist in chief, […]
populism
If David Barton’s work has been widely discredited, why has he remained so popular and influential?
Journalist Jon Ward, the author of Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation, recently asked me the question in the title of this post as part of a story he is writing on David Barton for Yahoo News. […]
Missouri senator Josh Hawley wants a “Christian Democracy”
Josh Hawley believes that America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. He supported the insurrectionists on January 6, 2021 and then tried to raise money off it. He is a regular speaker at Christian Right and political conferences. And he supports […]
Why Viktor Orbán may want to visit Bestsellers Bookshop in Budapest
A friend spotted Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump in Budapest. As many of you know, prime minister Viktor Orbán is trying to build a Christian nationalist state in Hungary modeled closely on a kind of Trumpian populism. […]
“What the hell is a Blizzard?”
After a campaign rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa today, Donald Trump stopped by a local Dairy Queen. Here is what happened: I am reminded of the time in February 1992 when President George H.W. Bush visited a Florida supermarket and […]
Josh Hawley’s conservative populism was on full display at Road to Majority 2023
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley made a visit on Friday to the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “Road to Majority 2023” conference. Watch: If you watched the speech you can see that Hawley wasted no time identifying with the crowd: I’m proud […]
The Author’s Corner with Julie Carr
Julie Carr is Professor of English and Chair of Women and Gender Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. This interview is based on her new book, Mud, Blood, and Ghosts: Populism, Eugenics, and Spiritualism in the American West (University […]
What does J.D. Vance want?
University of Chicago historian Gabriel Winant asks this question in a recent longform piece at N+1. It’s a stinging criticism of Ohio’s GOP United States senator. A taste: WHAT MORE DOES J. D. VANCE WANT? With the Yale degree and the […]
In the GOP it’s “the elites vs. the rabble”
Here is a taste of Sam Adler-Bell’s New York Times op-ed: “The One Things Trump Has That DeSantis Never Will“: Thus far, Mr. DeSantis has had greater success with party elites. By pairing aggressive stances on the culture wars with […]
Is the MAGA movement really populism?
Grove City College historian Gillis Harp asks this question and provides some historical context today at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Here is a taste: Is Donald Trump’s “MAGA” movement real populism? Is it a genuinely democratic movement that truly works to benefit common […]
Inside Tucker’s head
I ran across this video today: And then I read David French’s recent column at The New York Times. A taste: On Tuesday evening, two news reports caught my attention. The first was an Emerson College poll of Republican primary voters in […]
Joe Biden’s populism
There were parts of Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night that could have passed for a Donald Trump speech. Some conservatives, like Washington Post columnist Henry Olsen, seem to be getting nervous. Here is a taste […]
Highlights from Harper’s forum on liberalism
I finally finished the Harper’s forum, “Is Liberalism Worth Saving?” The forum featured Patrick Deneen, Francis Fukuyama, Deirdre McCloskey, and Cornel West. Here are a few things I highlighted: Deneen on populism: The other form of populism that liberalism fears […]
Two former Republicans search for a political home
New York Times columnists Bret Stephens and David Brooks, both conservatives, reflect on what has happened to the Republican Party. It’s a fascinating discussion. Here is a taste: David Brooks:Â My thinking about the G.O.P. goes back to a brunch I […]
Can Trump win again?
Tonight Donald Trump will announce his candidacy for the presidency in 2024. Can he win? Conservative writer Kevin Williamson thinks it’s possible. Here is a taste of his piece today at The New York Times: It will not be easy […]
How the populist tables have turned
Over Labor Day weekend I reread Michael Kazin‘s 1998 book The Populist Persuasion: An American History and was once again reminded that throughout the course of our nation’s history populism has appeared on both the right and the left. (For […]
Is Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan “populist”?
This is an interesting piece by Sebastian Milbank, online editor of The Critic. He argues that Biden is a better populist than many on the Right. A taste: What did (and does) populism consist of, outside of a vague rhetorical […]
American historian Sean Wilentz on Marco Rubio’s “fake populism”
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 […]
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 […]