Age of Populism: A retrospective look

It has been over a decade since this current age of populism began in America and throughout the broader Western World.

I think a decade is more than enough time to assess if something has been a success or failure.

Suffice to say, this age of populism has been nothing short of a catastrophe.

Lets see what the last ten years have wrought shall we?

America’s standing in the world

After Trump started his trade wars, the rest of the free world took one key lesson away.

America can no longer be trusted. Put another way, we are no longer indispensable.

As Victor the Crab can and will attest to, Canadians no longer trust us. We were once great friends with Canada. Best friends you could reasonably argue. As of 2025, Prime Minister Carney is working overtime to make sure Canada is no longer dependent on the United States economically, diplomatically or militarily.

Our allies as of writing in East Asia and Europe are doing similar things to Canada. Even Israel learned the hard way just how unreliable of allies after we went behind their backs to surrender to Iran. Or did Trump just restart the war with Iran after he was informed how his deal with Iran looked to Americans?

Just ask the Israeli people how this deal looks to them.

As one European official put it “We cannot leave the security of Europe in the hands of voters in Wisconsin every 4 years”.

Even worse, Trump chose to start a war with Iran that cost a small fortune, and faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Islamic Republic no matter how it was spun.

Militarily and diplomatically, America has lost a massive amount of power since 2015. We no longer command respect among our allies or enemies.

Economics

Starting in 2025, Trump started trade policies that populists have been demanding for a long time. Tariffs and trade wars with our allies.

If we instead focused on friendshoring (which is relocating supply chains to countries friendly to the United States) and focused our economic warfare on China, I would have been in support of some tariffs and trade wars. Instead, Trump entered his trade wars erratically and with little concern for the long term consequences.

Inflation is up, and Americans are noticing.

We are in a far worse place than we were economically ten years ago.

Granted, not all of that is the fault of the populists. A once in a lifetime pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine did have a large impact on inflation and arguably was the trigger for the inflation we are seeing today.

But the tariffs and trade wars did an irreparable amount of damage.

Government Capacity

The Federal government, thanks to Elon Musk and DOGE combined with the actions of the Trump administration, has for the most part been crippled.

For example, screwworm is back in the United States thanks to the agency that contained this cattle eating parasite being slashed.

The exception of course is ICE.

If there is a next Democratic President, they will inherit a severely damaged Federal government, possibly damaged beyond repair.

What it did to the Democratic Party

But this populism did not leave the Democratic Party untouched.

Starting in 2015, when Senator Sanders ran for President, he helped to unleash populist instincts. Instincts that are politically and governmentally destructive.

The worst types of racism and misogyny got unleashed inside the Democratic Party by this problem.

Trevor and Liberal Librarian no longer identify as Democrats in large part because of this populist shift. I do apologize if I am wrong.

Add me, another life long Democrat, to that list.

I cannot stomach what the Democratic Party has turned into under Ken Martin. What it has started to espouse and tolerate. Especially anti semitism and increasingly anti Black racism.

Most of all, I cannot stomach how it has succumbed to populism. To the same sickness that animates today's Republican party.

Ken Martin needs to get rid of the populists inside the Democratic Party and make it more technocratic.

Around the World

But this populism has infected not just America.

Thanks to populism and the catastrophic consequences of Brexit, the United Kingdom is now on a per capita basis poorer than Mississippi. The poorest state in America and the state in America near the bottom at nearly every quality of life metric.

Even worse, the UK is poised to elect Reform UK, a far right populist party that threatens to destroy the United Kingdom and make independence look like a good idea to Scotland and Wales, while making reunification with Ireland look wise to Northern Ireland.

This populism is also spreading across Europe like a pandemic.

Sadly, it has infected South Korea as well. Giving rise to politicians that campaign on open misogyny.

So what has this age of populism wrought?

Nothing but ruin, description and misery.

If we recover from this period, we must make sure it never happens again.

Stay frosty everyone.