“Populism” has become a favored expression in dealing with contemporary politics. Like many of the terms employed by political journalists, it has no specific definition. Thus we are informed that V. I. Lenin, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler all were “populists”—as were Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, and Pol Pot. And we are now told that the current president of the United States, as a populist, is somehow a member of such a list. But what is the supporting analysis for such a claim?
