There 's a real danger that the populist right will be a fringe force in the conservative movement just like the populist left in the Dem. party.

I fear that populism is being coopted by elites- mostly catholic intellectuals- in a way that makes it unpalatable for most GOPers.

When I think about examples, two things come to mind.

1. Sohrab Ahmari, the supposed intellectual leader of the populist right, supports assault weapons ban. This is a non-starter in a republican primary. Do we want to be labelled as "gun grabbers"?

2. Vermeule's rant about moving beyond originalism. A lot of Catholic intellectuals seem to really hate the American founding and the founding documents. One of the most important cultural battle that animates voters is how one views American founding. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/common-good-constitutionalism/609037/

Do we want to be associated with people who share progressives ' disdain for American founding (for different reasons). Once again, this is a non-starter in a republican primary.

My point is that there is a real danger that right wing populism will be hijacked by self-interested morons and will be viewed as elitist and out of touch by the republican base.

This is time for populists to step up and do some intellectual gate keeping.

Another thing that bothers me is the reflexive hatred of Libertarianism. I am guilty of this.

But we need to distinguish between folk libertarianism(common sense libertarianism) and orthodox libertarianism.

A populist movement that rejects folk libertarianism will not survive.

I don't know what the right ideological mix is that will give populists power. But I do know that it will be a combination of Nationalism, localism and folk libertarianism.

We should be wary of falling into the trap of calling people who agree with us on 80% of the issues as RINOs or sellouts or traitors. Bernie lost because Bernie viewed everyone from Elizabeth Warren to Joe Manchin as a sellout. We cannot afford to repeat that mistake.

Be a coalition builder- find ways to bring people into the tent - not ways to kick them out of it.

The thread applies to me. I am guilty of hating Libertarianism and calling Trump skeptics who can potentially be won over traitors.

Moving forward, I'll view my role not as an antagonizer but as a collation builder.