The Threat of Populists in 2020

Via The New York Times, in an opinion piece by Jan-Werner Muller entitled, "Populists Don't Lost Elections":

"Politicians like Mr. Erdogan are distinguished by their claim that only they truly represent the people. They suggest they can lose at the polls only when elections have been rigged by liberal elites.

....Contrary to conventional wisdom, populists are not distinctive just because they criticize elites. There’s nothing wrong with critiquing the powerful; in fact, it’s often healthy in a democracy. What is specific to populists is the claim that they are the only ones who represent those they often call 'the real people.' The implication is not only that all other contenders for power are corrupt or lack legitimacy, but also that citizens who fail to support populists do not truly belong to the people at all."

Donald Trump has been telling us since at least 2015 that he won't accept the legitimacy of an election in which he is the loser. It seems rather obvious that he would continue to erode our political system in this way by refusing to accept a loss in 2020, as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has suggested.

Many smart people seem not to be taking this threat seriously, and hold a "it can't happen here" attitude. Donald Trump's multitudes of breaches of norms and laws have become slowly normalized, just as feared. And, it seems we're stuck with this guy for life, since Republicans who actually hold power are either happy that he's implementing their preferred rightwing agenda or, the ones who are "concerned," are nonetheless paralyzed with their dicks in their hands doing nothing meaningful to resist. (Whoops, #MuellerTime didn't save us!)

Yet, the US also has a left flank, we have to remember, with a destructive authoritarian populist streak of its own. This flank is currently represented by Bernie Sanders who cannot seem to fathom running a campaign in which he is not attacking The Establishment, and whose most die-hard supporters think he will magically implement the socialist revolution as president, as though checks and balances and a Republican-controlled Senate simply do not exist.

But perhaps worse, for now, is that if he loses in the Democratic primary it will be interesting to note the linguistic turns of phrase he, his supporters, and allied media are likely to adopt to suggest that he, yet again, only lost because the primary was rigged. For instance, rather than acknowledging that individual voters chose another candidate, the narrative will be that "the Democrats" (or, likely, the "Democratic Establishment") hand-picked someone else, thus erasing the millions of people who cast votes in the election - as though "the Democrats" are a disembodied, scheming hivemind.

In November 2017, a Rasmussen Poll showed that only 54% of Democratic voters believed Hillary Clinton won the 2016 primary against Bernie Sanders fairly.

If Bernie doesn't win the nomination for 2020, expect a similar narrative to be pushed and to gain traction. This narrative will only help bolster Trump's erosion of our electoral system. After all, aren't Democrats and Republicans just as bad about rigging elections?