Batuhan: For the people?

TWO of perhaps the more unconventional political leaders took center-stage last week—the United States’ Donald Trump being one, and our very own president being the other. Both have been described as “populist” presidents, and yet apart from the identical description, the two men do not really share a lot in common in terms of an ideology. That’s because according to a prominent American political scientist:

“No definition of populism will fully describe all populists...populism is a ‘thin ideology’ in that it ‘only speaks to a very small part of a political agenda,’ according to Cas Mudde, a professor at the University of Georgia and the co-author of Populism: A Very Short Introduction. An ideology like fascism involves a holistic view of how politics, the economy, and society as a whole should be ordered. Populism doesn’t; it calls for kicking out the political establishment, but it doesn’t specify what should replace it. So it’s usually paired with ‘thicker’ left- or right-wing ideologies like socialism or nationalism.

“Populists are dividers, not uniters, Mudde told me. They split society into ‘two homogenous and antagonistic groups: the pure people on the one end and the corrupt elite on the other,’ and say they’re guided by the ‘will of the people.’ The United States is what political scientists call a ‘liberal democracy,’ a system ‘based on pluralism—on the idea that you have different groups with different interests and values, which are all legitimate,’ Mudde explained.

Populists, in contrast, are not pluralist. They consider just one group—whatever they mean by ‘the people’—legitimate.” (What is a populist? And is Donald Trump one?” by Uri Friedman, The Atlantic, Feb. 27, 2017)

Within Professor Cass’ explanation lies the key to what makes the two men so controversial, and their actions so critical in the futures of their nations. The thing is, populism in itself is a “thin” and incomplete ideology, and must be paired with a thick body of ideas to become a coherent political thought.

In Trump’s world, he has paired his populism with an isolationist and mercantilistic brand of capitalism (among other things); in our president’s, he has associated it with a jingoistic brand of nationalism (also among other things) that only he understands. And therein lies the problem.

In Trump’s America, his constituents are dealing with the reality of a shifting economic landscape, a workforce confronted with the realities of the new economy, but not fully flexible enough to cope with its challenges. The result is the blind game of looking for scapegoats—Mexicans, transgenders, liberals, the Chinese and just about everyone else (except, strangely enough – the Russians).

In our president’s Philippines, well we all know that too well. It is the fault of the old political and economic elite, who have lorded over the nation for far too long, and driven it to the brink of economic and social collapse. Except, of course, for the “elite” who are on his side—they are the good “elite,” who are as dedicated to the cause of immolating their own kind, as their do-gooder of a president supposedly is.

The sad thing is that the “thicker” ideology that is paired with both Trump’s and our president’s populism are both dangerous ones. Just look at Trump’s America today. Everything and everyone that is not for Trump, is against him. What does he stand for? Himself. Period. He is a Trumpian-populist.

And what about our president?

He said he was a leftist-populist, until the Left turned against him. He declared himself to be a Moro-populist, until Marawi came along. So now he is left with just being a populist who believes only in himself, and his own extreme quirks and idiosyncracies.

So what’s the lesson here? Just because a leader declares himself “for the people” does not necessarily mean he will be a good one. We finally need to look beyond the “thinner” populist label, and understand exactly what the flipside of his ideology stands for.

(Belated greetings to my dearest mother, who celebrated her 75th birthday this month. http://asbbforeignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)

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