What is populism?

Populist politicians say they represent the people. But could they actually be a new form of the elite?  With the Berggruen Institute.

Transcript

00:00You're the real people, you're the people that built this nation.

00:03Remember, the people are our bosses.

00:06I am the candidate of the people's France!

00:12Populists like to claim they're on the side of the people,

00:15but in fact they're the epitome of the elite.

00:30Another fake news.

00:43Together we will drain the Washington swamp

00:46and we will clean up the corruption in our nation's capital.

00:50They look at this great, glittering, globalized economy

00:53and they see some people getting very rich indeed.

00:56The biggest duality that they're feeding us is the people versus the elite.

01:01I think populists have no problem with elitism so long,

01:05as long as they are the elite themselves.

01:17There is a populist elite that is trying to replace and get the power.

01:27We are very frustrated with the system,

01:30a system that feels like it doesn't work anymore.

01:33But the people who claim to bring us solutions, particularly populists,

01:37they are not the answer.

01:56We are not the answer.

02:16Because of a tweet, a retweet, an article you write,

02:19a poem you write, a novel you write,

02:21you might wake up and you might read papers calling you a traitor.

02:26DESTROY IT

02:27THEN EVENTUALLY

02:28DEFEND IT

02:29NOT LESS

02:32I am more than ready to take on the greed and corruption of the corporate world.

03:01I might be very critical of the populist elite, but at the same time I need to connect with

03:17the people who might have voted for them, so I can't stay in my own echo chamber.