Neoliberal types definitely called Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren “populist”. Trying to equate it with rightwing demagoguery seems like it’s a deliberate poisoning of the term by people who are aligned with the very status quo power structure that populism attacks. In a choice between the status quo establishment and racist rightwing populism, of course the status quo is better, but the rightwing populism is a problem exactly because the establishment is so distrusted for their lack of responsiveness to people’s needs.
Neoliberal types definitely called Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren “populist”. Trying to equate it with rightwing demagoguery seems like it’s a deliberate poisoning of the term by people who are aligned with the very status quo power structure that populism attacks. In a choice between the status quo establishment and racist rightwing populism, of course the status quo is better, but the rightwing populism is a problem exactly because the establishment is so distrusted for their lack of responsiveness to people’s needs.