Tuesday, August 11, 2026
Not All Populist Movements Are The Same
Populist movements are not new to the United States. They are created when a significant portion of the population become convinced that the elites controlling the government are not carrying out the will of the people.
Some populist movements have been successful. It was a populist movement that put Andrew Jackson in the White House. But most aren't successful. Even those many times have their concerns adopted by one of the major political parties though (which is a kind of success).
But not all populist movements are the same. That is shown by the two populist movements here in the 21st century.
Donald Trump was elected by a right-wing populist movement. It was a cultural populist movement - made of of a combination of racists, misogynists, xenophobes, and fundamentalist christians. These people were afraid that the country was leaving them behind.
They longed for the past, where their ideas were accepted by the majority and they had power. As the people they looked down on gained equal rights they felt as though they were losing - and thy wanted the old country back.
They found a champion in Donald Trump, who agreed with their bigoted views. And they were able to eke out an electoral college victory. They were able to get him re-elected on a promise to create a better economy.
But the better economy didn't happen. Tax cuts for the rich, tariffs that raised prices, and an unnecessary war against Iran combined to create an economy in which the top 10% (especially the top 1%) did well at the expense of the bottom 90%.
That helped to spawn a left-wing populism. This was not cultural but economic. About 60% of the country is living paycheck-to-paycheck, and many of them are finding it hard just to keep up with inflation. In addition, the next 30% were also seeing their salaries weren't going as far as they used to.
Progressives, who had been preaching about economic unfairness for decades, found themselves becoming more popular as more people reached their economic breaking point. Progressive politicians found themselves winning more elections as the economic populist voters searched for those who would fight for them. And they made affordability the main issue in the coming election.
This has scared the Republicans (and sadly, some corporate Democrats) who created the economic mess, and have no solution for it. They have resorted to calling the new progressive winners "socialists" and "communists".
But most leaders of the new economic populism are neither "socialist" or "communist". They are fighters who are willing to fight for a fair economy for workers. And I think most voters see that. They see their own grocery and electric and medical bills, and they need some relief. That's why calling the new progressives names or trying to claim the economy is good is just not going to work.
The new economic populism is backed up by hard economic realities - not bigoted beliefs. It's going to result in an electoral blue wave in November - a wave that could grow into a blue tsunami if name-calling is all the opposition can do.
Monday, August 10, 2026
Most People Still believe In The Accuracy And Fairness Of U.S. Elections
The charts above are from a Pew Research Center survey -- done between July 6th and 12th of a nationwide sample of 3,554 adults, with a 1.9 point margin of error.
There Is Some Bipartisan Support For Stricter Gun Laws
These charts are from the Searchlight Institute / Tavern Research Poll -- done between June 24th and 26th of a nationwide sample of 1,492 likely voters, with a 3.4 point margin of error.
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