Populism is always, ALWAYS the consequence of a dire political issue being swept under the rugs for decades and decades, to the point that the demos no longer trusts the regular institutions to carry out their democratic duty. So, what do they do? They fix the issue by means of mailing them a fucking flashbang; electing someone who is destined to stir shit until they unfuck their shit.
Now, if your political establishment is sensible, they'll take this opportunity to reinvigorate their political capital. They'll address the issue for what it is and pretty much condemn the populist to a single term by sucking up their political momentum through effective political action and changes in rhethoric. A good example of this is how in the 2017 Dutch elections, the PVV far right party whose manifesto can be unironically fit on a fucking post it note, were rising in strength. Prime Minester Rutte, up for reelection, held a speech in which he had a remarkably sharp and "politically incorrect" tone regarding immigration and the percieved failure of integration many Turkish and Maroccan immigrants have had over the last few decades.
It pretty much cut the PVV down at the heels, transferring something like a 5% vote share from them to Ruttes party overnight, because the politically risque nature of the speech convinced many of the PVV's electorate that they COULD rely on the establishment to address this. They went from heading towards being the largest party to number 4 on the list. This change in temperament also gave way to the meteoric rise of the new party "The forum of democracy", which refined from the PVV their more reasonable stand points but was harsher on terms where the VVD (Ruttes party) were considered mild. They are poised to score big in the next Second and First chamber elections.
Now, this is what happens when populism is dealt with in a SMART way.
When they are repressed, jailed, ignored or told to fuck off, we go into the other direction, which is where there isn't a loss of faith in JUST the establishment, but democracy as a whole. It is here where he enter the fuckfest zone and blood ends up in the street. Both left and right wing populism are rapidly approaching this area and I am honestly dreading it.
Weimar Republic gave way to...
The next Trump is going to carry a lot of anger to DC.
Populism has a bad rep for a simple reason;
Populism is always, ALWAYS the consequence of a dire political issue being swept under the rugs for decades and decades, to the point that the demos no longer trusts the regular institutions to carry out their democratic duty. So, what do they do? They fix the issue by means of mailing them a fucking flashbang; electing someone who is destined to stir shit until they unfuck their shit.
Now, if your political establishment is sensible, they'll take this opportunity to reinvigorate their political capital. They'll address the issue for what it is and pretty much condemn the populist to a single term by sucking up their political momentum through effective political action and changes in rhethoric. A good example of this is how in the 2017 Dutch elections, the PVV far right party whose manifesto can be unironically fit on a fucking post it note, were rising in strength. Prime Minester Rutte, up for reelection, held a speech in which he had a remarkably sharp and "politically incorrect" tone regarding immigration and the percieved failure of integration many Turkish and Maroccan immigrants have had over the last few decades.
It pretty much cut the PVV down at the heels, transferring something like a 5% vote share from them to Ruttes party overnight, because the politically risque nature of the speech convinced many of the PVV's electorate that they COULD rely on the establishment to address this. They went from heading towards being the largest party to number 4 on the list. This change in temperament also gave way to the meteoric rise of the new party "The forum of democracy", which refined from the PVV their more reasonable stand points but was harsher on terms where the VVD (Ruttes party) were considered mild. They are poised to score big in the next Second and First chamber elections.
Now, this is what happens when populism is dealt with in a SMART way.
When they are repressed, jailed, ignored or told to fuck off, we go into the other direction, which is where there isn't a loss of faith in JUST the establishment, but democracy as a whole. It is here where he enter the fuckfest zone and blood ends up in the street. Both left and right wing populism are rapidly approaching this area and I am honestly dreading it.