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Pop-Culture Politics: How Cable News Created The Tea Party, Trump, And A Fake Populist Movement, Cole Souder

History Theses

The populist tradition in the United States originated in the nineteenth century with the Populist Party. Since, political movements in the United States and across the globe have been declared populist for their anti-elite, nostalgic message. Most recently, the Donald Trump campaign for president was declared populist because of a perceived economic message that contradicted traditional conservative ideology. However, Trump's movement was not the grassroots sort that he presented it to be. Rather, his was an extension of a particular, socially and culturally motivated faction of the Tea Party. This faction was radicalized in the first decade of the 21st …