In the 2016 election cycle, it was clear on both sides. The people wanted a populist.
On the Left, Bernie’s crowds were bigger, louder, happier, and more resilient in the rain than any other candidate. It was undeniable. There was a thrill in the air. We wanted a populist! (Many of us also loved the quality and craft and grit of Hillary Clinton. We loved the idea of a woman taking the office right after a black man. Progress! Yes! But…she wasn’t a populist.)
Hillary won (maybe even fair-and-square, if we’re being honest), but not because she was the most popular. She won because she had her hands closer to the levers of power in the party. Superdelegates. Insiders. The Establishment. Wall Street.
She played by the rules, and she played to win, and she won. (And we lost.)
On the other side, the Republicans put up every different flavor they had, and the creepiest guy took the banner. Why? Because there are virtually ZERO populists in establishment Republican governance. The reasons should be obvious. Establishment Republicans govern from privilege and power, hierarchy and patriarchy. Not populism. You’ll find the occasional demagogue who bellows, but rarely a true populist — at least in modern history. Back when rural America was less lonely, less empty, before the big post-war suburbanization, there may have been some. More recently, one could make the argument that Ronald Reagan was a populist. And in somesenses he was. (And you can see how he’s lionized by the Right — because he was such a rare bird. That alone should illustrate just how powerful a populist can be, to both sides of the aisle.)
Other than Reagan, I don’t see populists making political progress on the Right. I see demagogues. Rush Limbaugh et. al. But they don’t run for office. They are bullies, not populists.
And then, along came Donald Trump. Liar. Cheat. Bully. Demagogue. Mendacious, fake, narcissistic authoritarian.
Pitched, packaged, and sold as a Populist.
How much and how often he lied about his bona fides didn’t matter. What we heard was that he was anti-establishment. That was the message that stuck. What many missed was that he was only anti-establishment because they had wronged him, and he was gonna prove that he was as good as they thought they were. (And… cough-cough…take what they had for himself.) He was gonna tear the place down. Burn it to the ground if he had to.
And he said he’d do it for us.
This is a classic appeal to the Right. Already authoritarian in bent, the Right’s “might makes right” attitude under the thin veil of “law and order” loved his tough-guy, punch first attitude. Of course, he lied — over and over and over. But it didn’t matter. In spite of all his grotesque flaws, the people wanted a populist. He was the only one on the stage.
And he ran away with the nomination. By punching the establishment Republicans in the face, one by one.
Donald Trump is the epitome of the mendacious populist. Con-artist as populist. Narcissist as populist.
On the Left, on the other hand, there is room for real populists. Populists who actually have the best interests of the people at heart. In some sense, it’s almost a defining characteristic of the Left — the big tent, compassion first, power-to-the-people, we’re all in this together. In a good political season, all the candidates on the Left have a little populist ring to them. Over the last years, though, as the country has convulsively lurched right (starting with Reagan), the Democrats have tried to govern responsibly, with an open, bi-partisan policy-making hand. And that has driven the party right-ward.
Big mistake.
And now, the people are sick of it. They’re sick of the political establishment doing nothing to deal with the decay of the middle class, the decay of opportunities for our kids, the decay of our public institutions and infrastructure. Sure, the stock market is at an all time high. But that doesn’t really serve the average American, now, does it? And job opportunities suck. Yes, unemployment is at an all-time low. But the quality of the jobs has deteriorated. Income inequality is at absurd levels, and the vicarious “lifestyles of the rich and famous” porn-thrill has worn off, and we’ve all got a bad hangover.
Along comes Bernie Sanders, Ethical Populist to the national stage. The good news is, he’s been Bernie Sanders, Ethical Populist for, what, 40 years now?
And he’s calling for a political revolution, to (fortunately, figuratively) bring out the pitchforks and torches, and bring down the out-of-touch feudal lords who run the estate. Much like Donald Trump’s message in 2016, but without the lying.
For this reason, he will carry traditionally red states. Those who voted for Trump in 2016 voted AGAINST the political establishment. And while many are terribly disappointed with what Trump has done, they will do so again — especially if we put an ethical populist on the ballot.
Now is our chance.
Bernie Sanders, Ethical Populist. Stop him? FUCK NO! Get on the band-wagon. Because it’s either that, or actual pitchforks and torches. And we REALLY don’t want that to be our legacy.
Unless it’s the only choice left.