Populism has nothing to do with the Left vs Right axis. Populism is all about the form of messaging. Populism is based on simplifying politics and appealing to people’s chaotic id. It is emotional it is not rational. https://twitter.com/jbview/status/1247645362350931974

Bernie and Trump are both very populist. Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin were too.

Otoh, Hillary and HW Bush and Obama are and were each far less populist (Hillary was moreso in 08 as was Obama but still much much less than this era’s populist figures).

In America populism has been closely tied to white male politics but it doesn’t have to be necessarily: in its purest form it’s a political abandonment of thought for feelings and it’s opposite is the reverse. Most politicians are somewhere in the middle on the spectrum

It often (and I think naturally) turns hateful: allowing one’s emotions to flow unrestrained often lets emotions better contained come out into the open