Ten months ago, I declared it the “year of the pitchfork.” Season may have been more appropriate, as the term seems to re-enter the national conversation every winter, bastardized by journalists who try to “explain” populism in near anthropological terms. People are “scared,” they tell us. Fear breeds anger breeds irrationality. From there, the explanations really break down.
Earlier this evening on Hardball, Chris Matthews offered this definition: “That’s what a populist is, you have to challenge the whole way things are done. You gotta go against the institutions, banks, government, politicians… you have to have this whole ‘I’m an outsider, you’re no good – you’re an insider.'” Yup. Populists don’t actually have a set of beliefs, just a visceral anger about, ya know, “things.”
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