Populism, like so many things, is inherently neither good
nor bad. It can easily be a force for
good, creating a drive towards liberty and equality, such as we saw during the
Civil Rights movement. It can also be a
force for evil, such as the wave of populism that brought Adolf Hitler to
power. It is the way in which it is used
that determines whether it is benign or malevolent. Unfortunately, history shows that it is often
used as a means to an end for authoritarians to seize power. With Trump, history has clearly repeated
itself.
In order to understand why this is, we must first understand
exactly what populism is. The Oxford
English Dictionary defines populism as “The policies or principles of any of
various political parties which seek to represent the interests of ordinary
people, spec. of the Populists of the U.S. or Russia. Also: support for or
representation of ordinary people or their views; speech, action, writing,
etc., intended to have general appeal.”
In short, populism is the representation of the desires of the people
instead of special interests. On its
face, this is a good thing; the masses are often ignored and overlooked in
favor of the wealthy and well connected.
For many years, the lower and middle class citizens of this country have
been left behind by a government that refuses to listen to them. Trump tapped into this and used it to propel
himself to the White House.
The problem with this is that Trump never had any intention
of actually listening to or respecting the wishes of those who supported
him. As such, he cannot truly be called
a populist leader. Instead, he is a
demagogue, which is defined by the OED as “A leader of a popular faction, or of
the mob; a political agitator who appeals to the passions and prejudices of the
mob in order to obtain power or further his own interests; an unprincipled or
factious popular orator.” While I am
loathe to draw comparisons to Hitler, Trump came to power in much the same
way. He tapped into the anger and
frustration amongst those who feel forgotten, who have been used and abused by
our government. He mocked and denigrated
all those who opposed him, portraying himself as a savior. But he was really just a false prophet, and
there are three examples which irrefutably prove this because he actively and
intentionally ignored the will of the people in all three instances.
1.
Repealing and Replacing Obamacare – One of his
biggest campaign promises was the repeal and replacement of Obamacare. I won’t get into a debate on the merits of
Obamacare here; instead, I will address his attempt at fulfilling this promise. Within weeks of taking office, Republicans in
Congress began work on a plan to reform healthcare, something they had been
promising since Obamacare was first enacted.
By the summer, a bill appeared poised to pass Congress that would do
just that. The problem is that the bill
was a travesty, and the vast majority of the public didn’t want it. Moreover, it would have hurt his supporters
the most because they depend on Obamacare more than most other groups. But Trump pushed it nonetheless, seeing it as
fulfillment of his promise, despite it being the exact inverse.
2.
Abolishing Net Neutrality – This is a huge
debate at the present, and one that anyone who uses the Internet should be
aware of. We currently have rules that
protect Internet Service Providers from censoring content or charging companies
and consumers for extra bandwidth (companies like Netflix and YouTube could be
charged more for bandwidth, and consumers could be charged in
micro-transactions (instead of paying a flat fee of, say, $60 a month for your
internet, you would have to select the packages you want, such as Social Media,
Video, etc; for more info, see Portugal’s internet system)). Trump’s administration is pushing the FCC,
which is currently led by Ajit Pai, to repeal these rules. They claim that removing these “burdensome”
rules will allow for greater competition and freedom online, but it is clear
that their true goal is the removal of rules Obama put in place (everything
Trump has done or attempted to do has been designed to dismantle Obama’s
achievements). The public outcry against
this has been deafening, but Trump and the FCC have chosen to ignore it. Millions of comments were left on their page,
but they are instead focusing on the fraction that want to abolish net
neutrality (despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of comments opposed to
net neutrality were found to be completely fake). Like the health care bill, the vast majority
of the country, including most of Trump’s supporters, are completely in favor
of retaining net neutrality, but he has chosen to ignore them.
3.
Tax Reform – The other hot-button issue of the
moment is tax reform. Trump promised to
reform the tax code during his campaign, and he is urging Congress to follow
through on this before Christmas. Most
of the country, including those who are opposed to Trump (such as myself), is
in favor of reforming the tax code because it is badly needed. But, like the health care bill, the
Republicans crafted this tax bill in secret and have been calling official
scores from the Congressional Budget Office fake and misleading. Unfortunately for them (and for the country),
the math speaks for itself. Their tax
bill represents a massive redistribution of wealth from the lower and middle
classes to the wealthy; those who voted for Trump would be hurt most by this
plan. Nearly everyone is opposed to the
bill; even Republican voters oppose the plan, with recent polls showing less
than 60% approving. Yet, like health
care and net neutrality, Trump is pushing for this, in blatant defiance of the
will of the people. Sadly, it appears to
have worked because, as of this writing, the bill has passed both houses of
Congress and is on its way to reconciliation (in order for a bill to be signed,
the same bill must pass both houses; currently, the tax bill exists in two
different versions, so the differences must be ironed out before Trump can sign
it).
There are numerous other examples of Trump’s abandonment of
the very people that elected him. Most
people that voted for him did so because of their resentment towards a
government that left them behind. I
don’t blame them for that because it is a fact.
But he has done exactly that since his first day in office. His policies, designed to dismantle Obama’s
legacy, have a severely disproportionate impact on his base. More and more of his supporters are
abandoning him because they see exactly what he is and what his policies will
do. But he refuses to listen even to his
base (despite doing everything in his power to pander to them) when they tell
him they don’t want certain things.
Those who oppose him, more than half the population, are flatly ignored
at best and berated at worst; he refuses to work with them and then complains
that they won’t work with him. By
definition, this means he cannot be a populist leader because he is knowingly
and intentionally ignoring the will of the people.
None of this should be a surprise, but it seems to be to
many. This has happened time and again
throughout history, even in this country.
Trump’s favorite president, Andrew Jackson, was a populist candidate,
but he is now remembered as a racist, genocidal maniac who willfully disobeyed
the laws and courts of this country.
Trump has already shown great disdain for the court system, and he has
stood accused of breaking numerous laws since long before he declared his
candidacy (to say nothing of the fact that he is currently being investigated
for collusion with Russia). History is
repeating itself, as it always does, because we refuse to learn the lesson.
But I think this time is different. I think this time we might be at least
starting to learn the lesson. With
social media and the 24-hour news cycle, Trump cannot hide who he is
(especially since he can’t stay off Twitter).
More and more people are standing up to him, demanding that their voices
be heard. The ultimate irony is that
Trump may be defeated by populism, the very thing that propelled him to power
in the first place. The only thing
standing in the way now is the Republican-controlled Congress, but with enough
outcry, even they won’t protect Trump because they will fear losing their seats. With more and more the people speaking out
against Trump, it is only a matter of time until we cannot possibly be ignored.
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