Maybe the time has come for un-populism, in which men and women indifferent to power, riches, or acclaim preach hard and testing remedies to the voting masses. In the English-speaking world, we seem to have had quite enough of the other thing. All it seems to be good at, in practice, is war and lawsuits. The United States has its own populist melodrama, which I watch between my fingers from behind the furniture. The tension is quite hard to bear. Will JD Vance be eaten by the orange monster this time, or will he escape yet again?
“Britain’s chief populist, Nigel Farage, has blatantly copied Donald Trump.”
Britain’s chief populist, Nigel Farage, has blatantly copied Donald Trump. But, unlike the US president, he lives in a country of misty skies where we still love a bit of moral disapproval. He has in the past few days quite possibly destroyed his future. Farage is normally a tough survivor. He survived a terrifying air crash in a light plane, and came through a hard bout with a particularly nasty type of cancer. He has been hosed down for years with metaphorical slime by his detractors, and pelted with real milkshakes, eggs, and rubble by street protestors. He is accompanied almost everywhere by bodyguards.