“…every major ‘populist’ insurgency is a warning about serious problems festering in our politics”

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In their own fashion, Sanders and Trump are protesting inequalities and the corruption of public life without calling the entire system into question. (Sanders may speak of “revolution,” but he still chose to run for president within the two-party system.) You may love such upheavals or loathe them. Trump’s hostility toward undocumented immigrants and Muslims is certainly reprehensible. But every major “populist” insurgency is a warning about serious problems festering in our politics. To simply blame the messenger is an exercise in denial.

Michael Kazin, “Crowd Pleaser”, The New York Times Magazine (27 March 2016), 15.

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