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Summary Of The Populist Explosion

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After reading The Populist Explosion by John Judis, I was left with more questions about populism than I had before opening the book. The very beginning of the book, Judis said that populism “assumes a basic antagonism between the people and the elite at the heart of politics.” Many pundits, and Judis himself, consider Donald Trump to be a populist. In my opinion, Trump is more of an authoritarian conservative in a populist’s clothes. He ran on a platform of being for the working class, blue collar citizen. However, since taking office, Trump has cut healthcare that directly benefits his constituents, and his tax plan cuts taxes for the wealthy while putting the middle class at a disadvantage. This seems like the opposite of populism. I think that the most accurate description of Trump that I have heard came from former Obama speechwriter, Jon Favreau. He said, “Trump’s populism is fake populism.” Possibly Judis was not aware that Trump would lead the country astray from his campaign’s message. …show more content…

Judis said “The laissez-faire, pro-business policies of Republican administrations had helped to bring about the financial crash and the Great Depression.” He also said that the New Deal’s counter to “capitalism’s tendencies toward unemployment, inequality, monopoly, and environmental pollution” helped create decades of prosperity. If this is true, then why do people think that the conservative approach to economics will work? Especially after reading about Europe’s attempts to regulate industry, I am curious to learn more about how a more socialist, pro-labor economy affects

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