Excellent history lesson! I have heard and seen trump called a populist, I didn't understand how someone only out for himself could wear that moniker. We need a political party whose motto is everybody does better when everybody does better.
Trump makes people feel SEEN. He correctly points out that the System has failed most of us but he blames it on immigrants, women, blacks/hispanics, LGBT, etc. He promises to solve the problem ("Only I can fix it"), but he makes it worse.
Absolutely, I want more border security and deportation of illegal criminals but hunting down taxpayers trying to make an honest living is expensively stupid. These new deportation camps are expensively evil!
Oh, Jim. We are blown away by this much-needed history. We were blinded by the same misinterpretations and lies that have been used for so long, even though we are college educated (and not of the elitist kind). Please consider (if you haven't already) submitting this piece to some of our best magazines (Washington Spectator, The New Republic, The Nation, Mother Jones et al...) The more people see it, the better. Thank you!!
I can't begin to say how much this means to me. Or how much I appreciate learning about Populism's farmer origins. Thank you and bless you, Jim. A tip of my old worker cap to your TX cowboy hat.
I'm from the labor side of the old Populist farmer-labor coalition. My grandpa was a Wobbly (IWW) and I share his view that we lessers can do it ourselves. The supporting evidence is right here!
O MG!! I "learned" that Hofstadter was a top historian and I read several of his books, including "The Paranoid Style...". Glad it was so long ago that I've forgotten what they said. On the other hand (as I've mentioned in my comments here before), I will always remember Fred Harris and working on his presidential campaign (1968, I think), This piece here is fantastic. I'll share it on our local Indivisible chat, do more work on the topic myself, and try seriously to put some more material force into this invaluable history. Can't thank you enough. It's so timely and so inspiring. Just "wicked awesome," as they say Back East,
An example of a populist candidate (using Jim's definition of a candidate representing ordinary working folks) would be NYC's mayoral primary winner Mamdani.
Trump feels so threatened by a populist movement that represents most Americans,that he is already calling him a communist and mounting his opposition which includes corporate democrats represented by Cuomo and current disgraced mayor Adams.
Populism is a truly grassroots movement that is destined to unite us.
I am a huge Zohran fan (and I live in Brooklyn so I got to vote for him, hee). I wanted to include him in our list but I wasn't sure he was outright embracing the term yet, and didn't want to falsely represent anyone. That said, he is TOTALLY a populist in my book!
I grew up knowing democratic Populism in the land of "Fighting Bob" LaFolette. I have followed The Lowdown since 2000, when I moved to Texas, and continue to do so from northern Minnesota.
Although I have appreciated your brief but concise & enlightening newsletter for years, this Deep Lowdown was a feast of food for thought regarding Populism. Thank you for the history lesson.
I love this deeper dive into history! It made me think of my grandmother (born in “aught seven”) who grew up in a small town in southern Indiana and talked about how the electrification of rural areas dramatically transformed those communities. I don’t know if the Agricultural Extension Service arose from the populist movement but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. It was very important in these small - mostly farming - communities. The other question I have is how the KKK fit into the distortion of populism. I lived in Irvington IN for awhile which had the unfortunate history of D.C. Stephenson - KKK Grand Dragon - as a resident. Stephenson had control of state government in Indiana even though he himself was not an elected official. “ Fever in the Heartland” by Timothy Egan provides a fairly detailed depiction of his downfall after he brutally raped a young woman who had been working through him to pass education reform legislation. What is remarkable is, that in spite of his vast power, he was tried and convicted in a court case brought in one of the most conservative counties in the state north of Indianapolis. That jury was undoubtedly made up of local farmers.
As I understand it: The KKK was basically the unofficial--sometimes official!--militia arm of the Bourbon Democrats. They executed the terror and violence that the Democratic Party knew would divide the poor and working class people. Check out: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/grant-kkk/
Should we take over Musk's new party? Who is emerging as a leader for this? I love Bernie but he can be an "elder" but I think we need a younger person out front, I also like Chris Murphy very much, along with Corey Booker Jasmine Crocket, Jamie Raskin, Jared Moskowitz, Dan Goldman and others. It seems we have a good "bench" who will pull it together? How do we begin to channel this energy into action? And, as always, Thank you ,Jim for the enlightenment.
