Populism is being ignorant, proud of it and determined to stay that way. Consider the whole sentence well, because ignorant, I am, just like you who read me, as well as your neighbor, your neighbor and the whole of the human race. But proud of it? Determined to stay? Never !
Populism is therefore the cult of ignorance, which knows no social boundaries, from the richest to the most itinerant. It is a trait of mentality that has invaded all political, media and cultural spaces for millennia and a good forty years.
By way of example, and among many others, when populism tends to spread, this means that stupidity will have to go to the end of its logic: when, in the name of the “uninhibited”, racism, sexism , homophobia, xenophobia pass from blemishes of the soul to admissible, even “claimable” opinions, and that in their tarnished form correction is still possible, provided one conceives of the effort, progress is possible, but when once these opinions have passed on the normative side they sink into the unconscious to rebound, after a dangerous letting go, in an active fanaticism, ignorance is accomplished, it only remains for him to be elected.
This populism, already present before Trump, experienced its explosion with him. It continues to spread despite denials, false questions and false doubts. In 2024, Joe Biden will be too old, Kamala Harris will arrive in an orgy of racist hatred that has already taken steps to create voting distortion in most Republican states. It’s a safe bet that a Trumpist could be the next President of the United States.
That’s why Poilievre, the imitator, has every reason to stand up.