"Before There Was Trump, There Was Cleon": A Discussion About Demagoguery And Populism

Alan: The following NPR discussion of demagoguery and populism features a panel of six, including good friend Michael Brown, adjunct history professor at Rochester Institute Of Technology and this year's winner of RIT's "Teacher Of The Year" award.

Professor Brown is a wide-ranging scholar, but within his area of expertise -- American History -- he is particularly focused on "elites," real and perceived, and how changing definitions of "elitism" have played pivotal roles in the American experience, right through Trump's election and presidency.

Starting with the bilious billionaire's passion for "birtherism," and his ongoing propagation of conspiracy theories (most recently Hillary Clinton's supposed assassination of Jeffrey Epstein), Trump cultists have denounced "the intellectual elites" whom they consider uniquely noxious to the favored status of white Americans who, at bedrock, seek restoration of their bigotry-based privileges.

Shockingly -- if anything shocks anymore -- Trump cultists denouce learning itself. 

"59% Of Republicans Think College Is Bad For America"

https://reason.com/2019/08/19/pew-survey-republicans-college-campus-safe-spaces/

Later this year, Michael's first book -- about American "elites" -- will be published by University of Chicago Press.

"Before There Was Trump, There Was Cleon"

http://whchronicle.com/before-there-was-trump-there-was-cleon/

Who Said "Republicans Have Never Approved Democracy?" (And Why Don't We Admit It?)

https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/07/who-said-republicans-have-never.html

WXXI "Connections": Discussing Demagoguery And Populism

https://www.wxxinews.org/post/connections-discussing-demagoguery-and-populism

Cherokee Nation Debates Its Confederate Statue: How To Re-Dedicate Monuments Meaningfully

(The idea for my proposal to "re-dedicate monuments meaningfully" came from an illuminating RIT lecture given by friend Michael.)

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/09/cherokee-nation-debates-its-confederate.html

The Trump Cult (And Its Relative Interchangeability With Conservative Christian Cultism)

https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-trump-cult.html

"How Cults Enslave People, And Why It's So Damn Difficult To Break Free"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/08/how-cultism-enslaves-people-and-why-it.html

"The Cult Of Trump (And Overview Of Cult Psychology)

https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-cult-of-trump-and-overview-of-cult.html