I'm thinking that we need an interim government representative to hold it together while we focus on the 2026 elections and younger candidates for our leaders in an updated and more progressive future system
Oh, so much to say. I am old, really old, and I am from Texas. (How can it be that Texas, who gave us Mollie Ivins, Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan, and yes, with all his flaws Lyndon Johnson, now gives us Abbott, Cruz, and other nitwits who have nothing to contribute to humanity?). I lived through Jim Crow and I know that there was NOT a unity of those poor whites (tenant farmers, mostly) and poor Blacks. The poor white were all too ready to assume that merely because of the color of their uneducated skin they were superior to equally poor Blacks, they were SUPERIOR. The need to find someone, anyone, who was lower in society than they were was strong, and won. What we would call today "white trash/trailer trash" considered themselves so much more worthy than ANY Black person is still alive and well in our society.
Edith, how very true, and how very painful! That "more perfect union" is still a dream. But let's not stop dreaming. And let the dreams fuel our words and actions. Georgia is still Carter Country!
Yes! The collaboration of the poor white folk and poor Black folk was not easy or straightforward, and Goodwyn captures a lot of that in his books. I also really enjoyed "White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America" by Nancy Isenberg on this topic!
Happy birthday to Woody Guthrie! We sang much of his music in our 'Young Life' group when l was in my early teens. For my sister's 18th birthday present we got tickets for Friday night to see Arlo Guthrie at Woodstock. With the enthusiasm for music and the political comment carried on from one generation to the next, we ended the draft and l can still sing Arlo's 'Alices Restaurant ' l know it by heart.
Back to the future! Bernie Sanders for President! Walz and Vance as Vice Presidents! Impeach and imprison felon, fire Musk reverse S.C.O.T.U.S. Citizens United of 2010
This is the history lesson that should've replaced whatever nonsense they taught us in 11th grade! Turns out real populism isn't angry mobs with pitchforks - it's farmers and workers who invented co-ops, fought for women's suffrage, and had Black, brown and white folks organizing together until the elites went "oh HELL no" and used white supremacy and capitalism to break us up!
Thank you both for a detailed and enlightening history. I long made the mistake of associating "populism" with William Jennings Bryan and the Scopes Trial.
Excellent history lesson! I have heard and seen trump called a populist, I didn't understand how someone only out for himself could wear that moniker. We need a political party whose motto is everybody does better when everybody does better.
Trump makes people feel SEEN. He correctly points out that the System has failed most of us but he blames it on immigrants, women, blacks/hispanics, LGBT, etc. He promises to solve the problem ("Only I can fix it"), but he makes it worse.
Absolutely, I want more border security and deportation of illegal criminals but hunting down taxpayers trying to make an honest living is expensively stupid. These new deportation camps are expensively evil!
Oh, Jim. We are blown away by this much-needed history. We were blinded by the same misinterpretations and lies that have been used for so long, even though we are college educated (and not of the elitist kind). Please consider (if you haven't already) submitting this piece to some of our best magazines (Washington Spectator, The New Republic, The Nation, Mother Jones et al...) The more people see it, the better. Thank you!!
I can't begin to say how much this means to me. Or how much I appreciate learning about Populism's farmer origins. Thank you and bless you, Jim. A tip of my old worker cap to your TX cowboy hat.
I'm from the labor side of the old Populist farmer-labor coalition. My grandpa was a Wobbly (IWW) and I share his view that we lessers can do it ourselves. The supporting evidence is right here!
Solidarity, Rafi!
O MG!! I "learned" that Hofstadter was a top historian and I read several of his books, including "The Paranoid Style...". Glad it was so long ago that I've forgotten what they said. On the other hand (as I've mentioned in my comments here before), I will always remember Fred Harris and working on his presidential campaign (1968, I think), This piece here is fantastic. I'll share it on our local Indivisible chat, do more work on the topic myself, and try seriously to put some more material force into this invaluable history. Can't thank you enough. It's so timely and so inspiring. Just "wicked awesome," as they say Back East,
An example of a populist candidate (using Jim's definition of a candidate representing ordinary working folks) would be NYC's mayoral primary winner Mamdani.
Trump feels so threatened by a populist movement that represents most Americans,that he is already calling him a communist and mounting his opposition which includes corporate democrats represented by Cuomo and current disgraced mayor Adams.
Populism is a truly grassroots movement that is destined to unite us.
I am a huge Zohran fan (and I live in Brooklyn so I got to vote for him, hee). I wanted to include him in our list but I wasn't sure he was outright embracing the term yet, and didn't want to falsely represent anyone. That said, he is TOTALLY a populist in my book!
I agree.Like you I was born in Brooklyn,raised in the Bronx and now live in Manhattan.
Mamdani is the antiTrump and gets my $$$ and vote.
