Populism has long been an issue advocated by the left, focusing on benefiting "the people" over the top one percent or the "elites." Conservatives have tried to adopt their own version of the philosophy, but they've hit a wall in that they're actually more supportive of corporations and the elites.
Writing for the Daily Beast, Ben Burgis highlighted the recent vote to cap the cost of insulin at $35 as the perfect example that conservative populism was a lie. The loudest MAGA supporters all voted against the bill.
"Marjorie Taylor Greene voted 'nay.' Madison Cawthorn and Lauren Boebert? Nay, nay. Paul Gosar, Louie Gohmert, and Matt Gaetz? Nay, nay, and nay," wrote Burgis of the vote count.
The GOP's fake populism was on full display in 2020 when former President Donald Trump desperately sought to pass another stimulus check at $2,000. He was hoping he could send it out to Americans before the election, but Republicans put their collective feet down. Democrats quickly pushed it through with all supporting it. The GOP-led Senate stopped it.
Trump spent six years talking about deregulations, all of which matter only to corporations, not individuals. The EPA stopping chemicals from being dumped on playgrounds isn't about helping "the people," it's about giving corporations a pass. Still, Trump's administration rolled back more than 100 environmental restrictions. EPA Administrator Rick Perry even advocated killing the department altogether.
Thomas Frank, the journalist and political historian who penned What's the Matter with Kansas explained, "Populism and fake populism have been the themes of my entire writing career."
Speaking to the Daily Beast in 2020, he walked through how populism seen in FDR's "New Deal" are all things that Republicans are still fighting against. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who heads the Republican Senate reelection committee made it clear that the top issues on his agenda include getting rid of Social Security and Medicare by passing "sunset laws." His "Plan to Rescue America" would, in fact, require that all laws from the Civil Rights Act to Social Security would sunset after just five years and would be required to pass again. The problem, of course, is that the Senate can't pass anything because the pledge to filibuster is stopping all legislation from moving forward.
When "Build Back Better" was drawing approval from everyone in the Senate Democrats except Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) their reasoning was that it wouldn't be paid for. In fact, it would have been paid for, but at the expense of fully funding the IRS to go after people who refuse to pay their taxes. There weren't even new taxes that would be passed, just obtaining those already owed. But Manchin put his foot down. The benefits of the many did not outweigh the few, the exact opposite of populism.
"As conservatives never tire of pointing out, someone has to pay for 'free' services," wrote Burgis. "Yet, when it comes to services ranging from fire protection to K-12 public schools, the moral calculation is it’s better for everyone to pay for them through progressive taxation. That means no one has to think about money when they call 9-1-1 or enroll their child in school. This concept has become so baked into how we understand what it is to live in a civilized society, that the very thought of charging for these things at the point of service sounds like the stuff of dystopian science fiction."
Still, that's not the "populism" that conservatives want.
