I’m a populist and proud of it. But I’m not the same flavor of populist as Donald Trump. I’m more of a “peopleist,” in the sense that I believe government should work of, by, and for the people, protecting our individual freedoms while serving the public good. Trump’s populism, if it can fairly be called that, is different. It’s about exploiting people’s righteous anger at government’s failures—not to serve our needs, but to turn us against one another, all while serving his needs and desires.
My populism is based on the social contract, which we talk about a lot here. It reflects the commitment we have to one another and that we have with our government. MAGA is breaking that commitment every day, in every way. A bill that cuts critical services to regular Americans, while exploding the national debt, in service to the most wealthy among us is one way. Here are a few more…...