I will not be diverted by specious claims that he is antisemitic.
I grew up knowing democratic Populism in the land of "Fighting Bob" LaFolette. I have followed The Lowdown since 2000, when I moved to Texas, and continue to do so from northern Minnesota.
Although I have appreciated your brief but concise & enlightening newsletter for years, this Deep Lowdown was a feast of food for thought regarding Populism. Thank you for the history lesson.
I love this deeper dive into history! It made me think of my grandmother (born in “aught seven”) who grew up in a small town in southern Indiana and talked about how the electrification of rural areas dramatically transformed those communities. I don’t know if the Agricultural Extension Service arose from the populist movement but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. It was very important in these small - mostly farming - communities. The other question I have is how the KKK fit into the distortion of populism. I lived in Irvington IN for awhile which had the unfortunate history of D.C. Stephenson - KKK Grand Dragon - as a resident. Stephenson had control of state government in Indiana even though he himself was not an elected official. “ Fever in the Heartland” by Timothy Egan provides a fairly detailed depiction of his downfall after he brutally raped a young woman who had been working through him to pass education reform legislation. What is remarkable is, that in spite of his vast power, he was tried and convicted in a court case brought in one of the most conservative counties in the state north of Indianapolis. That jury was undoubtedly made up of local farmers.
Re: electrification-- Yes! A politics that actually benefitted regular people!
As I understand it: The KKK was basically the unofficial--sometimes official!--militia arm of the Bourbon Democrats. They executed the terror and violence that the Democratic Party knew would divide the poor and working class people. Check out: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/grant-kkk/
Totally awesome outline of the progressive movement. Loved it this time just as I loved it the first time Jim wrote about it.
What a great first issue. So much unknown (to me) and vital (to Americans) history. Looking forward to many more.
Thank You
Should we take over Musk's new party? Who is emerging as a leader for this? I love Bernie but he can be an "elder" but I think we need a younger person out front, I also like Chris Murphy very much, along with Corey Booker Jasmine Crocket, Jamie Raskin, Jared Moskowitz, Dan Goldman and others. It seems we have a good "bench" who will pull it together? How do we begin to channel this energy into action? And, as always, Thank you ,Jim for the enlightenment.
I'm thinking that we need an interim government representative to hold it together while we focus on the 2026 elections and younger candidates for our leaders in an updated and more progressive future system
Oh, so much to say. I am old, really old, and I am from Texas. (How can it be that Texas, who gave us Mollie Ivins, Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan, and yes, with all his flaws Lyndon Johnson, now gives us Abbott, Cruz, and other nitwits who have nothing to contribute to humanity?). I lived through Jim Crow and I know that there was NOT a unity of those poor whites (tenant farmers, mostly) and poor Blacks. The poor white were all too ready to assume that merely because of the color of their uneducated skin they were superior to equally poor Blacks, they were SUPERIOR. The need to find someone, anyone, who was lower in society than they were was strong, and won. What we would call today "white trash/trailer trash" considered themselves so much more worthy than ANY Black person is still alive and well in our society.
Edith, how very true, and how very painful! That "more perfect union" is still a dream. But let's not stop dreaming. And let the dreams fuel our words and actions. Georgia is still Carter Country!
Yes! The collaboration of the poor white folk and poor Black folk was not easy or straightforward, and Goodwyn captures a lot of that in his books. I also really enjoyed "White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America" by Nancy Isenberg on this topic!
Excellent write-up. It took me a few sittings to read through it, but well worth it!
Happy birthday to Woody Guthrie! We sang much of his music in our 'Young Life' group when l was in my early teens. For my sister's 18th birthday present we got tickets for Friday night to see Arlo Guthrie at Woodstock. With the enthusiasm for music and the political comment carried on from one generation to the next, we ended the draft and l can still sing Arlo's 'Alices Restaurant ' l know it by heart.
Culture is the great teacher!
Back to the future! Bernie Sanders for President! Walz and Vance as Vice Presidents! Impeach and imprison felon, fire Musk reverse S.C.O.T.U.S. Citizens United of 2010
This is the history lesson that should've replaced whatever nonsense they taught us in 11th grade! Turns out real populism isn't angry mobs with pitchforks - it's farmers and workers who invented co-ops, fought for women's suffrage, and had Black, brown and white folks organizing together until the elites went "oh HELL no" and used white supremacy and capitalism to break us up!
Thank you both for a detailed and enlightening history. I long made the mistake of associating "populism" with William Jennings Bryan and the Scopes Trial.