OPINION
I’m sure I’m not the only one who has noticed the rise in national populism around the world. As awareness of the globalist establishment agenda is growing and resistance to the establishment grows, we are witnessing a political realignment in which the traditional left-right divide is being replaced by the people versus the political establishment.
This growing anti-establishment, anti-globalist sentiment is ripe for political entrepreneurs to take advantage of. Just as traditional politics has been professionalised, it is possible for the nationalist populist movement to be professionalised, in which process political consultants and operatives can groom or create a figure who emulates and voices the rage and passions of the people and who appears to represent these sentiments and interests in the political and media spheres. In order to gain political traction and capital, these people will use rhetoric to convince this voting bloc that they will speak for them in government.
However, like all well-known political entrepreneurs, they will use this capital to further their own agenda and simply vote based on politics and deals made with others in government, including the very elites that the people voted for them to oppose. This is because these professional politicians do not actually believe in the principles they stand for but instead speak and act based on political trends and vote on what benefits themselves.
We’ve seen examples of this. In American politics, George W Bush campaigned against the Clintons on an ‘America First’ agenda, but then started the War on Terror that saw the overriding of democracy, arbitrary detentions and assassinations, and violation of privacy. Bernie Sanders was seen as the Democrat who would take on Clintons and the elites, with a revolt started by his supporters at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. He, along with The Squad, were seen as the force for the people against the elites in the party – until they all supported the very policies, such as foreign intervention, these anti-establishment Democrats opposed. Perhaps this is why there are protests against AOC from some of her former voters.
In Europe, there have also been examples. In Italy everyone voted for the Northern League and the Five Star movement because they believed they would be the people to take on the establishment. However, the Northern League then decided to go into coalition with the very establishment parties they opposed. This led many of these voters to turn to the Brothers of Italy. The same thing happened in the Netherlands. The populists all rallied around Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party, until he chose not to publicly support the farmers, therefore the farmers formed the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy.
Of course the West is no exception in the revolt against the liberal democratic order. Brexit was a great moment for the populists, but it became obvious that some of the advocates only did it for political clout. The Tories won the 2018 election because they promised to deliver what Brexit had been about. Instead, Theresa May tried to delay Brexit. And even within the populist camp there appears to be a number of players who are not truly genuine. Nigel Farage, the man who successfully led the Brexit campaign, was vehemently opposed to Tommy Robinson standing for the UKIP in the 2019 elections. Britain’s freedom movement has also seen divisions, with Jayda Fransen’s British Freedom Party accusing Laurence Fox’s Reclaim Party of being a controlled opposition.
The most famous example of this is the upcoming 2024 American presidential elections, where we are seeing divisions in the MAGA movement. Trump has become the greatest influence in the GOP [Republican Party – ed.]. The polls do seem to indicate his popularity. The polls also indicate how the GOP has shifted away from the neoconservative hawks towards America First, as evident by the abysmal polling of Nikki Haley. He has gained the populist vote with his endorsement guaranteeing someone winning whatever position they go for. His brand and his name was therefore open to exploitation, including Mike Pence and Ron DeSantis. Mike Pence served as his vice president but now pushes the same establishment agenda he promised to oppose, such as supporting America funding the proxy war in Ukraine. He actually turned on his own voter base by supporting the January 6th hearings that nobody wanted. Ron DeSantis is another such political entrepreneur who took advantage of the Trump endorsement to win the governorship. He did some good as governor, such as taking on Disney and shipping migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. It seemed he would be the natural successor to Trump. Until he threw Trump under the bus.
Scholars describe this as a divide between the populist right and populist ‘lite’. Populist right are the people who are beholden to the grassroots. Because they rely on grassroot support of the common people, not just in votes but also in donations, which means they are beholden to the interest of the common people and ensures that these political operatives are the voice in government for the common people against the political class. By contrast, the populist ‘lite’ are people who garner the votes of the grass roots, but receive donations from the ‘donor class’: the elites who donate to the political parties. These candidates will often use the political consultants that are referred to them by the donor class, who craft their image to make them more appealing to the grassroots, while still following the agenda of the donor class.
So this election, I urge you to keep in mind who you vote for as the people’s voice. It definitely won’t be the ones currently in the Beehive. With this year being the year of the minor parties, it is important to find out who serves us.