The Politics of Distrust: Anti-Intellectualism as Laying the Groundwork for Populist Revolution
The ever-expanding tide of populist discourse and behaviour casts a shadow over the political landscape of the 21st century. This unquestionable swell of populist sentiment among national leaders has increasingly converged with another ideological weapon: anti-intellectualism. Defined loosely as an “opposition or hostility to intellectual reasoning,” this ethos has rapidly spread across the west, and has been purposefully cultivated within the American electorate. Specifically, issues such as government response to Covid-19, global climate change, and immigration reform have been brought to the forefront of political debate, only to be engaged with in bad faith for political triumph in the country’s ongoing “culture war.” This article will examine the campaign and general approach of populist leader President Donald J. Trump. This will be done through the lens of this dual-weapon strategy and the use of concepts issued from the works of Hannah Arendt.
