"Trump failed because he picked bad people" is an insufficient explanation. In truth, he failed because his so-called populist project was a lie. He never wanted to drain the swamp, he wanted to profit from it. https://www.ft.com/content/cc5636ea-8f1a-44fe-bc77-4f003423fa07

Like Orban, Kaczynski, Duterte, Erdogan, Putin and so many others, Trump created fake culture wars to hide his real agenda: Personal profit, personal power, personal narcissism. Le Pen et al would be no different.

Also Chavez. The politics of greed and cynicism can be either Left or Right.

Here's what I wrote about Venezuela nine months ago: The country has been destroyed by Marxist socialism *and* by illiberal nationalism *and* by polarization https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/venezuelas-suffering-shows-where-illiberalism-leads/606988/

Chavez didn't fail because he picked bad people, although he did pick bad people. He failed because his political project was fundamentally mendacious, just like Trump's.