Podcast: Dinner and a​​ ​dialogue​

Seeking to harness the energy of popular opposition to established institutions, some defenders of democracy have sought a version of populism with an inclusive alternative to the MAGA movement’s xenophobic and homogenizing view of “the people.”

This year, the No Kings protests around the country and the ICE Out resistance in Minnesota have been important actions led by ordinary people to enact and protect democracy. Taken together, they show that inclusive populism faces a challenge: social media can mobilize people around shared identities, but democracy requires relations of trust that social media erode. Using inclusive populism to defend democracy thus requires attention not just to the symbols that mobilize people but also to the offline relationships and organizations that hold people together.