Just how much damage has ‘populism’ done to democracies across the world. It has played to an adoring crowd of conspiracy theorists, divided nations and, worse, given rise to a type of fascist thinking we haven’t seen since before the Second World War. Yet here we are again almost a century later, flirting with the adrenaline rush of emotive and reactionary politics at the expense of unity, stability and common sense.
In the US former President trump is under multiple investigations and potential indictments, while in the UK former populist leader Boris Johnson is before a Parliamentary Committee for apparently lying and misleading Parliament. In Australia, just after its recent election, it was discovered that trump ally Scott Morrison, had secretly been sworn in to multiple ministeries (along with his Prime Minister’s responsibilities) without his own Ministers knowing about it.
These leaders had many things in common…all have been accused of lying…the Australian Prime Minister falling foul of French President Macron who famously replied when asked if he thought the Australian Prime Minister was a liar…”I don’t think; I know”. The other commonality was they all came from conservative parties.
In the US, they stopped counting former President trump’s lies. They are many and well documented…too many to list here. The former reality television star and self confessed ‘billionaire’ and ‘populist’ leader, left the US shaken, exhausted and unstable. Yet all of these leaders have been removed from power, whether by election loss or by their own parties. We are now only starting to pick up the pieces of their disastrous tenures.
Never again we say…flirting with unqualified and self absorbed leaders who stretch and strain our democracies…that’s in the past. Or is it? My latest podcast, Random Sage with Maryann from Revealing Light, tackles this question.