It’s not xenophobia that links the ‘new
populists.’ It’s hypocrisy.
A Warning from Europe: The Worst Is Yet to Come
Anne Applebaum notes:
“Polarization. Conspiracy theories. Attacks on the
free press. An obsession with loyalty. Recent events in the United States
follow a pattern Europeans know all too well.”
What Populists Do to Democracies
Roger Cohen on Crowd Psychology:
“People are weak. They are susceptible. They are
easily manipulated through their fears. They long to prostrate themselves. They
can be led by the nose into the gutter. The angels of their better natures, if
they’ve ever given a moment’s thought to them, are a lot less powerful than the
devils of their diabolical urges.
They lie, they exploit, they seek distraction at any
price from the monotony of existence. The life of humankind, as Hobbes famously
put it, is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Especially short: You
no sooner begin to get the hang of it, learn a few useful tricks like lowered
expectations, than it’s over. Poof!
This is the basic setup. Society is an exercise in
trying to offset horrors through law and convention.”