Regarding Mark Landlerâs reporting in the
New York Times on Brexit (âBrexit already seems out of touch,â Dec. 25). One indication of when weâll be living in more honest and better times: when âpopulistâ is no longer used with such ignorance, conformity or even dishonesty.
For over 2,300 years, starting with the
populares of the ancient Roman Republic, âpopulistsâ were activists from the lesser classes fighting the oppressive rule of dominant classes. They were progressives or leftists. But today, âpopulistâ is mostly used to describe rightist movements who present no real challenges to those dominant classes. Things have become so corrupt that the billionairesâ friend, President Donald Trump, himself of all people, is labeled a âpopulist,â as in Landlerâs article. Itâs no help that the champion of the upper classes in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, also falsely is called a âpopulist.â Itâs tragic