The Historical Evolution Of And Factors Leading To American Populism

Populism has become an important political trend in American society.Donald Trump,the Republican candidate,won the U.S.election in 2016.After taking office,the internal and foreign affairs of the United States have shown populism.Now that Trump’s four-year term is over,and the Democratic Party Biden takes over as the president of the United States,the populist tendencies in American domestic politics and foreign policy have not ceased.Extreme nationalism and anti-intellectualism are still on the rise,bringing much uncertainty and challenges to world politics.Populism is a political logic in the process of national modernization.It emphasizes the binary opposition between civilians and elites,and regards civilianization and popularization as the ultimate source of legitimacy for all political movements and systems.In terms of ideology,populism can be divided into left-wing and right-wing;while in different fields of occurrence,populism has different manifestations when it comes to politic,economy,and culture.Online populism is the next trend in the development of new media and Internet technology,and plays an important role in political mobilizationThe historical evolution of the American populist movement echoes the world’s major populist waves and is an important part of it.Both Andrew Jackson and the People’s Party in the United States at the end of the 19th century were regarded as typical early populist movements.With the beginning of the industrial revolution,social productivity has been greatly improved,conflicts between the old aristocratic class and the emerging bourgeoisie intensified,new demands continued to occur,and the seeds of populism have begun to sprout during the period of social transformation.George Wallace in the 1960s and Ross Perrot in the 1990s are typical cases in the history of the American populist movement.As the political crisis of capitalism in the turbulent American society emerged,they have gained a lot of support by instigating people’s aversion to American politics.In the 21st century,under the impact of the global financial crisis,populism in the United States broke out again.The right-wing "Tea Party" movement and the left-wing "Occupy Wall Street" movement launched attacks on the elite one after another,which provided another possibility beyond the two parties for the political structure of the United States.Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are the main representatives of the current American Populist Movement.They both emerged in the 2016 US general election,bringing left-wing and right-wing populism to American politics international politics,as well as new challenges and testsOn the basis of combing the historical evolution and current new trend of American populism movement,this paper puts forward reasons for the formation of American populism.First,the financial crisis and economic inequality have brought about the decline of the middle class,the widening gap between the rich and the poor,and the solidification of social classes,which cause serious social anxiety among lower-class whites and blue-collar workers.Second,the public’s awareness of the government’s trust,political effectiveness,and government’s responsiveness continues to decline,and the drawbacks of representative democracy are becoming increasingly apparent.Last but not least,the crisis of national identity has intensified and ethnic conflicts have increased.