In this episode, we do a deep dive on populism, its true history, and why liberal intellectuals like Richard Hofstadter are wrong to issue blanket condemnations against it. We argue that there is a very scary form of populism, that embodied in politicians such as Donald Trump, but that this is not the only form of populism, and not at all what populism originally meant when the term was coined in the late 19th century. The original populism actually represented an American version of a social democratic movement, and it had much to recommend it.

Show Notes

Thomas Frank’s Harper’s piece “The Pessimistic Style in American Politics”

Charles Postel’s article “Populism as a Concept and the Challenge of US History”

Talk featuring Michael Kazin and others on populism in American history

Michael Kazin article on Trump vs. Bernie style populism

Credits

The podcast’s theme music was made by our youngest brother Tate.

Cover art by Arthur Santoro.

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