An Analysis Of The Forms And Development Of American Populism In The COVID-19 Crisis

Symbolized by the resistance against the elite class by the popular mass,populism is a retrogressive form of democracy.The definition of populism is based on the dichotomy of’people’ versus’elites’;it is a’thin ideology’ that can be flexibly combined with various ’thick’ideologies to explain the world and legitimize certain agendas.It is a ’thin ideology’ that can be flexibly combined with various’thick’ ideologies to explain the world and legitimize certain agendas.Ideologically,populism often opposes the progressive values of globalization,economic neoliberalism,and the multiculturalism it promotes;functionally,populism can refer to either a particular ideology or a political system or means of political mobilization that supports an ideology.In recent years,the idea of populism as a political performance or political style has received attention in academic circles,and its representative Benjamin Moffett defines populist political performance as a set of exaggerated rhetoric and actions crafted by political elites to gain popular support or achieve political mobilization.He argues that populism and crisis go hand in hand and proposes a six-step model of political performance.Moffitt’s theory of political performance emphasizes the subjectivity of populists and provides a new perspective for understanding the interaction between populist political elites and the public.Populism has been growing in the United States since the financial crisis of 2008.The"Occupy Wall Street" movement,the Tea Party movement,and Trump’s victory in the 2016 U.S.elections witnessed the rise of left-and right-wing populism and the momentary triumph of right-wing populism.Putting his personal political interests first,he is bent on getting re-elected in the 2020 presidential election,thus putting on a political show that has the world smacking its lips.On the one hand,he sings against experts and scholars,takes a dismissive attitude toward the epidemic and spreads baseless disinformation on Twitter;on the other hand,he spreads racist,xenophobic and close-minded words to win more conservative supporters.On the other hand,the American public’s reaction to Trump’s political performance is marked by a clear polarization in the politicization of the muzzle.As top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci put it,"The only place in the world where wearing a mask has become a personal political statement is in the United States,when it should be a purely public health issue." Trump’s Republican supporters(dominated by "red states" in the 2016 presidential election)have echoed his words and actions,resisting local government and expert advice to fight the epidemic,adamantly protesting masks,and even seeing the COVID-19 epidemic as a ruse co-planned by elites.And the American public at large,including Democrats,were not shy about shaming and politically fighting back against Trump supporters on Twitter and other social media.Populism,centered on "people first" and "people first," has been an important gene of American democracy since the founding of the country and played a huge role in the French Revolution and the American War of Independence.Why has it become the biggest dark side of the U.S.war against the epidemic in the current crisis of Newcastle pneumonia(later referred to as the "Newcastle crisis")?This paper examines the interaction between the political elite and the public in the COVID-19 crisis and the development of populist discourse in the process of interaction through two case studies:how Trump’s political performance against the epidemic reached the right-wing public mobilization(Chapter 2)and the politicization of the mask among the public(Chapter 3).Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods,this paper analyzes government policies,media reports,and polling data,and focuses on the following questions:What changes did the COVID-19 crisis bring to American society and politics?In the COVID-19 Crisis,what ideology has populism combined with and what political discourse has developed?What is the government-populist elite(Trump)-populist interaction in the COVID-19 crisis?The main part of this paper is divided into three chapters.The paper explores the relationship between the COVID-19 crisis and the rise of populism by discussing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on American society.Populism originated from the crisis,gained momentum in the crisis,and complemented the crisis.The COVID-19 crisis encompassed a series of public health crises,political crises,and economic and social crises triggered by the COVID-19 pneumonia epidemic;the United States demonstrated its unique vulnerability to the impact of this.For many years,neoliberalism’s extreme permissiveness towards the market has led to increased economic and social inequality,and a profound lack of public protection in the face of the crisis;while the "non-aggression and invisible coexistence" of social groups under multicultural policies has allowed identity politics to override civic consensus.The fight against the epidemic became an opportunity for social division to intensify.These two conditions provide a breeding ground for the development of populism.In Chapter 2,this paper explores Trump’s populist performances of identifying failure.creating crisis,and creating antagonism.and examines the limits of their popular mobilization effects.Through a series of political performances.Trump appears to be "doing nothing" about the COVID-19,but in fact,he is staging a political play against his core supporters(the people of red states,right-wing populists),which serves as a popular mobilization.By classifying the COVID-19 as an event triggered and inflamed by entirely"external factors"-whether Chinese,Asian,Mexican,or Democrat-Trump not only abdicates responsibility for leading the Trump has not only shirked his responsibility to lead the fight against the epidemic,he has also solidified what right-wing populists imagine to be"core America.In this case,it is the negativity that is the victory,the violation of "us" by the"other" and the simplicity and bravery of "us.However,Trump’s political performance is only effective among his audience,and outside of the populists,Trump’s negative anti-epidemic policies do not meet the public’s expectations of a strong leader in extraordinary times.This exemplifies the limits of populist praxis.In Chapter 3,this paper examines the development and characteristics of populist-led populism as embodied in the politicization of the muzzle.Citing Foucault’s theory of the politics of life,the paper reads the politicization of the muzzle as a product of the combination of populism and biopolitics and identifies two major features of the process:the severe split along party affiliation and the strong catalytic role of populist leader Trump.The politicization of the masks,on the one hand,reflects the populists’ rage to resist the threat of the "other",to resist the state’s regime of life power,and to defend life power by boycotting the masks;on the other hand,the humiliation and ridicule of the populists by the rest of the population reflects the inability of the population to break social,political,and economic segregation under the biopolitical regime and to engage in the dilemma of democratic dialogue.This paper explores the characteristics and manifestations of the populist movement against the background of the COVID-19 crisis in the United States in 2020,and grasps the topicality and relevance of current events.There are two main innovative points in this paper:first,the development of populism in the COVID-19 Crisis is concerned through the political elite-populist perspective,providing a dynamic and multi-intersectional research perspective;second,the use of life politics theory points out the two kinds of populism that exist among the people,and explores the consequences of the economic,social,and political divisions among different races under neoliberalism,which has some innovative significance.