Populism is often based on fear and propels demagogues who embody that fear into power.
This article is from The Editor’s Corner, with insights, short-posts, links, and general ramblings from Editor/Owner Justin Stapley. It’s taken from a segment of the November 3rd issue of From the Hawk’s Nest, a bi-weekly newsletter.
Something that’s fundamentally changed about the way Americans view their news sources, their institutions, their political parties, and their politicians is that they no longer look at them as vessels of principle or mediums of information. They look at them as avatars for their anxieties.Â
Donald Trump didn’t rise on any firm political agenda. AOC hasn’t become the progressive darling of the far-left because she deals in reality. Politicians such as these have risen because they give voice to fears. They respond to those fears in the primal, visceral way a lot of people wish they could themselves. Â
It’s like that first day of middle school when the grade-school bully who’s picked on you mercilessly for years gets pounded by the bigger and badder middle-school bully. Both of these jokers probably occupy the same space of pre-pubescent scum, but you like the older bully because he did something you’ve wished you had the guts to do yourself. You might even start excusing his behavior and projecting qualities on him he doesn’t actually have.Â
Sound familiar?Â
For more insights and hot-takes, be sure to subscribe to From the Hawk’s Nest, a bi-weekly newsletter from Justin Stapley:
- The Liberty Hawk is Now on Medium - December 9, 2020
- Betraying Allies Is Not the Way to Avoid Being the World’s Police - August 14, 2020
- The Last Full Measure of Devotion - August 13, 2020