Populist Politics

“Populist politics involves magical thinking. The belief that a strong leader, with contempt for the democratic process, divisive rhetoric, relaxed about the truth or otherwise of his or her utterances, ignoring the conventions of normal politics, appealing directly to the people, blaming the state of the nation on some subgroup of the nation, or perhaps on neighboring nations and peoples, and speaking not to the better angels of our nature but to the worst, can restore a nation’s former greatness—that is magical thinking.”

Morality, pp. 127-128