Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation is finally out and here’s the bottom line: he found no conspiracy between the Kremlin and Donald Trump’s campaign to fix the 2016 presidential election.

That’s good news for the president and the country. But it may only be the beginning of a new dilemma for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 

Even in redacted form, the Mueller report is chock full of information that portrays Trump and some members of his team in an unfavorable light. We knew from Attorney General William Barr’s summary that Mueller would not take a firm position on whether the president obstructed justice. But the special counsel laid it on much thicker than the Barr letter implied.

“Wrongdoing is more likely to involve the ways in which the president behaved, used his power, expressed himself, and dealt with underlings and with law enforcement in response to the investigation of Russia’s interference in our election and of his campaign’s involvement in any such interference,” Yuval Levin predicted. “We probably already know most of what the special counsel discovered about these things, but not all—and in any case having it all laid out in one place may mean it adds up in ways that will be striking.”

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https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/after-mueller-can-pelos...

Taking Back ‘We the People’ From the Left

Constitutional populism, from Barry Goldwater to Donald Trump, built the modern right and changed the world.

What is populism? Rather cynically, Merriam-Webster first defines a populist “as a member of a political party claiming to represent the common people.” Its second definition is less polemical: “a believer in the rights, wisdom, or virtues of the common people.”

Modern American populism grounded in the Constitution has been a major force in American politics, especially in the conservative movement, for nearly six decades. Since the Draft Goldwater Committee of 1962 to 1963, constitutional populism has helped to shape the politics of American conservatism and its chosen political instrument, the Republican Party. Populism on the Left as personified by Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is far different—with its socialist, secular, globalist, and utopian roots.

Donald Trump’s capture of the Republican presidential nomination and then the presidency in 2016 was the latest manifestation of conservative populism’s consequential role. Trump tapped into the deep populist reservoir in the heartland of America that stretches from the South to the Midwest in states like Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In his victory speech, Trump promised that “the forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer,” referring to working- and middle-class Americans left behind economically and culturally in the fast-paced Age of Information. Ironically, Franklin D. Roosevelt used the same language, invoking “the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid” in a 1932 campaign speech. But Roosevelt and Trump had far different ideas of who the “forgotten” American was.

FDR’s forgotten American was an out-of-luck worker stuck between the breadline and a Hooverville whom Roosevelt would rescue through the New Deal and add to the new political coalition he was building. Trump was non-ideological with his “Make America Great Again” slogan, but targeted so-called Reagan Democrats. He was the latest in a long line of populist politicians on the Right.

The Forgotten American has had different names over the years—Silent Majority, Moral Majority, Tea Party—but has sought most of the same things: a respect for the Founders and the founding documents, a less intrusive federal government, a balanced budget and a reduced national debt, a code of law and order that favors the victim and not the criminal, and a strong national defense. The Forgotten American loves America, which he considers exceptional, and is protective of its Judeo-Christian heritage and historic symbols like the American flag. He is more conservative when times are good and more populist when the times are not so good, but always looks to the Constitution as his political compass.

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https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/taking-back-we-the-peop...

This explanation does not make "right-wing populism" correct about de-mo-cra-cy. In most political populism, exploitation of ignorance and prejudices "of the people" is paramount. For most people to become aware and understand issues such as global warming demands an enormous amount of efforts and some reliance on "experts". There are some good experts and some crooked ones. Since more than 2000 years ago, we've been told by the Rabbis to be aware of false prophets, but we buy the snake oil anyway. The price is cheap. And it's hard to know the real ones from the fake ones. Unfortuntely, on some issues like wars and global warming, we cannot buy the crap any more. Recent wars, either from the Republicans or the Democrats have been horrid affairs. Denying the concept of global warming will cost the earth. Populism is not "the rights, wisdom, or virtues of the common people" but should be. At present populism is crass, fearful and ignorant.

AND THIS IS THE POPULISM THAT THE POLITICAL PARTIES TRY TO CULTIVATE AND EXPLOIT — like fields of noodles.

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